UNESCO World Heritage

The Great Spa Towns of Europe

On 24 July 2021 the World Heritage Committee, at its extended 44th session chaired from Fuzhou, China, inscribed "The Great Spa Towns of Europe" on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The property bears the identification number 1613, the decision is numbered 44 COM 8B.16, and Mariánské Lázně (Marienbad) is listed in it as component 1613-005.

The serial property consists of eleven spa towns in seven European countries: Baden bei Wien (Austria), Spa (Belgium), Františkovy Lázně, Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně (Czech Republic), Vichy (France), Bad Ems, Baden-Baden and Bad Kissingen (Germany), Montecatini Terme (Italy) and the City of Bath (United Kingdom). The Czech Republic and Germany each have three towns in the inscription; all three Czech towns lie in the West Bohemian spa triangle.

UNESCO uses the term outstanding universal value. Here it denotes the European spa phenomenon, which peaked from around 1700 to the 1930s and for generations combined treatment at the springs, architecture, designed landscape and social life. The property was inscribed under criteria (ii) and (iii) — as evidence of an exchange of ideas that influenced medicine and spa culture, and as an exceptional testimony to that culture. We write about both criteria in more detail in the article Why Marienbad is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Why Marienbad?

The following values in particular contributed to the inscription of Mariánské Lázně:

• Natural healing resources: around 40 mineral springs rise in the town itself and around a hundred more in the immediate surroundings — cold acidulous waters at 7–10 °C, rich in carbon dioxide. To these are added the spring gas, peat and, since 2023, the officially confirmed healing climate; the town has held the designation of a climatic spa since then. More on the mineral springs page.
• Architectural ensemble: the Neo-Baroque Main Colonnade (1888–1889), the Cross Spring pavilion (1818–1826), the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1844–1848), the Kursaal — today's Casino (1867), the Municipal Theatre (1868) and Nové Lázně (1893–1896) form an exceptionally well-preserved ensemble from both the founding neoclassical phase and the town's golden age of 1870–1914. More on the Colonnade and Architecture pages.
• Landscape architecture: the gardener Václav Skalník began laying out the spa parks in 1817; with the architect Georg Fischer and the builder Anton Thurner he transformed the marshy valley into a park town in 1817–1823. Skalník's Gardens (Skalníkovy sady) flow seamlessly into the forest parks and on into the Slavkov Forest.
• Living tradition: drinking cures, promenades and spa rituals are practised to this day — Mariánské Lázně is not a museum but a working spa town.

The component and the buffer zone

UNESCO does not protect individual buildings alone. The Mariánské Lázně component covers 835 ha and includes:

• the whole of the urban heritage reserve — the historic spa town with all its springs, pavilions, colonnades, main spa buildings, hotels, guesthouses, villas and social buildings: the Main Colonnade with the Cross, Caroline and Rudolph Springs, Skalník's Gardens with the Singing Fountain, the Forest Spring, the historic hotels along Hlavní třída, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the Casino and the Municipal Theatre
• the surrounding therapeutic and recreational spa landscape: the Royal Golf Course to the east, Max's Valley, Smetana's Alley and Žižka's Hill to the north, the forest park with the paths to Hamelika to the south-east and the forest park around Suchý vrch with Metternich's Path to the west

The buffer zone of 3,677 ha — the largest of all eleven components — mostly follows the town's cadastral borders: it protects the forests to the north and west as well as the more recent built-up area to the south. The whole territory lies within the Slavkov Forest Protected Landscape Area (about 640 km²), where protection zones for the natural healing resources apply in addition.

History of the nomination

The nomination of the Great Spa Towns of Europe was a transnational joint initiative of seven European countries. It arose after an international conference in Baden-Baden in 2010, where a working group of the mayors of sixteen spa towns came together. The nomination dossier of more than a thousand pages was submitted to UNESCO in January 2019; in 2019–2020 it was evaluated by the advisory body ICOMOS, which published its recommendation to inscribe on 4 June 2021, and the decision followed on 24 July 2021. The Czech Republic coordinated the project as a whole.

For Mariánské Lázně the inscription is official recognition of what the town has embodied since 1808, when it received its name: a place where healing, beauty and culture come together in a unique way. The whole story, from the Teplá monastery to the present day, is on the History page.

What does it mean for visitors?

UNESCO status commits the town to the protection and sustainable development of its spa heritage. For visitors this means:

• The historic fabric of the town is protected under international standards
• New development must harmonise with the overall townscape
• The quality of the healing springs and the natural environment is monitored
• The town continues to maintain the tradition of drinking cures, promenades and spa concerts

Would you like to explore the protected monuments on foot? We have prepared a walk through the UNESCO town — from the colonnade past Nové Lázně to the Hamelika lookout tower.

Further information

Official information on the inscription, the Local Management Plan and contact details for the site manager are published by the town at muml.cz/mesto/unesco. The joint website of all eleven towns is at greatspatownsofeurope.eu. Information on current guided tours is available from the tourist information centre.