Czech spa towns join united European bid for Unesco World Heritage status
The western Bohemian spa towns of Karlovy Vary, Františkovy Lázně and Mariánské Lázně have entered a wider joint bid for inclusion on the Unesco World Heritage List.
In total 11 European towns known for their healing thermal waters have joined the bid, filed in Paris on Tuesday, under the heading the “Great Spas of Europe”.
The concept behind the joint Unesco application in part highlights the role of spa towns during the 18th century through the 1930s as intellectual hotbeds that helped spread the idea of a united, democratic Europe.
The other European locales are in Germany (Bad Ems, Baden-Baden and Bad Kissingen), Austria (Baden bei Wien), Italy (Montecatini Terme), France (Vichy), Belgium (Spa), and the United Kingdom (the City of Bath).