How the springs were captured: from timber casings to deep boreholes

What it means to capture a spring

A mineral spring does not simply run out of a pipe. In nature it rises wherever it finds a way through a fissure in the rock — often scattered, in a marsh, in peat or in a brook's floodplain, where it mixes with ordinary ground and surface water. Capturing a spring is the art of collecting such an outlet: separating the mineral water from plain water, keeping its composition and yield stable, and bringing it to where it can be drunk or used for baths.

The history of Marienbad's springs is therefore also a history of engineering. It starts with timber boxes and stone linings, moves on to brick cones and stoneware pipes, and ends with boreholes tens, even a hundred metres deep. The facts in this article come from the chapter by spring historian Jaromír Bartoš in the 2018 book on Marienbad's mineral springs.

The Cross Spring: two hundred years in search of a steady flow

The Cross Spring is one of the longest-used springs in town; the first written records of drinking cures date from the early 17th century. It owes its name to Damián Schulz, an apothecary from Teplá. In 1749 he began evaporating its water and sold the resulting salt far and wide as Sal Teplensis. Near the spring he had a wooden cross erected — and the spring is named after it to this day. The first known improvements date from the same time: the surroundings were cleared, surface water was diverted and the outlet was lined with flat stones.

The first proper capture was carried out in 1790 by the monastery physician Johann Josef Nehr: an octagonal timber casing fitted with a ring of polished serpentine. Nearby rose the so-called Retching Spring, with similar effects but uncaptured and polluted. It was filled in in 1818, and a representative pavilion on Ionic columns was built over the Cross Spring.

Its yield kept fluctuating, however, as the rising channels silted up. The most extensive works came in 1911–1913: the old pavilion was demolished, the ground dug out to a depth of four metres, and over two hundred square metres more than 36 outlets were collected with tin funnels. Their water flowed into a collecting tank and from there into an overflow vase.

Even that was not enough. In 1936 boreholes were used for the first time — Cross Spring I at 17.4 m, II at 30 m and III at 45 m. Borehole I collapsed completely in 1945, and the yield of borehole II dropped to just 0.29 litres per minute. The spring reached its highest yield, 3.3 l/min, in 1953; two years later it fell sharply and began to flow intermittently. In 1955–1956 boreholes I and II were therefore sealed, borehole III beneath the pavilion dome was re-drilled to a wider profile, and a new borehole IV was sunk to 83.5 metres in front of the bust of Dr Nehr. According to the book, this arrangement is still in use unchanged.

The Ambrose Spring: timber, stoneware, brick

The Ambrose Spring shows how the materials changed. In 1807 it received the timber casing usual at the time, which lasted until 1911, when stoneware pipes replaced it. In 1926, after a marked drop in its iron content, three groups of outlets were uncovered seven metres down; a conical capture of hard-fired brick took them in and three pipes led them to overflow vases. More about the spring of love in the A Doctor's Word instalment on the Ambrose Spring.

The Ferdinand Spring: salt for a king

The Ferdinand Spring is the oldest spring in Marienbad's written records. A letter from King Ferdinand I asked the abbot of Teplá for water samples to analyse — the king hoped for a deposit of cooking salt, which the Kingdom of Bohemia lacked. For a long time the outlet was a waterlogged marsh with mineral salts blooming on the surface. It was properly captured only in 1819, with a timber shaft 6.5 metres deep; in the same year it took the king's name, having been known until then simply as the Úšovice spring.

From 1869 its water was pumped to the Nové Lázně bath house, and a year later to the colonnade as well. The pumping, though, made its composition unstable and the spring mixed with plain water. Survey works in 1922–1930 therefore captured eight new springs in the area; Ferdinand I is collected by a borehole 20.5 metres deep.

The Caroline Spring: a colonnade that moved

The Caroline Spring was discovered in 1809 while the promenade between the Cross Spring and the Central Baths was being laid out; at first it was simply called the New Spring. It received its present name in 1819 in honour of Empress Caroline Augusta. From 1811 a small pavilion on eight Corinthian columns stood over it, replaced in 1872 by a raised two-winged colonnade.

What is striking is where the water went: after the capture was renewed, it was not brought up to the colonnade but piped to Nové Lázně for baths. That remained the case even after a new capture 11 metres deep in 1929 — the spring only returned to the colonnade in 1981. In 1986–1990 the whole colonnade was rebuilt: the 1872 structure was demolished and a replica erected in its place, moved 12.8 metres closer to the Cross Spring. The original outlet is marked only by a symbol in the stone paving.

