Teplice (German Teplitz, formerly Teplitz-Schönau, in 1945–1946 Teplice-Šanov) is a statutory spa town in the Ústí Region. It lies 15 km west of Ústí nad Labem in a wide valley between the Ore Mountains and the Bohemian Central Mountains. The dominant feature of the town visible from afar is Doubravská hora. Teplice has approximately 50,000 inhabitants and is known as a spa town and its football club FK Teplice. Until the Second World War, the city was nicknamed Little Paris for its high cultural level and classical architecture.
Archaeological excavations testify that prehistoric
hunters lived in the town 10–40 thousand years ago. In the 4th
century BC, the Celts lived here, followed by the Germanic tribes of
the Marcomanni and Quadi.
According to Hájek's chronicle,
thermal springs were discovered here in 762, but the first credible
mention of a part of the town of Trnovany comes from 1057, and
another from the end of the 12th century. Near the older Slavic
village, around 1160, Queen Judith, the wife of Vladislav II,
founded a Benedictine monastery. After about a hundred years, a
fortified Gothic town was built on a rectangular floor plan. An
important trade route to Saxony passed through Teplice. The
monastery disappeared at the end or soon after the end of the
Hussite wars, after the battle of Ústí nad Labem in 1426 and before
1436, when the monastery buildings became the property of Jakoubek
of Vřesovice.
The lords often changed in Teplice, a
Renaissance chateau was built on the site of the monastery and spas
continued to develop. The last Czech owner of Teplice, Vilém Kinský
of Vchynice and Tetovo, was assassinated together with Albrecht of
Wallenstein in February 1634 in Cheb. The estate was confiscated by
the emperor and dedicated to John of Aldringen. He died under
mysterious circumstances the same year before he saw the manor. The
estate was inherited by Jan's sister, who brought it as a dowry to
Jerome Clary.
After the Thirty Years' War, the depopulated
population of Teplice was supplemented by the supply of German
colonists, whose descendants inhabited Teplice until its expulsion
in 1945. The first lists of spa guests, the oldest in our country,
date from 1680. The Clary family rebuilt the chateau in the Baroque
style, and in 1718 a Baroque column of the Holy Trinity (plague
column) was built from the workshop of Matyáš Bernard Braun, still
standing on Zámecké náměstí.
Industry developed in the 18th
century. After 1742, the first lignite mines were established in the
vicinity of Teplice, and the production of stockings also
flourished. Mostly wooden Teplice succumbed to most of the fire in
1793, it was restored in the Classicist style.
Teplice was
the place where in 1813 the rulers of Austria, Prussia and Russia
signed an agreement against Napoleon.
In 1938, Teplice was
annexed as part of the Sudetenland to the Third Reich.
Spas
and their visitors
The healing properties of the Teplice springs
were already known in the High Middle Ages. Already in Vincent's
report on the founding of the local monastery, it is stated that it
was founded ad aquas calidas, ie by warm waters. The choice of
consecrating the monastery to St. John the Baptist was also given by
the fact that this saint is the patron saint of water. Endowment
documents from the beginning of the 15th century document the
existence of a spa near the monastery church.
In the 16th
century, the Teplice spa gradually became known outside Bohemia. For
example, Paracelsus ranked them among the ten most important spas in
Europe. Their prosperity occurred after 1543, when the estate of
Teplice was bought by Volf of Vřesovice from the Třeštík family from
Hyršov and began their fundamental reconstruction. The main spring,
today called Pravřídlo, was then called Aukrop and was located in
the suburbs near the Spa Gate. The appearance of the spa was
captured in the middle of the 16th century by the humanist poet
Tomáš Mitis from Nymburk. In 1579, the Saxon Elector August visited
the spa in Teplice for the first time.
The devastating fire
of the town on June 1, 1793 was also a disaster for the spa. Except
for Krupská, Dlouhá and Židovská streets, all spa buildings in the
city and in the suburbs burned down. In about an hour and a half,
about two hundred buildings lay in ashes. For the spa, this meant
their complete new construction, whether it was Pravřídlo, Dámské
lázně, Knížecí lázně, Štěpánovy lázně, Chrámové lázně and Písečné
lázně.
In the second half of the 19th century, the operation
of the spa came into some conflict with the growing
industrialization of the city. The spa zone began to be surrounded
by industrial enterprises. Nevertheless, the number of visitors to
the spa was still rising. In 1878 they were visited by 10,736
people. A year later, however, the spa was hit by a catastrophe when
the Döllinger shaft was flooded. The Pravřídlo and the springs in
the immediate vicinity stopped gushing, only the Šanov springs
remained undamaged.
In the past, the Teplice Spa hosted a number of personalities who
entered both Czech and European history. One of the first known
visitors in the 17th century was Vilém Slavata of Chlum and
Košumberk, one of the actors of the defenestration of May 23, 1618.
Another important figure who visited Teplice in the 17th century was
the learned Jesuit Bohuslav Balbín. Saxon electors were regular spa
guests in the 17th - 19th centuries. Among the European rulers who
were treated in Teplice is, among others, Tsar Peter the Great
(1712). In 1764, the future emperors Joseph II lived here. and
Leopold II., King Frederick William III of Prussia visited here
regularly in 1812–1839. In 1804, King Gustav IV of Sweden underwent
treatment here. In 1812, Ludwig van Beethoven first met Johann
Wolfgang Goethe during a spa stay in Teplice.
As for the
arrivals of important personalities of cultural life, the Teplice
spa experienced its heyday in the first half of the 19th century.
