<p>Following the example of Karlovy Vary, other spa towns also want to gain new status.</p>

Karlovy Vary - Following the example of Karlovy Vary, several other spa towns in the Czech Republic will also strive for a new spa status. Its adoption should contribute, among other things, to the protection of spa architecture from insensitive interventions. This was stated to journalists today by Jiří Houdek, the chairman of the Association of Spa Towns of the Czech Republic (SLM). The development of typical spa architecture and urbanism will be the main topic of the 15th SLM conference in Karlovy Vary.
The new spa status of Karlovy Vary was approved by the government in August. It does not allow, for example, the construction of high-rise buildings or noisy industrial operations. According to Houdek, this is the first modern statute that a spa town in the Czech Republic has managed to obtain. "SLM has been trying since 1995 to change the socialist formulations in spa statutes and turn them into tools for the protection of spas. So far, this has only succeeded in Karlovy Vary," he noted.
Other spa towns will now follow the Karlovy Vary model, with statutes being worked on in Třeboň, Jáchymov, and Lázně Bělohrad, Houdek reported. "The current times with state budget cuts to spa care may discourage many spas from obtaining this status. It is questionable whether, with the decrease in funds, some facilities won't want to change to commercial uses. And the status could hinder that," Houdek stated.
The protection of spa urban complexes is, in any case, considered one of the priorities for maintaining clientele by SLM. The mayor of Karlovy Vary, Petr Kulhánek, shares the same opinion. Thanks to the new status, the spa metropolis aims to prevent mistakes such as the construction of a garage building next to the Imperial Hotel, and insensitive interventions into other buildings in the city. "We want to protect the architecture also because of the effort to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site," Kulhánek stated.
Karlovy Vary is striving for UNESCO designation alongside Františkovy Lázně and Mariánské Lázně, as well as with the Moravian spa town of Luhačovice. Additionally, other European spas are set to be inscribed. For example, Baden-Baden, Wiesbaden, Bad Kissingen (Germany), the Italian Montecatini Terme, British Bath, Spa from Belgium, and French Vichy. One of the decisive factors that will be assessed is the architectural uniqueness of these sites.