ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA	CZECH REPUBLIC
Karlovarský kraj	Karlovy Vary region
Okres: Karlovy Vary

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The famous spa town Karlovy Vary (German: Karlsbad) is situated at an elevation of 370 mat the site where the Teplá (Tepl) flows into the river Ohře (Eger). The city centre with the town's administration, the residential and industrial areas are located in the broad Eger valley while the spa facilities are located in the narrow valley of the Teplá. Karlovy Vary is the administrative seat of the Karlovy Vary district and has a population of about 52,400 (2003).

The place was chartered on the 14th August 1370 by Emperor Karl IV and was named after him. The popular story that the Emperor had discovered the warm springs while hunting in this area is a legend. In fact, the earliest mention of the springs is found in a document issued in 1325 by King Johann I (John of Luxembourg). The waters were used for drinking cures since 1520, the first printed instructions were published two years later. In 1707 the town obtained the status of a free royal town by a patent issued by Emperor Joseph I. The first bath house was built in 1717 followed by many others in the following decades.

The Carlsbad Conference of August 1819, called in by the Austrian prime minister Prince Clemens Metternich, ended with the Carlsbad Resolutions. The resolutions aimed at defending the authority of the post-Napoleonic reactionary governments of the countries of the German Federation against the new, liberal and national ideas of the period. The Diet of the German Federation only reluctantly ratified the resolutions in September of the same year. In man countries, such as in Austria, the Carlsbad Resolutions were used to prohibit the political students' corporations, surveillance of the universities and censuring of the press. The Carlsbad Resolutions were finally abolished in the Revolution of 1848.

In 1939, after the occupation of the 'Sudetenland' by the Third Reich, the neighmoring communities of Aich (Doubí), Drahowitz (Drahovice), Espenthor (Olšová Vrata), Fischern (Rybáře), Maierhöfen (Dvory) and Weheditz (Bohatice) were incorporated into Karlsbad, which thus became the largest city of the region (at that time about 53,000). The strong German-speaking community, however, during that time also came in fierce opposition to the Czechs. After World war II the German-speaking population was expelled. The spa was nationalised in 1948. A total of fourteen hot springs is used by the spa. Another important tourist attraction is the international film festival which takes place here since 1948. In 2021, Karlovy vary was listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage site (see list) as one of the "Great Spas of Europe", together with Baden (Austria), Spa (Belgium), Františkovy Lázně and Mariánské Lázné (Czech Republic), Bad Ems, Bad Kissingen and Baden-Baden (Germany), Montecatini Terme (Italy), and Bath (United Kingdom).

The Vřídelní kolonáda (Sprudel-Kolonnade, Spring Colonnade) [left: no. 695, below: no. 802, below right: no. 870] houses the best-known of the springs of Karlovy Vary. The "Vřídlo" ("Sprudel") [right: no. 1632], located on the right bank of the Teplá river, is the strongest and hottest of all the local springs. It supplies 2,000 litres per minute. The primary temperature is 73°C, but parts of the waters are also cooled down to 57°C and 41°C for dringking purposes. The fountain (12–14 m high) in the colonnade is one of the popular tourist attractions. The spring had already been known long before Karlovy Vary was founded. The earliest attempts to protect the waters from floodings by the Teplá river date already from around 1500. The cast-iron colonnade was built in 1879 on a design by the famous architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer. This wonderful construction existed until 1939. Provisional wooden colonnade buildings replaced it in 1940 and 1945/1947. A modern construction was finally built in this place in 1969–1975.
(See also list of further buildings by Fellner and Helmer)

that are depicted on glasses of this collection.)

The Catholic church of St. Magdalene [far right in the pictures] was first mentioned in 1485. At the time it came under the patronage of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star. Since 1491 it had the status of an independent parish church. A new church was built in its place in 1518. The church that we see today was built in 1733–1736 acording to a plan designed by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer. The upper parts of the two towers with their 'onion' roofs were created in 1861. Since 2010 the church is listed as a Czech national cultural heritage.
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Maria_Magdalena_(Karlsbad)]

The top picture on glass no. 870 shows a view of the Kurhaus (also named Kurbad III, Lázně III) [near left: top picture, foreground left]. It was built in 1867 in Gothic revival style by the architects Ludwig Renner, Gustav Hain and Eduard Labitzky. At the time it was one of the most modern spa institutions of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Today it operates as "Windsor Spa Hotel". The building was renovated thoroughly in 1956–1959 and in 2013–2014.
[https://windsor-carlsbad.cz/de/complex/history]

The complex depicted in the top background is Villa Theresa, built in 1890 by the architect Josef Němeček.
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_von_Bauwerken_in_Karlovy_Vary]

The Císařské lázně (Kaiserbad) (today Bath I) [left: no. 2382] was built by the architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer in 1893–1895 in French Renaissance revival and Art déco style. A luxury appartment on the upper floor once was reserved exclusively for Emperor Franz Joseph I.
(See also list of further buildings by Fellner and Helmer)

The Mlýnská kolonáda (Mühlbrunnen-Kolonnade) [left: no. 629, and right: no. 1275] houses the spring which was named after a mill that was located next to it until the 18th century. The spring supplies waters of 52.7°C and was already known in the 16th century. In the early 18th century this was the site of Karlovy Vary's first bath house. Since 1773 the spring is in possession of the municipality. The colonnade was built in 1871–1881 by Josef Zítek. The colonnade is 132 m long, its roof is supported by 124 corinthian columns.

The Zámecká kolonáda (Schlossbrunn-Kolonnade) is depicted on glass no. 513 [left: right picture]. The colonnade was built by architect Friedrich Ohmann in 1911–1913 and houses the spring "Unterer Schlossbrunnen". The oldest reports of this spring (61.4°C) date from 1769, but it was certainly used already earlier. When the "Vřídlo"/"Sprudel" spring erupted in 1809, this spring ran dry and only began to flow again fourteen years later.

The Jelení skok (Hirschensprung) [near left, no. 3092; and right, no. 344; also depicted on glass no. 513, far left] is a popular place for excursions from Karlovy Vary. Located high on a hill above the town, it is the place that was told to be site where a dear that was chased by Emperor Karl IV jumped down and thus caused the legendary discovery of the hot springs. A monument in form of a chamois buck on the tip of the rock commemorates this story.

Glass no. 3306 [left] is labeled Westend – Stadtpark – Gartenzeile (Westend, Municipal Park, Garden Row).