The Rudolph Spring: from meadow to borehole

The Rudolph Spring started life as the Meadow Spring in the fields of the Úšovice farmers. It received Crown Prince Rudolph's name in the summer of 1867, after being captured in a shallow side pit. In 1902 the capture was deepened to four metres, and in 1937 a borehole at least ten metres deep followed, so that the spring would not mix with water from the brook's floodplain. Today the water bottled under its name comes from the nearby boreholes BJ-36 and BJ-37. More in the A Doctor's Word instalment on the Rudolph Spring.

The Forest and Josef springs: a replacement from a hundred metres down

The Forest Spring received its first documented capture and a thatched shelter in 1827–1828. In 1869 came a new capture and a new colonnade designed by the Marienbad architect Friedrich Zickler; the capture was last reconstructed in 1905 — a bell-shaped capture 6.9 metres deep. The pavilion has been glazed since 1956.

In 1999 the spring was contaminated during work on the sewers and its use was banned. A replacement with similar water was sought, and in 2001 borehole HV-40 was sunk to a depth of a hundred metres in the valley floor not far from the Forest Spring. It tapped the Josef Spring, which gained the status of a natural source in 2003. It is named after the architect Josef Schaffer, whose designs include the Nové Lázně bath house and the Casino assembly hall. According to the 2018 book, the Forest Spring is safe again; why it is best drunk right at the source is explained in the A Doctor's Word instalment on the Forest Spring.

The Maria Spring: a pool without water

The Maria springs are unusual in that what rises from them is mainly gas — carbon dioxide. The first record dates from 1609, and the name Maria Spring appears from 1766. Legend tells of a discharged soldier who, in gratitude for the healing of his lame legs, fixed a picture of the Virgin Mary to a nearby tree.

At first the outlets were simply fenced with timber logs, forming a small pool of bubbling water. The largest works took place in 1929–1932: in a shaft of 22 × 6 metres, six outlets, Maria I to VI, were captured, five of them with separating cylinders for the gaseous carbon dioxide. The neighbouring pool of plain water, whose hydrostatic pressure pushed the mineral water into the cylinders, was filled in at the end of the 1980s. In 2006, after the ageing roof structure collapsed, the technical space was turned into a gas pool — and the gas for treatments is still drawn from it today. How carbon dioxide is used in spa treatment is explained on our CO₂ therapy page.

The Anthony and Balbín springs: for refreshment and for baths

Not every spring served for treatment. The people of Úšovice had known the Anthony Spring for ages; in 1933 it was captured by the railway embankment and piped to a drinking vase on the village green. In 1986 the architect M. Brixa built a modern roof over it. It is drunk simply for refreshment.

The Balbín Spring appeared in 1853 when peat was being cleared: three outlets were captured in shallow timber boxes and were more of an excursion goal than a remedy. In 1921 the water was captured in perforated stone pipes and piped to Nové Lázně for carbon dioxide baths.

Three centuries at a glance

Year	What happened
1749	Apothecary Damián Schulz makes Sal Teplensis from the Cross Spring and erects a wooden cross
1790	Johann Josef Nehr makes the first proper capture of the Cross Spring
1807	The Ambrose Spring receives a timber casing
1819	First capture of the Ferdinand Spring; the Caroline Spring receives its name
1867	The Meadow Spring becomes the Rudolph Spring
1869	New capture and Zickler's colonnade at the Forest Spring
1911–1913	Tin funnels collect more than 36 outlets of the Cross Spring
1926	Conical brick capture of the Ambrose springs
1929–1932	Six Maria Spring outlets with separating cylinders
1936	First boreholes at the Cross Spring
1955–1956	Borehole Cross Spring IV sunk to 83.5 m
1986–1990	Replica of the Caroline Spring colonnade
1999–2003	Contamination of the Forest Spring, borehole HV-40 and the Josef Spring
2006	Gas pool of the Maria Spring

If you want to experience the springs for yourself, you will find practical profiles in the springs overview, the wider picture on our Mineral springs page and how to drink them in the drinking cure guide. The story of the building under which most guests walk to the springs today is told in History of the colonnade.

Sources

Studies and official documents this article relies on. Our content does not replace medical advice.

1. Bartoš J.: A brief history of the mineral springs in Mariánské Lázně. In: Bartoš J., Nečasová D., Knára P.: Minerální prameny v Mariánských Lázních k pitné léčbě. FORNICA graphics, 2018, ISBN 978-80-87194-54-6 — The dates, depths of captures and boreholes, and names in this article come from this chapter. It describes the state of the captures as of 2018.

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