12. THE PARK SPRING - Military Spa Sanatorium 39,6oC 1,5 l/min
The temperature of the mineral springs is related to the average temperature of the season (+ -3oC). The springs can be found in the following colonnades: Sprudel Colonnade Open daily 6 a.m.-6.30 p.m. The Mill Colonnade, the Park Colonnade and the Market Colonnade are open nonstop The Colonnades of the Castle Springs are closed
The Sprudel
SPRING No. 1 Temperatur 73oC, CO2 content 400 mg/l, yield 2.000 l/min. Water for the drinking cure is diverted to five spring vases in the Sprudel Colonnade. Spring vases A contain sprudel water with its original temperature, while spring vases B and C contain water which has been cooled down to 57 and 41oC. The Sprudel is not only a symbol of the biggest Bohemian spa town, it is its pulsing heart as well. Almost everything, that makes Karlovy Vary a spa town, depends on it – it supplies all spa facilities with thermal water and carbon dioxide, it's the basic raw material from which Karlovy Vary sprudel salt and souvenirs are made. The fountain shooting up to a height of some 14 metres in the colonnade hall and attracting attention of all visitors to our town, is one of the branches of the Sprudel. The same can be said about other Karlovy Vary springs as well - they all are branches of the Sprudel and depend on it. The Sprudel had been known to people long before the spa town was founded. Thermal water welled out from the depth of the Earth in the lowest part of the valley, namely in the bed of the Tepl River. It was only after the spa town had been founded that the water of the Sprudel started to be captured and used in the spa treatment. At first thermal water was captured right in the bed of the Tepl River. But because of frequent floods it was necessary to find another solution. About 1500 the spring started to be captured on the right bank of the Tepl River. The water was led by means of its gravity feeding through a system of channels to spa houses. Here the patients took their baths and drank the curative water. Relatively shallow captures of the Karlovy Vary Sprudel were replaced with four aslant wells which are much deeper (48-89 m).
The Charles IV. Spring
SPRING No. 2 Temperature 63,8oC, CO2 content 237 mg/l, yield 4,8 l/min. An old legend says that it was right at this spring where the founder of the spa town himself, the emperor and king Charles IV, tried to cure his sore limbs. There is a
monument by Zörkler above the springs vase. Its name is "The Discovery of Karlovy Vary". Small thermal springs have existed in
this place since long ago. They could be found in the arcade of the old town hall. When in 1895 the stairs of the Plague Column were re-laid, new springs were discovered. They sprang from under a layer of sprudel stone which was 1 metre thick. The water was collected in two reservoirs and special pipes led it to the colonnade. But the richness of the new springs gradually sank and from the World War I another solution to the problem had to be used. Water was brought from the nearest rich spring - the Lower Castle Spring by means of pipes which were 85 metres long. This was quite a satisfactory solution when the spa season lasted for five months only. Thermal water from the hot Castle Spring cooled down on its way to the colonnade and its temperature was quite pleasant and suitable for the drinking cure. The situation became complicated after the spa season had been extended to the whole year - in winter the temperature of the water in the spring
sank by some 30oC.
The Lower Castle Spring
It's closed. It can be found inside the Castle Colonnade which was built from the plans of the famous architect Ohmann from Vienna. There is a sandstone relief behind the spring vase which depicts "The Protector of the Springs". Both the colonnade and the spring were named after the hunting-lodge which had been built by Charles IV's order. The Lower Castle Spring can be found in the very centre of the spa district, at the foot of the Castle Hill. The first records date back to 1769 but
it was known that the spring existed before. Children dug a hole and made a small pool where the warm water poured out from the earth and bathed in it. Cows drank it when they
were driven home from the pasture. It was at that time that the spring caught the attention of spa doctors. When all the drinking water had frozen in the cold winter of 1784, the water from the Castle Spring was diverted to the public fountain. Doctor David Becher made the first chemical analysis of the spring at that time and he found out, that it had the same composition as the
Sprudel. It was discovered that the mineral water came out from a rift in granite which was running
under the houses standing on the Castle Hill. But during l8O9, the Sprudel
burst the spring disappeared and it re-appeared after 14 long years. The colonnade was built here in 1911. Construction plans were made by the architect Ohmann. When the small Karlovy Vary springs were being held, three wells were sunk in the neighbourhood of the Castle Spring. One of them discovered a big tributary of the spring at a depth of 31 metres. It was very rich - 200 l/min. Of all the small mineral springs in Karlovy Vary this was the richest. It is a pity that the water from the Castle Spring flows into drains today. Unfortunately, the Castle Colonnade has fallen into decay and that's why it has been closed for many years.
The Upper Castle Spring
SPRING No. 4 is closed. A part of the thermal water from the reservoir of the Lower Castle Spring is diverted to a small pavilion which was built over this "new" spring in 1912. When the construction of the Castle Colonnade was being prepared in 1911,the head of the Karlovy Vary Spring Office, Robert Kampe, made an interesting suggestion to the author of the building project, the architect Ohmann from Vienna. His idea was to bring a small part of water from the Lower Castle Spring to a level which would have been several metres higher. The mixture of water and gas is lighter than water according to physical laws. It means in the case of Karlovy Vary springs that the delivery height of each of them depends on the amount of gaseous carbon dioxide which the thermal water contains. In this case a very narrow pipe was used. Thermal water with a very high amount of carbon dioxide (about 1 litre/min) was led through it from the Lower Castle Spring as far as the pavilion of the Upper Castle Spring. This technical "innovation" had another effect: the final values of the "new" spring differed considerably from the original source. The explanation is easy: during its way through the pipes the temperature of the thermal water sinks and the solubility of carbon dioxide increases. In the case of the Castle Spring the temperature sank below 50oC and the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide rose to 763 mg/l. (Compare: the temperature of the Lower Castle Spring was 62,3oC and it contained 660mg CO2/l). The Upper Castle Spring ranked among the twelve springs which were used in the drinking cure. Unfortunately the Castle Colonnade is in a very bad condition at present and so the curative water flows away to drains without being used.
