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CARLSBAD

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 347 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARLSBAD , or KAISER-KARLSBAD (See also:

Czech, Karlovy Vary), a See also:town and celebrated watering-See also:place of Bohemia, See also:Austria, 116 m. W.N.W. of See also:Prague by See also:rail. Pop. (woo) 14,64o. It is situated at an See also:altitude of 1227 ft. and lies in the beautiful narrow and winding valley of the. Tepl at its junction with the See also:Eger, being hemmed in by precipitous See also:granite hills, covered with magnificent forests of See also:pine. The town is spread on both See also:banks of the See also:river and in the valley of the Eger, its houses being built up the See also:mountain sides in tier above tier of terraces approached by See also:long flights of steps or steep and tortuous roads. This irregularity of site and See also:plan, together with the varied See also:form and high-pitched See also:roofs of the houses, makes the place very picturesque. Among the See also:principal buildings of Carlsbad are the See also:Catholic See also:parish See also:church, built in 1732—1736 in See also:rococo See also:style; the gorgeous See also:Russian church, finished in 1897; the See also:English church; and a handsome See also:synagogue. In the first See also:rank of the other buildings stands the famous Muhlbrunnen See also:Colonnade, erected between 1871 and 1878, which, with its 103 monolithic granite Corinthian columns, is a See also:fine example of See also:modern classical See also:architecture; the Kurhaus (1865); the magnificent Kaiserbad, built in 1895 in the See also:French See also:Renaissance style, and several other bathing establishments; the Sprudel Colonnade, an imposing See also:iron and See also:glass structure, built in 1879, within which rises the Sprudel, the principal See also:spring of Carlsbad; and several hospitals and hospices for poor patients. Both banks of the Tepl are provided with quais, planted with trees, which constitute the See also:chief promenades of the centre of the town; and there are, besides, a municipal See also:park and several public gardens. The See also:mineral springs, to which Carlsbad owes its fame, rise from beneath a very hard See also:kind of See also:rock, known as Sprudelschale or Sprudeldecke, beneath which it is believed that there exists a large See also:common See also:reservoir of the hot mineral See also:water, known as the Sprudelkessel.

Several artificial apertures in the rock have been made for the See also:

escape of the See also:steam of this subterranean cauldron, which, owing to the incrustations deposited by the water, require to be cleared at See also:regular intervals. Altogether there are seventeen warm springs, with a temperature varying from 164° F. to 1o7.7° F., and two See also:cold ones. The See also:oldest, best-known, and at the same See also:time the most copious spring is the Sprudel, a hot See also:geyser with a temperature of 164° F., which gushes up in jets of 12 ft. thick to a height of about 31 ft., and delivers about 405 gallons of water per See also:minute. Other springs are the Muhlbrunnen, with a temperature of 121° F., which is after the Sprudel the most used spring; the Neubrunnen (138° F.); the Kaiser-Karl-Quelle (112° F.); the Theresienbrunnen (134° F.), &c. The warm springs belong to the class of alkaline-saline See also:waters and have all the same chemical See also:composition, varying only in their degree of temperature. The chemical composition of the Sprudel, taken to a thousand parts of water, is: 2.405 sulphate of soda, 1.298 bicarbonate of soda, 1.042 chloride of soda, o.186 sulphate of potash, o.166 bicarbonate of See also:magnesia, 0.012 bicarbonate of See also:lithium, and o•966 carbonic See also:acid See also:gas. They contain also traces of See also:arsenic, See also:antimony, See also:selenium, See also:rubidium, t'n and organic substances. The water is colourless and odourless, with a slightly acidulated and See also:salt See also:taste, and has a specific gravity of 1.0053 at 64.4° F. The waters are used both for drinking and bathing, and are very beneficent in cases of See also:liver affections, biliary and renal calculi, See also:diabetes, See also:gout, See also:rheumatism, and uric acid troubles. They are very powerful in their effect and must not be used except under medical direction, and during the cure, a carefully-regulated See also:diet must be observed, coupled with a moderate amount of exercise in the open See also:air. The number of visitors in 1901 was 51,454; in 1756 it was only 257; in 1828 it was 3713; and it attained 14,182 in 1869, and 34,396 in 189o. Carlsbad is encircled by mountains, covered with beautiful forests of pine, which are made accessible by well-kept paths.

