I had a wonderful breakfast at my hotel which is managed by
a husband and wife who are originally from Brussels, Belgium. Michelle came down to the breakfast room to
introduce herself to me since it was her husband who checked me in yesterday.
It was very nice of her to be concerned about my comfort and I explained to her
that the room is perfect and the bed, which has a doubly puffy mattress (so
nice) and is very quiet. Actually it was only me and two adorable young Russian
men staying last night but Michelle says there are more guests checking in
tonight.
The young Russian men chatted with me at breakfast and they’re
from the middle of Russia and are here for a week traveling around. They rented
a car and have been doing some nature adventures and said they’ve seen some
wild animals in their travels. I’m not sure where they’ve been driving to see
these wild animals but I’m glad they’re enjoying themselves.
Mariánské Lázně is a beautiful city with the majority of the
hotels in one small area surrounding a gorgeous large park in the middle. The
park has ponds, rivers, little waterfalls, many varieties of trees and lots of
public art. I enjoyed walking about a total of three and half hours just
enjoying observing all the architectural elements and lovely large villas. I do believe the city, although very pretty
now, is really a place you want to visit in spring and summer.
And that is evident in the fact that one of
the most popular attractions of the city is closed from October until April,
the Singing Fountain. “The Singing Fountain is one of the dominant features of
Mariánské Lázně. It is situated on the Colonnade close to the statue of Abbot
Reitenberger. The fountain is a circular pool of 18m diameter with a 12-piece
stone sculpture of stylized flower forms with a polished steel center piece.
The fountain is made up of a 10 basic water jet system that in total contains
more than 250 actual jets with the center jet capable of reaching a height of
six meters. Its operation is computerized enabling it to produce a very
creative and varied combination of jet effects including colored lights
embedded within the pool. The creator of these artistic effects is the academic
architect Pavel Mišík. There is a daily program of music played during the
fountain displays that occur on each odd hour from 7 am until 10 pm with the
final two displays (9 am & 10 pm), including the use of the embedded
lights, adding to the beauty of the nightly spectacle. Each year on 30th April
at 9 pm, the first fountain display of the tourist season takes place. The
official close of each year’s season sees the fountain complete its final
display on the 31st October at 10 pm.” If you want to see what it looks like here is
a link to a youtube video someone posted with a great example of the fountain’s
beauty and attraction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4M4ar3f-0E
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| Image from online of the Singing Fountain in Summer with Colonnade behind it |
Also closed for the season are all the spring water
fountains so everyone must go to the main Colonnade to get their treatments
which is fine for me it’s on my way back to the hotel but for some I’m sure it is rather inconvenient. It’s really
not a winter city although on my walk I came across a ski slope, admittedly a
very small one but it’s only a 4 minute walk from the city center area and
right behind a few hotels. I got a picture of a large tractor like contraption
that was being driven up and down the small slope making it all smooth and nice
for the waiting skiers. It’s like an Zamboni but for the snow. I’d never seen anything
like it before but then again I don’t spend much time near ski slopes. There were
several kids going into the lodge next door with their parents carrying their
little skies, so cute. |
| Snow Smoothing Machine on Small Ski Slope |
Unlike Karlovy Vary where much of the city is one long promenade
with the River Tepla running down the middle and where people stroll day and
night in one straight line. Here, with the park taking up a great deal of space
in the middle, most people are strolling but in all different directions and
areas of the city.
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| Butterfly Hotel Spa Pool |
You can walk the whole of the main part of the city at a
slow pace in about a half hour but with all the mini-hills that are off shoots
from the main street it does considerably longer to really enjoy the whole
city. I only walked a few parts before taking a break at the Butterfly Hotel
Spa which like the Roman bath yesterday is open to the public for several hours
each day. I thoroughly enjoyed their thermal swimming pool, whirlpool, sauna
and inferred resting area for two warm, lovely hours before getting something
lunch at a small Italian restaurant on one of the mini-hills.