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The Market Spring
SPRING No. 5 Temperature 61,6oC, CO2 content 363 mg/l, yield 4,9 l/min. An old legend says that it was somewhere between the present Charles and Market Mineral Springs where the founder of the spa town, Charles IV, tried to cure his sore legs.According to F. Summer (1571) the first bathing facilities in Karlovy Vary used to stand right in this place. Both small and big thermal springs have existed here since time immemorial. They often disappeared and then they reappeared again. A big thermal spring by the name of Creusin rose from the earth here. People called it "Glutton".The Market Spring itself was discovered between the chemist's with the name "White Eagle" and a house that used to be called "Giraffe" relatively late, only in 1838. It rose from a rift in the vein of sprudel stone which was 15 cm thick. The vein was closed in the granite massif at the foot of the Castle Tower. The spring almost disappeared in the course of work on the Sprudel. When the work had been finished, it did not reappear in its full strength. That was why a new and deeper well was made in 1848 but it did not bring any result. In 1853 a leak of the spring was discovered. It was hold with a new well at a depth of 60 cm. Thermal water from this well was used for several years. After the town hall and some houses in its neighbourhood had been pulled down in 1879, a new well was made. Another well was made a hundred years ago, in winter of 1893-94. Wooden reservoirs were replaced with tin bells at that time. The last shallow well dated back to the time before the World War I. As the delivery head of the springs was some 2 metres under the floor of the Market Colonnade, it was necessary to descend some steps to reach them. Originally the Market Colonnade was a provisional arrangement. It should have been replaced with a new construction and at the same time the problem of the access to the spring should have been solved. The Market Colonnade was built in 1893 and at present it ranks among the most valuable historical monuments in the town. It has been reconstructed recently. A new well has made it possible to bring the water of the Market Spring above the level of the promenade.
The Mill Spring
SPRING No. 6 Temperature 52,7oC, CO2 content 451 mg/l, yield 4,5 l/min. It was named after the mill which used to stand in the neighbourhood till the end of the 18th century. A marble plate with the original Latin text of the "Ode to the Sprudel" by the Czech humanist Bohuslav Hasištejnský dating from 1500, was placed above the spring vase. The spring gave the name to the biggest colonnade in Karlovy Vary. The spring was known in as early as the 16th century and it was used especially for baths. In 1705 the famous Karlovy Vary doctor F. Hoffmann recommended it for the drinking cure. A spa facility with four boxes was established here soon after it. From the present point of view it was the first balneologic facility in Karlovy Vary. The history of the place is closely connected with the name of Kaiserin Maria Theresa. In order to help the town (it was badly hit by fire in 1759), she bought a piece of land in the neighbourhood and ordered a new spa house to be built here. Its name was the Mill Spa House and it cost 23,000 guilders. She donated it to the town of Karlovy Vary 14 years later. Up to 1908 the Mill Spring was situated under the level of its floor and you had to descend three steps to reach it. The wells which were done in the neighbourhood of the Mill Spring in the early 80s were parts of an extensive geological research. They proved the existence of thermal water in the system of rifts. The temperature of the water was higher than 70oC. It was necessary to collect the spring deep enough to prevent its contamination. It also had to have the right temperature -i.e. not too high. Now the well of the Mill Spring is 24 metres deep. The Mill Spring has always been very popular with patients who were waiting in long queues in front of it, especially in the morning. In the past the Mill Spring was bottled and it could be bought all over the country.
The Nymph Spring
SPRING No. 7 Temperature 60,1oC, CO2 content 512 mg/l, yield 4,8 l/min. It is the famous New Spring on which the attention of all spa guests concentrated in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since 1748 a wooden colonnade
has been standing above it. Spa doctors had their surgeries right next to the spring. David Becher, a famous Karlovy Vary polyhistor, was one of them. The drinking cure became a social event – the original wooden colonnade had to be extended (1793, 1811) because it was constantly crowded with patients. Later the spring became a part of the Mill Colonnade. The Mill Colonnade (1871-1881) was planned and built by the architect Zítek. The privileged position of the New Spring was later taken over by the Mill Spring. The water of the New Spring was hidden under the alluvia of the Tepl river. In 1746 Karlovy Vary doctor Springfeld initiated the collection of the spring. A wooden reservoir was built and the spring started to be used in the drinking cure. Doctor Springfeld himself made a chemical analysis of the mineral water and he preferred the curative power of the New Spring to the Sprudel. In 1762 the reservoir was rebuilt and water rose some feet higher thanks to its own upper pressure (the jars were filled with water right in the reservoir before). But the water gave out an unpleasant smell - it smelt like bad eggs. The smell was caused by hydrogen sulphide which came into being through the reaction of pine wood and mineral water.(A part of the reservoir was made of pine wood). Pine wood was later replaced with linden wood but the smell didn't disappear. In spite of it linden wood was used up to the 60s of the last century. After the World War II the New Spring was renamed and it started to be called the Nymph Spring.
In 1984 a new well was made and the water was held at a height of 7,8 m under
the floor of the colonnade.
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