Teplice
Encyclopedia
Teplice (ˈtɛplɪtsɛ), Teplice-Šanov until 1948 (ˈtɛplɪtsɛ ˈʃanof; , archaically Töplitz) is a town in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, the capital of the Teplice District
Teplice District
The Teplice District is a district in the Czech Republic and is part of the Ústí nad Labem Region along with the districts of Most, Louny, Chomutov, Litoměřice, Děčín and Ústí nad Labem...

 in the Ústí nad Labem Region
Ústí nad Labem Region
Ústí nad Labem Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the north-western part of its historical region of Bohemia...

. It is the state's second largest spa town
Spa town
A spa town is a town situated around a mineral spa . Patrons resorted to spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau...

 (after Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...

).

Teplice is located in northwestern Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 near the border with the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 state of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

. It is situated in the plain of the Bílina river, which separates the Ore Mountains  in the northwest from the Czech Central Mountains
Ceské Stredohorí
České středohoří or Central Bohemian Uplands is a mountain range located in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic. The range is about 80 km long, spanning from Česká Lípa to Bílina and from Litoměřice to Děčín , intersected by the river Elbe.The name středohoří can be roughly translated into English...

 (Czech: České středohoří) in the southeast.

History

The thermal springs
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...

 are fabled to have been discovered as early as 762, however the first authentic mention of the baths occurred in the 16th century. The settlement was first mentioned about 1158, when Judith of Thuringia
Judith of Thuringia
Judith of Thuringia was thesecond wife of Duke and later King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and after 1158 the second Queen of Bohemia.-Marriage to Vladislaus II:...

, queen consort of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia, founded a convent for Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 nuns, which was destroyed in the course of the Hussite Wars
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...

. In the late 15th century, queen consort Johana of Rožmitál, wife of King George of Poděbrady
George of Podebrady
George of Kunštát and Poděbrady , also known as Poděbrad or Podiebrad , was King of Bohemia...

, had a castle erected on the ruins.

Teplice figures in the history of the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

, when it was a possession of the Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 Bohemian noble Wilhelm Kinsky
Wilhelm Kinsky
Wilhelm Kinsky was a Bohemian Count of Wichinitz and statesman.The Kinsky family were members of the Bohemian aristocracy. In 1628, Kinsky was elevated to the rank of count in the Bohemian nobility when the Wallenstein family, to which he was connected, were ennobled.Kinsky was killed at Eger as...

, who was assassinated together with Generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein , actually von Waldstein, was a Bohemian soldier and politician, who offered his services, and an army of 30,000 to 100,000 men during the Danish period of the Thirty Years' War , to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II...

 at Cheb
Cheb
Cheb is a city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic, with about 33,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Ohře , at the foot of one of the spurs of the Smrčiny and near the border with Germany...

 in 1634. Emperor Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...

 thereafter enfeoffed his General Johann von Aldringen, who nevertheless was killed in the same year, and Teplice fell to his sister Anna Maria von Clary-Aldringen. Consequently, and until the expropriation of 1945
Expropriation
Expropriation is the politically motivated and forceful confiscation and redistribution of private property outside the common law. Unlike eminent domain or laws regulating the foreign investment, expropriation takes place outside the common law and may be used to denote an armed robbery by...

, Teplitz was the primarily seat of the princely House von Clary und Aldringen
Clary-Aldringen
The House of Clary-und-Aldringen or Clary-Aldringen is one of the most prominent Austro-Hungarian princely family of Bohemian noble origin.-Origin:...

.

After a blaze in 1793, large parts of the town were rebuilt in a Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 style. The health resort was a popular venue for wealthy bourgeois like the poet Johann Gottfried Seume
Johann Gottfried Seume
Johann Gottfried Seume , German author, was born at Poserna .He was educated, first at Borna, then at the Nikolai school and University of Leipzig. The study of Shaftesbury and Bolingbroke wakened his interest in theology, and, breaking off his studies, he set out for Paris...

, who died on his stay in 1810, or Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

, who met here with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...

 in 1812; as well as for European monarchs. During the Napoleonic War of the Sixth Coalition
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...

, Teplice in August 1813 was the site where Emperor Francis I of Austria
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...

, Emperor Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

 and King Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...

 first signed the triple alliance against Napoleon I of France
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 that led to the coalition victory at the nearby Battle of Kulm
Battle of Kulm
The Battle of Kulm was a battle near the town Kulm and the village Přestanov in northern Bohemia. It was fought on 29–30 August 1813, during the War of the Sixth Coalition...

.