Just above the town towers the Hirschensprung (1620 ft.), a little farther the Freundschaftshohe (1722 ft.); the See also:

Franz-Josefs-Hohe (1663 ft.); and the Aberg (198o ft.). On the opposite See also:bank of the Tepl lies the Rudolfshohe (1379 ft.); the Dreikreuzberg (1805 ft.); the See also:Konig See also:Otto's Hohe (196o ft.); and the Ewiges Leben (zo86 ft.), with the Stephaniewarte, a See also:tower, 98 ft. high, built in 1889, which commands a superb view. The town is the centre of the See also:porcelain and stoneware See also:industry of Bohemia, and manufactures a See also:special liqueur (Karlsbader Biller), besides various See also:objects from the Sprudel rock and See also:confectionery. It exported, in 1901, 24 millions of bottles of mineral water, and 160,000 lb of Sprudel salt, i.e. salt obtained by evaporation from the water of the Sprudel. Many interesting places are to be found near Carlsbad. To the See also:north is the See also:village of Dallwitz, with a porcelain factory, a handsome See also:castle and beautiful oaks extolled by Theodor Korner, under which he composed in 1812 his touching See also:elegy on the downfall of See also:Germany. To the See also:east is the watering-place of Giesshubl-Puchstein with celebrated springs, which contain alkaline waters impregnated with carbonic acid gas. To the See also:west in the valley of the Eger, the village of Aich, with a porcelain factory, and a little farther the much-visited Hans Heiling's Rock, a See also:wild and romantic spot, with which a very touching See also:legend is connected: To the See also:south=east the ruined castle of Engelhaus, situated on a rock of See also:phonolite, 2340 ft. high, built probably in the first See also:part of the 13th See also:century and destroyed by the Swedes in 1635. At the See also:foot of the mountain lies the actual village of Engelhaus. According to legend the springs of Carlsbad were discovered during a See also:hunting expedition by the See also:emperor See also:Charles IV., who built the town, which derives its name from him, on both banks of the Tepl. But the hot springs were already known two centuries before, as is indicated by the name of the river Tepl (warm), under which name the river was known in the 12th century. Besides, on the same spot stood already in the 13th century a place called Vary, which means the Sprudel.

The truth is, that the emperor Charles IV., after being cured here, built about 1358 a castle in the neighbourhood and accorded many privileges to the town. It obtained its See also:

charter as a town in 1370; the fame of the waters spread and it was created a royal See also:free town in 1707 by the emperor See also:Joseph I. The waters were used only for bathing purposes until 1520, when they began to be prescribed also for drinking. The first Kurhaus was erected in 1711 near the Muhlbrunnen, and was replaced by a larger one, built in 1761 by the empress Maria See also:Theresa. Carlsbad was nearly completely destroyed by See also:fire in 1604, and another See also:great fire raged here in 1759. It also suffered much from inundations, especially in 1582 and 1890. In See also:August 18r9 a See also:meeting of the ministers of the See also:German courts took place here under the See also:presidency of See also:Prince Metternich, when many reactionary See also:measures, embodied in the so-called " Carlsbad Decrees " (see below), were agreed upon and introduced in the various states of the German See also:Confederation. Among the extensive literature of the place see Mannl, Carlsbad and its Mineral Springs (See also:Leipzig, 1850) ; Cartellieri, Karlsbad als Kurort (Karlsbad, 1888) ; Friedenthal, Der Kurort Karlsbad Topographisch and Medizinisch (Karlsbad, 1895).

End of Article: CARLSBAD

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