Mariánské Lázně. From a plane you can see a wonderful bright pearl in the green sea of Slavkovský les (Slavkov Forest). Is it possible that just 200 years ago there was inhospitable almost uninhabitable valley full of swamps and bogs with nearly no ways and paths?
This area belonged to Teplá premonstrate monastery from where the idea of using the healing power of springs for treatment of ill people and people in need was launched.
When the monastery doctor Johann Josef NEHR made certain of the healing power of the springs, when young energetic abbot Karel Kašpar REITENBERGER enforced building up of the spa despite the opposition of the monastery monks (and he had to spend 33 years in the exile in Tyrol for the price), and when an extraordinary garden architect Václav SKALNÍK changed the wilderness into a town full of parks, charming pavilions and walking trails, the valley surrounded by heights started to attract ill people from the far neigbourhood and at last from all the world.
Mariánské Lázně is the second largest Czech spa, which is very rich in mineral springs. There are forty springs within the area and one hundred in the immediate vicinity. The land consisting of today's spa belonged to the Premonstrate Monastery of Teplá, whose abbot K. K. Reitenberger launched the construction of the original baths early in the 19th century, as envisioned by the monastery doctor J. J Nehr. According to the grandiose designs of the architect V. Skalník, terrain transformations were carried out, and parks were created. Today these, together with the numerous springs, represent the essential features of the town. In 1866, Mariánské Lázně was declared a city and by the beginning of the 20th century ranked among the most important spa centers in Europe.
The pseudo-Baroque cast-iron Colonnade from 1889 is the main promenade of the spa and an important architectural monument. The water from the Cross, Caroline's and Rudolph's Springs is piped to the Colonnade for the drinking cures. The Singing Fountain, located in front of the Colonnade, also captures the attention of visitors. The Ferdinand's, Forest and Ambrose's Springs are among the best known springs in Mariánské Lázně.
The spa pavilions were mostly built in the classicist and neo-Renaissance style, while most of the buildings in the spa district of the town bear the imprints of the Art Nouveau style. The Church of the Assumption rises next to the Colonnade. The Russian Church of St. Vladimir and the Anglican Church are located behind the Main Avenue, in the western part of the town