Smetana Park

Location: In the northern outskirts of the spa centre of Karlovy Vary
Date of foundation: 1905 - 1906
Architect: Unknown
Official opening: 1906
Accessibility: Freely accessible

How to get there

Route 1: You may reach Smetana Park from the Hot Spring in the spa centre if you walk along the Teplá River past the Thermal Hotel and the Main Post Office. The pleasant walk through the town centre is about 1.5 kilometres long and it will take you roughly thirty minutes.

Route 2: If you decide for the second alternative, travel by Bus No. 2 from Divadelní náměstí (Theatre Square) to the "Tržnice" (Market) city bus terminal. From there, continue for about 300 metres up Varšavská Street and Nábřeží osvobození (Liberation Embankment) along Elizabeth Baths all the way to the park.

History of the site

In the 1880s, a tree nursery was opened in the then Emperor Franz Joseph I Park in the northern outskirts of Karlovy Vary. Between 1905 and 1906, the town had a modern Pseudo-Baroque building of Elizabeth Baths constructed within the park. In front of its Art-Nouveau facade and the ramp for carriages, a park was founded in the form of a historicist French-style formal garden.

The park, in its original form and layout, was later named after famous Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. It is dominated by the Pseudo-Baroque building of Elisabeth Baths, in front of which you may see a fountain with a nude girl made by Břetislav Benda in 1963. A four-rowed alley of shaped lime trees forms a green wall that stretches towards the forefront of the spa building. At the park entrance, you may find a distinctive flowerbed with the current date updated daily in its centre. The paths in the park are lined with benches, inviting visitors to sit down and relax.