Františkovy Lázne

(German, Franzensbad), a city in Czechoslovakia, in the Czech Socialist Republic, in West Bohemia District, in the foothills of the Erzgebirge. Linked by rail with the city of Cheb, Františkovy Lázně is a balneopeloid health resort 65 km southwest of Karlovy Vary. The health resort was established on the basis of the Cheb mineral springs in the 18th century.

The summers are moderately warm; the average June temperature is 15.6°C. The average annual precipitation is 700 mm. Therapeutic agents include sulfur- and iron-bearing peat mud and sodium-carbonate-chloride sulfate-hydrocarbonate mineral springs. The spring waters are used for baths, beverage cures, irrigation, and inhalation; they are also bottled. Patients are also treated with “dry” carbon dioxide baths in special pavilions built on mofettes (vents from which carbon dioxide gas escapes). The gas is permitted to fill the pavilion until a certain concentration is reached.

The health resort accepts patients suffering from disorders of the cardiovascular system, the musculoskeletal system, the female sexual organs, the peripheral nervous system, and the intestines. The resort complex includes bathhouses, pavilions, sanatoriums, and living quarters. Františkovy Lázně is also the location of a branch of a research institute for physical therapy, balneology, and climatology.