Among the musicians - in addition to the aforementioned Beethoven -
the spa was visited by, among others, Fryderik Chopin, Robert
Schumann, Franz Schubert, Richard Wagner, Carl Maria von Weber,
Josef Slavík, Václav Jan Tomášek, Vojtěch Jírovec and František
Škroup. Many representatives of the national revival also stayed
here: Josef Dobrovský, Josef Jungmann, Václav Hanka, Josef Kajetán
Tyl, František Palacký, Karel Havlíček Borovský, František Ladislav
Čelakovský, Pavel Josef Šafařík and others. Important guests came to
Teplice in the second half of the 19th century. Thanks to that, the
name Little Paris was adopted for them.
Teplice is a statutory city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of
northwestern Czech Republic, serving as the capital of the Teplice
District. It lies approximately 14 kilometers west of the regional
capital Ústí nad Labem and about 72 kilometers northwest of Prague, the
national capital. Positioned near the border with Germany's Saxony
state, Teplice occupies a strategic spot in North Bohemia, nestled in
the valley of the Bílina River between the southern slopes of the Ore
Mountains (Krušné hory) to the north and the Central Bohemian Uplands
(České středohoří) to the south. This location places it within the
broader North Bohemian brown coal basin, a flat to gently rolling area
historically significant for lignite mining, which stretches east-west
and is bordered by the Ore Mountains. The city's coordinates are roughly
50.6445°N latitude and 13.8353°E longitude, with an average elevation of
228 meters above sea level. Covering a total municipal area of 23.78
square kilometers, Teplice blends urban development with natural
features, making it a prominent spa town due to its thermal springs.
Topography and Terrain
Teplice's terrain reflects its
transitional position between lowland basins and upland regions. The
northern portion of the city lies in the Most Basin, a relatively flat,
sedimentary lowland area shaped by historical mining activities and
characterized by gentle depressions and reclaimed industrial lands. In
contrast, the southern part extends into the Central Bohemian Uplands,
featuring more hilly and undulating landscapes with rocky spurs and
forested slopes. The overall topography is a mix of lowlands and
uplands, with the city built on a rocky spur at the foothills of the Ore
Mountains, which rise steeply to the north and form a natural barrier.
The highest point within the municipal boundaries is Doubravská hora, a
hill reaching 393 meters above sea level, offering panoramic views of
the surrounding basin. In the broader Teplice District, elevations vary
dramatically: the terrain is hilly in the south, flat in the central
basin, and mountainous in the north, with the district's peak at
Pramenáč mountain (910 meters) in the Ore Mountains and its lowest point
at the Bílina River bed (160 meters). This diversity contributes to a
picturesque setting, with the city often described as lying in a basin
framed by these contrasting landforms.
Hydrography and Natural
Features
The Bílina River is the primary waterway traversing Teplice,
flowing through the city in a valley that defines much of its layout and
provides a scenic corridor. This river, a tributary of the Elbe,
originates in the Ore Mountains and has historically influenced local
industry and flooding events, such as the 1879 incident where
underground springs inundated nearby lignite mines. Teplice is renowned
for its thermal and radioactive mineral springs, with temperatures
ranging from 28°C to 46°C (82°F to 115°F), emerging from deep
underground sources linked to the region's volcanic geology. The
Pravřídlo spring, for instance, reaches 41°C and has been utilized since
ancient times, contributing to the city's status as one of Europe's
oldest spa resorts. Several small fishponds dot the municipal territory,
adding to the local wetland features and supporting minor ecosystems.
Nearby lignite and peat deposits in the North Bohemian basin highlight
the area's resource-rich subsoil, though mining has led to environmental
challenges like subsidence and water contamination.
Geology
Geologically, Teplice sits in a tectonically active zone influenced by
the Bohemian Massif, with the Ore Mountains representing a fault-block
range formed during the Variscan orogeny and later shaped by erosion.
The region is part of the North Bohemian brown coal basin, underlain by
Tertiary sediments rich in lignite, which have been extensively mined.
Volcanic activity in the past has created pathways for the thermal
springs, with radioactive elements like radon present in the waters,
enhancing their therapeutic properties but also posing historical risks
during mining operations. The Central Bohemian Uplands to the south
feature basalt and phonolite rocks from ancient volcanic plugs,
contributing to the rugged hills.
Climate
Teplice experiences
a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen classification Cfb), characterized
by warm summers, cold winters, and consistent precipitation throughout
the year. It is partly cloudy year-round, with windy conditions more
prevalent in winter. The marine west coast influence moderates extremes,
but the surrounding mountains can trap cooler air in the basin during
inversions.
Annual averages include highs around 55°F (13°C),
lows around 39°F (4°C), and total precipitation of about 22 inches (559
mm), with no true dry season but higher rainfall in summer. The thermal
springs provide microclimatic warmth in spa areas, historically
attracting visitors for health benefits.
Surrounding Areas and
Environmental Context
Teplice borders Germany to the north via the
Ore Mountains, which offer hiking and skiing opportunities in nearby
peaks. To the east lies Ústí nad Labem along the Elbe River, while the
south features the rolling hills of the Central Bohemian Uplands, dotted
with volcanic remnants and protected landscapes. The North Bohemian
basin's industrial legacy, including coal mining, has led to
environmental rehabilitation efforts, transforming former mine sites
into lakes and green spaces. Notable nearby features include the Teplice
Rocks (a rock labyrinth in the Adršpach-Teplice area, though distinct
from the city itself) and the Bohemian Switzerland National Park farther
north. Overall, Teplice's geography combines natural beauty, geological
uniqueness, and human-modified landscapes, supporting its dual role as
an industrial hub and wellness destination.