RADIUM PALACE HOTEL
Introduction
The site was originally intended in 1517 for a Dominican monastery, but due to the town’s shift toward the Reformation the plan was abandoned. Timber prepared for construction was used elsewhere, including the Lord’s Mill. Later, an inn called Ameisenhügel stood on the site.
With the rapid growth of the spa, the first spa building soon proved insufficient, prompting the construction of a grand new hotel.
History
Built between 1910 and 1912 at a cost of 13,000,000 crowns by Viennese builder Burian according to the plans of Baron Gustav Flesch von Brunningen, the hotel was first named Radium Kurhaus and soon renamed Radium-Palace-Hotel.
Ranked among the ten most luxurious hotels in Europe, it featured running hot and cold water in every room, telephones, electric service bells, and opulent public spaces. The first director, Severin, gave his name to the Roseggerweg promenade.
World War I caused a dramatic drop in visitors from 2470 in 1913 to 963 in 1918. After the creation of Czechoslovakia, the Englishman Oury purchased the hotel and its Miracle dependency but closed it in 1921 due to financial strain. The state took over in 1922. A fire in October 1922 destroyed the central roof section.
On 15 May 1924 the state leased the hotel to Jaroslav Urban and Karel Šroubek. Urban later transformed the hotel, building terraces, a luxury bar, the Forest Café, and tennis courts. The hotel hosted figures such as Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, King Fuad I of Egypt, and Nicolae Titulescu. It also hosted the Little Entente conference and Masaryk’s 80th birthday celebration.
During the Great Depression, flexible pricing and travel discounts were introduced. In 1938 the German Reich took control; the hotel later functioned as a military hospital. In October 1945 it reopened as the first spa facility in post-war Czechoslovakia.
Renamed Sanatorium Marie Curie-Skłodowska in 1963, it returned to its original name after 1989. A major reconstruction between January 1996 and June 1997 cost nearly 300 million crowns. In 2009, 6331 guests received treatment there.
Description
The treatment department was located in the ground floor of the northern wing. It included 15 radon baths, four floor-level baths for immobile patients, six partial baths, two peat-radon baths, and a unique 1.2-metre-deep walk-through bath. Facilities also combined baths with electrotherapy.
The hotel once contained a radon emanatorium for group inhalation sessions of up to twenty persons. Massage and therapeutic exercise were offered from the beginning. Since 1925 the hotel also featured sun baths and a chemical-microscopic laboratory staffed by six specialist physicians.
Restoration
Despite turbulent history, Radium Palace remains the flagship of the spa, combining luxury accommodation with specialised radon therapy.
Photogallery: http://mipalfi.rajce.idnes.cz/Radium_Palace_hotel/