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| Nove Lazne Hotel Spa (Roman Bath) beautiful painted ceiling. Taken during my visit to the spa yesterday |
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| Nove Lazne Hotel Spa (Roman Bath) beautifully tiled pool with marble pillars surrounding it. Taken during my visit to the spa yesterday |
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| Nove Lazne Hotel Spa (Roman Bath) main entrance |
I walked for a while longer but stopped to get my spring
water first. Oh, it really tastes so bad. Imagine taking cat fur, a dash of dog
fur and boil it in some water then add some kerosene or gasoline and a little
seltzer water and I think you’d have this concoction that nature has brought
from the earth for us to enjoy (or not endure I should say.)
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Cross Spring (Křížový) – because of a carved wooden cross that stood beside the spring -
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| Cross Spring Interior - Counter with spring water fountains. Mine is the second from the right |
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| Enclosure formed around where the main spring bubbles up from the earth and why they built the Colonnade around this spot |
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| Chandelier hanging over the above spring enclosure. People congregate around the circular , column lined enclosure as they slowly drink their water and socialize. |
The first names of the Springs were recorded in 1766 by
Johann Josef Zauschner:
Ambrose Spring (Ambrožův) – After the Abbot Ambroz of Tepla,
Cross Spring (Křížový) – because of a carved wooden cross
that stood beside the spring,
Rudolph Spring (Rudolfův) – crown prince and heir of Franz
Joseph I. – Rudolf,
Mary Spring (Mariin) – because an image of the Virgin Mary
hung near the spring.
Then came:
Karolina Spring,
Ferdinand Spring,
Forest Spring (Lesní),
Anthony Spring (Antonínův),
Parish Acidulous Waters (Farská kyselka),
Alexandra Spring,
Pirate Spring (Pirátův).
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| Iron Colonnade The Pseudo-Baroque cast-iron Colonnade from 1889. It's next to the Cross Colonnade and behind the Singing Fountain. |
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Karolina Spring, bubbles up under the old colonnade under
the church, where it was in 1809, named the New Spring. In 1817 it was covered
by a dome with 8 corinthian columns and named in honour of the then Emperor
Franz I's wife- Karolina Augusta.
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Karolina Spring, bubbles up under the old colonnade under
the church, where it was in 1809, named the New Spring. In 1817 it was covered
by a dome with 8 corinthian columns and named in honour of the then Emperor
Franz I's wife- Karolina Augusta.
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| Iron Colonnade Roof Details |
All medicinal springs are cold mineral springs (unlike Karlovy Vary,) with temperatures that
vary from 7 to 10 degrees Celsius. It has a relatively high content of divalent
iron (10-40 mg / l). The fact that such differing springs bubble up in such a
small area, sometimes right beside each other, is a balneological miracle. The
significant differences in the chemical compositions of the springs allow these
springs to be categorized as curative treatments for a whole range of diseases
of various organs. The amount of water prescribed for a curative drink depends
on the diagnosis and the patient - usually 3/4 of a litre per day.
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| Sculpture in Park |
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| View of Hotels across from the Park |
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| Interesting Old Window Grating |
Mineral springs are also used for inhalations and mineral
baths. Baths reduce blood pressure; improve heart and kidney function and
improve blood circulation to the brain and lower extremities.
Mariánské Lázně is the second largest Czech spa town with a
wealth of mineral springs. Within the town itself approximately 40 springs rise
and in the town's close surroundings there can be found nearly 100 more
springs. The area of the present spa was originally owned by the Premonstratensian
Monastery in Teplá and the Abbot Karel Kašpar Reitenberger pushed through the
idea with the monastery doctor Johann Josef Nehr to build the first spa at the
beginning of the 19th century.
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| Iron Colonnade Window Details |
The basis of this grandiose project proposed by the architect
Václav Skalník required significant terrain modifications on which the parks
were subsequently created. Other than the town's springs, the parks are perhaps
the most significant and imposing feature of the town. The valley in which
Mariánské Lázně sits was in ancient times a place of wild nature, dense forests
with decaying tree stumps and deep swamps making it a place worthy of the label
'a God forgotten area'. This desolate place at that time, hid the wealth that
is the mineral springs we know today.
The main spa promenade and town's most significant monument
is the Colonnade, which was made from cast iron in 1889. The drinking treatment
springs Cross (Kříž), Carolina(Karolina) and Rudolf are directed to outlets on
the Colonnade. In front of the Colonnade is the town's biggest tourist
attraction, the Singing Fountain.
