<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The idea of having a vacation
\nor leisure time, the idea of spending a one-week or a two-week holiday somewhere is
\nrather recent in history. Beginning with the 19th century, once the collective
\nrights emerged, tourism became affordable for the social classes other than the
\nelites. As for the tourist resorts, they were also quick to appear. Resorts would mostly develop nearby areas that
\nhad been previously known for the benefits the waters, of the air, or other
\nenvironmental qualities had upon the human organism. One of Europe’s most renowned
\nbalneal spas was Karlsbad, today known as Karlovy Vary, located in The Czech Republic,
\non the country’s western border with Germany. Known ever since the Middle Ages
\nfor its thermal waters with healing properties had healing effects for a number
\nof conditions, the resort enjoyed an impressive inflow of tourists. Among the famous
\nnames who visited the Karlsbad Spa were those of Russian Emperor Peter the Great, Turkey’s first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, German writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe or German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But there were also
\nRomanians who visited Karlsbad. Historian Radu Marza, in his volume Romanian Travelers
\nand patients in Karlsbad provided an account of Romanians’ presence in that
\nposh resort.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Radu Marza:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The history
\nof Karlsbad as a balneal resort begins with the Medieval age, in the 14th
\ncentury. Yet the history of Karlsbad as we all know it, with the resonance its
\nname it has today, begins in the 18th century, or thereabouts. Also
\nmentioned and documented several are names of individuals hailing from the
\nRomanian space. The first character about whom we even know very many things is
\na boyar named Barbu Stirbey, an Oltenian boyar who travelled to Karlsbad in
\nlate 18th century.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Scientific studies confirmed
\nthe resort’s beneficial action on the health condition of the human body and on
\nregaining the individual’s work capacity. As for the physicians, they are doing
\ntheir job and recommend the resort. Also thanks to the thermal waters, the breathtaking
\nnatural landscape made Karlsbad one of Europe’s top five spas. Added to that
\nwas the architecture of the buildings erected there. Just like the other
\ntourists, the Romanian tourists also arrived there drawn by the lake’s miraculous
\nproperties of the place and the beauty of the surroundings. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Historian
\nRadu Marza:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We discovered
\nthose Romanian visitors or travelers going there were in no way different from
\nvisitors coming from elsewhere. Which means they perfectly fit in with that, let’s
\njust say, that trend of going to the spa. And it was not just the trend of going
\nto Karlsbad, there were also many other spas in the European space, but also spas
\nof the Romanian space. By all means, those in the Romanian space have a scope,
\na prestige and significantly less capabilities than Karlsbad. But the
\nphenomenon is the same. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Who are the Romanian celebrities
\nwho paid a visit to the Czech spa? According to Radu Marza, there were politicians’
\nnames on the list, yet there was also info on other names, more or less.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
\nwas a physician there and he is a personality as such, it is not only as a
\nphysician that his figure is worth remembering. There were, for instance, Ionel
\nBr\u0103tianu, Queen Marie, various prime ministers, that including Iuliu Maniu,
\nNicolae Titulescu also dropped by, Constantin Argetoianu or other public
\nfigures. And there are also several sources about some of the personalities,
\nthere was a string of pieces of documentary information, other such people might have
\ndropped by as well, but they were rather low-profile, if I may say so. And then we don’t know many accurate things about their
\npresence, yet the presence of other such people is a very well documented one. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, going to the spa in Karlsbad
\nalso acquired a social dimension, and not only a healing one. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Historian Radu
\nM\u00e2rza:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Karlsbad enjoyed that kind of fame in the
\nRomanian space as well. And we even came cross, once, over a very interesting
\nsource of the 1920s, a little article published in a Romania magazine, dwelling
\non the fact that it was a matter of bad taste, wondering, in the summer or in
\nearly summer, where should you spend the summer season? Because it was obvious
\nyou would go to Karlsbad. It somehow
\nwas a social call, not going there was out of the question. You did not get any validation, socially speaking, if you didn’t go to Karlsbad. It was obvious that such a truth
\ndid not apply entirely, that kind of opinion was not a widely-accepted tenet, yet
\nvery many people had that kind of mindset. That is why Karlsbad was a place for
\nyou to go to spend your vacation, to follow this or that medical procedure, but
\nyou also went there to make yourself visible and see other people, to meet certain
\npeople of your entourage. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, the balneal resort
\nof Karlsbad was beyond reach for the lower classes, yet it was affordable for
\nthe Romanian middle class. Teachers, civil servants, banking people, petty tradesmen
\nspent their vacation in Karlsbad. After 1945, after the communist regime was
\ninstated and nationalization was forcefully implemented in both Romania and
\nCzechoslovakia, part of the working and the peasants’ class could
\nafford visiting Karlsbad. But even so, going to Karlsbad did not become a mass phenomenon
\neither, because of the strong borders and the grassroots’ low income. (EN)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian public figures in Karlsbad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[42943,40526,34791,40433,42942,42944],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-healing","tag-resort","tag-social","tag-spa","tag-thermal","tag-visible"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n