CARLSBAD, or KAISER-KARLSBAD (Czech, _Karlovy Vary_), a town and
celebrated watering-place of Bohemia, Austria, 116 m. W.N.W. of Prague
by rail. Pop. (1900) 14,640. It is situated at an altitude of 1227 ft.
and lies in the beautiful narrow and winding valley of the Tepl at its
junction with the Eger, being hemmed in by precipitous granite hills,
covered with magnificent forests of pine. The town is spread on both
banks of the river and in the valley of the Eger, its houses being built
up the mountain sides in tier above tier of terraces approached by long
flights of steps or steep and tortuous roads. This irregularity of site
and plan, together with the varied form and high-pitched roofs of the
houses, makes the place very picturesque. Among the principal buildings
of Carlsbad are the Catholic parish church, built in 1732-1736 in rococo
style; the gorgeous Russian church, finished in 1897; the English
church; and a handsome synagogue. In the first rank of the other
buildings stands the famous Muhlbrunnen Colonnade, erected between 1871
and 1878, which, with its 103 monolithic granite Corinthian columns, is
a fine example of modern classical architecture; the _Kurhaus_ (1865);
the magnificent _Kaiserbad_, built in 1895 in the French Renaissance
style, and several other bathing establishments; the Sprudel Colonnade,
an imposing iron and glass structure, built in 1879, within which rises
the Sprudel, the principal spring of Carlsbad; and several hospitals and
hospices for poor patients. Both banks of the Tepl are provided with
_quais_, planted with trees, which constitute the chief promenades of
the centre of the town; and there are, besides, a municipal park and
several public gardens.

The mineral springs, to which Carlsbad owes its fame, rise from beneath
a very hard kind of rock, known as Sprudelschale or Sprudeldecke,
beneath which it is believed that there exists a large common reservoir
of the hot mineral water, known as the Sprudelkessel. Several artificial
apertures in the rock have been made for the escape of the steam of this
subterranean cauldron, which, owing to the incrustations deposited by
the water, require to be cleared at regular intervals. Altogether there
are seventeen warm springs, with a temperature varying from 164 deg. F.
to 107.7 deg. F., and two cold ones. The oldest, best-known, and at the
same time the most copious spring is the Sprudel, a hot geyser with a
temperature of 164 deg. F., which gu