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| Add caption |
The town of Mariánské Lázně is a symbol of the perfect
harmony created by a blend of natural surrounding resources and human efforts.
The evidence is clear to see by the sensitive and intelligent positioning of
the buildings that have been located amidst the lush green forested valley to
subsequently create the town. Within this idyllic setting the town boasts a rich
variety of architectural styles including, new classicism, new renaissance, art
nouveau and a variety of different religious buildings. In 1992 the town was
officially designated as a conservation area.”
I stopped for a snack in the park to warm up, the yummy Trdelnik
round, sweet, nutty, doughy cylinder that’s heated on metal spikes over a
grill. I talked about them in my Prague blog entry.
And I stopped off at the Roman Catholic Church of the
Assumption which is located just up the hill from the main Colonnade. “The
Neo-Byzantine style church was built in 1844-1848. The construction of the
church was initiated by the abbot Marian J. Heinl of the Monastery of Teplá, in
the spirit of the abbot K. K. Reitenberger who had resigned. The plan of the
orthogonal (In geometry,
orthogonal means "involving right angles") basilica,
erected at the site where the Chapel of the Birth of the Virgin Mary had been
standing since 1820, was designed by the architect Johann Gottfried Gutensohn
of Munich.
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| Church of the Assumption |
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| Church of the Assumption |
The sculptures decorating the church were created by the
sculptor Josef Max of Prague, together with his student Josef Paris and
assistants. Within the church, visitors may admire the altars consecrated to
St. John and St. Norbert, as well as The Sacred Heart and The Holy Cross, not
to mention The Stations of the Cross from 1886, created by the painter Mathauser
of Prague. The statue of the beatified nobleman Hroznata is among several other
noteworthy artworks to be seen. The original church bells dating back to 1835
and 1847 made by W. Sedlmayer of Planá and J. di Valle of Cheb were partly
commandeered during the world wars.”
Among the many sculptures in the park are a series of large
caramel colored stone creations and fortunately there was a plaque describing
their origin which I’ve retyped here “The International Sculptors' Symposium
XVIII in Vejprty (July 10th - July 20th, 2010) "Stone and People" -
welcomed 17 sculptors from Bohemia, Germany, Holland, England, Isreal, Spain,
the Ukraine and the USA. The artists
created their works for this charitable and cultural project for ten days. Eight of the works went to Marianske
Lazne. The idea of organizing symposiums
for health and other facilities was born in 1992 and the aim was to compensate
for the fifty-year-long lack of freedom in thinking and in understanding
plastic art. Every year several thousand
people can see works of art which are often the only examples of sculptural art
of this or that country in the Czech Republic.”
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"Something Fishy" by Robert Sloan, England
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"Who Knows?" by Alan and Christine Ward, England
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"Fast?!" by Frank Rassbach, Germany
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"Lion King" by Niro Sharf, Israel
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"Reading in the Park" by Jose Luiz Ruiz Aguila,
Spain
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"High Flying Driver" by Poul Cook, England
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"Reading in the Park" by Jose Luiz Ruiz Aguila,
Spain
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"Qartus" by Miroslava Nova, Czech Republic
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"Sun Dance" by Ihor Dushka, Ukraine
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So after getting my evening water cure (yuk!) I enjoyed a
stroll back to my hotel and looked forward to the warmth of my room.
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| Sculpture in the Park |
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| Dragon Sculpture in the park |
Across from my hotel is a small park and is described for walks online: "Walk through the park (beech alley) to Forest Spring (Lesní
pramen) . You can visit the music pavilion opposite the Forest Spring Pavilion.
The park at Forest Spring - also dubbed Martinko's (Lesní pramen - Martinkův) -
is considered by experts to be one of the most beautiful parks in the Czech
Republic. It is the work of Ing Zbyněk Martinko, who took care of the local
parks while chief of the Town Garden in 1955-1980. The sculpture 'Three
Graces', a work by Olbram Zoubek from 1991, is located in front of the Forest
Spring Pavilion."
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| Forest Spring Park |
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| Forest Spring Park creek where I picked up some tiny stones |
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| Forest Spring Park Creek |
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| Three Graces', a work by Olbram Zoubek from 1991 |
