Terme Poděbrady

Terme Podebrady draws bicarbonated mineral spring water in Podebrady, an elegant spa town on the Elbe river in central Bohemia whose mineral springs have attracted visitors since the early twentieth century, making Podebrady one of the few spas in Central Europe with a century-old tradition of specialised thermal bathing. Podebrady is the birthplace and royal seat of George of Podebrady, the Hussite king of Bohemia from 1458 to 1471, who in 1462 proposed the first organised League of Peace in European history, a proto-United Nations vision calling for a congress of Christian monarchs to resolve disputes by arbitration rather than war, a proposal five centuries ahead of the League of Nations that H.G. Wells and Woodrow Wilson would eventually realise in another era of exhausted post-war idealism. The bicarbonated waters of Podebrady, flowing in an elegant spa park beside the Elbe, are appreciated in a tradition of thermal well-being, within a setting whose Renaissance castle, Art Nouveau colonnade, and Elbe riverside promenade make the town one of the most architecturally complete small spa destinations in Bohemia.