СКРЫТАЯ ЖЕМЧУЖИНА ЧЕХИИ: курорт ЮНЕСКО без толп | Marianske Lazne

This vlog captures my visit of Mariánské Lázně during the Christmas time. Mariánské Lázně is one of eleven exceptional spa towns from seven countries to be added to UNESCO’s world cultural heritage list as part of a multi-country nomination called “The Great Spa Towns of Europe”. Cooperation between the spas and a joint effort involving all the towns eventually led to UNESCO recognizing the extraordinary value of Europe’s spa traditions. Mariánské Lázně is a relatively young spa town, developed at the beginning of the 19th century in a valley where several springs with remarkable curative properties rise from the ground. However local people were aware of the springs as early as the 1200s. In 1528, King Ferdinand ordered the springs to be tested for their salt content. In the mid-19th century numerous personalities from the world of culture, science and politics arrived from all over the world to visit Mariánské Lázně. Some of the most notable names from this period include Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Prince Friedrich of Saxony, Earl Kašpar Šternberk, Joens Jakob Berzelius, Václav Jan Tomášek, and Marie Szymanowsky. The town of Mariánské Lázně fondly remembers the time Fryderyk Chopin spent here. On the main street stands the Chopin House bearing a plaque - inside you'll find the Chopin Memorial Museum. Every year the town hosts a Fryderyk Chopin Festival and there's also a street and a music school named after him. In 1872, the railway line linking the town with Cheb, Vienna, Prague and Pilsen was opened and in 1898 the line to Karlovy Vary was completed. During this period, many more great names came to take the waters in Mariánské Lázně - these include Gustav Mahler, Friedrich Nietzsche, Franz Kafka, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, Thomas Alva Edison, Pierre de Coubertin, King Edward VII of England, the Czar Nicholas II and Emperor Franz Joseph I.