In 1895 Teplice merged with neighbouring Lázně Šanov (Schönau). With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the predominantly German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

-speaking population found itself in newly established Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

. Right-wing political groups like the German National Socialist Worker's Party
German National Socialist Workers' Party (Czechoslovakia)
The German National Socialist Workers' Party was a protofascist party of Germans in Czechoslovakia, successor of the German Workers' Party from Austria-Hungary. It was founded in November 1919 in Duchcov. Most important party activists were Hans Knirsch, Hans Krebs, Adam Fahrner, Rudolf Jung and...

 referred to themselves as Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...

and began to urge for a unification with Germany, their efforts laid the foundation for the rise of the Sudeten German Party under Konrad Henlein
Konrad Henlein
Konrad Ernst Eduard Henlein was a leading pro-Nazi ethnic German politician in Czechoslovakia and leader of Sudeten German separatists...

 after 1933. With the Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...

, Teplice was annexed by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 according to the 1938 Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...

. At the same time the persecution and expulsion of the Jewish
History of the Jews in the Czech Republic
Jews in the Czech Republic are predominantly Ashkenazic Jews, and the current Jewish population is only a fraction of the First republic's Jewish population. As of 2005, there were approximately 4,000 Jews living in the Czech Republic. There are ten small Jewish communities all around the country...

 population began, culminating in the demolition of the Teplice Synagogue, once the largest in Bohemia. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the Czechoslovak government enacted the Beneš decrees
Beneš decrees
Decrees of the President of the Republic , more commonly known as the Beneš decrees, were a series of laws that were drafted by the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II and issued by President...

, whereafter the "Ethnic German" population was expelled
Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia
The expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II was part of a series of evacuations and expulsions of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe during and after World War II....

 from Teplice. In 1945, the princes von Clary und Aldringen, lords of Teplice since 1634, were expropriated.

In 1994 Jaroslav Kubera of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) became mayor of Teplice and holds the position to this day. Many would argue that he brought the town back into a respectable position among Czech cities. As the local spas attract tourists mainly from the middle east as well as from other parts of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Teplice has in the past been called Czech Republic's "Little Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

", although rising crime and unemployment rates in the region have damaged that reputation.

FK Teplice

Teplice is home to the professional football club FK Teplice
FK Teplice
FK Teplice is a Czech football club based in the city of Teplice, 80 km north of Prague. The club currently plays in the Gambrinus liga.The club was founded after World War II in 1945. The club advanced to the Czechoslovak First League in just three years after being founded and played mostly...

 playing in the Gambrinus liga
Gambrinus Liga
The Gambrinus liga is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 16 clubs, operating a system of promotion and relegation with the Czech 2. Liga. Seasons run from August to May,...

. Notable players of the club include Josef Masopust
Josef Masopust
Josef Masopust is a Czechoslovakian former football player and coach. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Czech Republic by the Football Association of the Czech Republic as their most...

 and Pavel Verbíř
Pavel Verbír
Pavel Verbíř is a former Czech football player who spent his entire playing career at the Czech Gambrinus liga for FK Teplice. Pavel Verbíř is often referred to by his nickname 'Verba'.-Career summary:...

. The stadium, Na Stínadlech
Na Stínadlech
Na Stinadlech is a multi-purpose stadium in Teplice, Czech Republic. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FK Teplice. The stadium holds 18,221 and was built in 1973. The Czech Republic national football team often plays qualification games at the stadium and...

, is one of the largest in the country and has hosted international matches.

Natives

  • Julius von Payer
    Julius von Payer
    Julius Johannes Ludovicus Ritter von Payer was an Austro-Hungarian arctic explorer and an Arctic landscape artist....

     (1841–1915), arctic explorer
  • Karl Pohlig (1864–1928), conductor
  • Prince Siegfried von Clary-Aldringen
    Prince Siegfried von Clary-Aldringen
    Siegfried Graf von Clary und Aldringen was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat during the time before World War I.-Life:...

     (1897–1920), Austro-Hungarian diplomat and nobleman
  • Humbert Achamer-Pifrader
    Humbert Achamer-Pifrader
    Humbert Achamer-Pifrader was an SS Colonel and Commander of the Einsatzgruppe A from September 1942 to September 1943.-Biography:...

     (1900–1945), SS Colonel
  • Paul Kohner
    Paul Kohner
    Paul Kohner . The native of Bohemia in Austria-Hungary came to Hollywood in 1920 after having been a news reporter in Prague...

     (1902–1988), film producer
  • Frederick Kohner
    Frederick Kohner
    Frederick Kohner was an Austrian-born writer....

     (1905–1986), writer (Gidget
    Gidget
    Gidget is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner in his 1957 novel, Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas. The novel follows the adventures of a teenage girl and her surfing friends on the beach at Malibu. The name Gidget is a portmanteau of "girl and midget"...

    )
  • Helmut Pfleger
    Helmut Pfleger
    Helmut Pfleger is a German chess Grandmaster and author. He was one of the most promising chess players in the sixties and seventies. By profession, he is a doctor of medicine.- Chess career :...

     (born 1943), chess Grandmaster
  • Jaromír Kohlíček
    Jaromír Kohlícek
    Jaromír Kohlíček is a Czech politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia; part of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left party group in the European Parliament....

     (born 1953), politician
  • Daniela Peštová
    Daniela Peštová
    Daniela Peštová is a Czech model. She was born in Teplice, Czech Republic, and was discovered by the Madison Modeling Agency's Dominique Caffin. She had plans to attend college but after winning a modelling contest she moved to Paris to sign with Madison Modeling Agency...

     (born 1970), model
  • Robert Lang (born 1970), ice hockey player (Phoenix Coyotes
    Phoenix Coyotes
    The Phoenix Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in Glendale, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They play their home games at Jobing.com Arena....

    )
  • Lucie Králová
    Lucie Králová
    Lucie Králová is a beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Czech Republic as a 23-year-old in 2005.- Biography :...

     (born 1982), Miss World Czech Republic 2005

Residents

  • The mathematician Adam Adamandy Kochański
    Adam Adamandy Kochanski
    Adam Adamandy Kochański was a Polish mathematician.Kochański was born in Dobrzyń nad Wisłą. He began his education in Toruń, and in 1652 he entered the Society of Jesus in Vilnius under Cardinal Brandr Beekman-Ellner. He studied philosophy at Vilnius University . He also studied mathematics,...

     died at Teplice in 1700
  • Poet Johann Gottfried Seume
    Johann Gottfried Seume
    Johann Gottfried Seume , German author, was born at Poserna .He was educated, first at Borna, then at the Nikolai school and University of Leipzig. The study of Shaftesbury and Bolingbroke wakened his interest in theology, and, breaking off his studies, he set out for Paris...

     died at Teplice in 1810
  • Composer Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

     began writing his Symphony No. 7
    Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)
    Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, in 1811, was the seventh of his nine symphonies. He worked on it while staying in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice in the hope of improving his health. It was completed in 1812, and was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries.At its debut,...

     in 1812 while staying at Teplice
  • Austrian
    Austrian Empire
    The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

     diplomat and statesman Count Charles-Louis de Ficquelmont
    Count Karl Ludwig von Ficquelmont
    Karl Ludwig Graf von Ficquelmont was an Austrian aristocrat, statesman and general of the Austrian Imperial army of French noble origin.-French nobleman:He was born Gabriel-Charles-Louis-Bonnaventure, Count de Ficquelmont at the Castle of...

     (1777–1857), resided at his daughter's castle in Teplice
  • Countess Dorothea de Ficquelmont
    Dorothea de Ficquelmont
    Countess Dolly de Ficquelmont, born Countess Dorothea von Tiesenhausen was a Russian writer and salonist...

     (1804–1863), spouse of the previous, died at her daughter's castle in Teplice
  • Austro-Hungarian statesman Count Manfred von Clary-Aldringen
    Count Manfred von Clary-Aldringen
    Count Manfred von Clary-Aldringen was an Austro-Hungarian nobleman and statesman.-Biography:...

     (1852-1828), grand-son of the previous ones, resided in his family's castle in Teplice
  • Oscar Straus
    Oscar Straus (composer)
    Oscar Nathan Straus was a Viennese composer of operettas and film scores and songs. He also wrote about 500 cabaret songs, chamber music, and orchestral and choral works...

     worked as a Kapellmeister
    Kapellmeister
    Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...

    in Teplice
  • Kurt Eichhorn
    Kurt Eichhorn
    Kurt Peter Eichhorn , was a German conductor.Eichhorn was born in Munich, the son of a painter. He studied music at the conservatory in Würzburg with Hermann Zilcher. His conducting debut was in 1932 as a conductor and choral conductor in Bielefeld...

     worked as a conductor in Teplice
  • The astronomer Otto Tetens
    Otto Tetens
    Otto Tetens was a German natural scientist with an astronomer background.- Life :Tetens was the son of a high ranked police officer in Schleswig, Northern Germany...

     died at Teplice in 1945
  • The writer Ruth von Mayenburg
    Ruth von Mayenburg
    Ruth von Mayenburg was an Austrian journalist, writer and translator. In her earlier years, she was politically active in the Communist Party of Austria...

    (1907–1993) grew up here

Climate

External links

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