Staré Splavy

Otto Kohn's Villa, one of the typical examples of elite interwar architecture of the resort

View from the so-called "Small Beach" of Lake Mácha

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was one of the most famous holiday destinations in all of Austria-Hungary. Even during the First Czechoslovak Republic, Staré Splavy was a popular recreational place, especially for well-off Jewish clientele from Prague, Liberec and even places as distant as Berlin or Vienna. At the beginning of the 20th century, many built their summer homes here, mostly in the style of Art Nouveau or functionalism (for example the Kohn brothers from Prague or Miloš Forman's parents).

The place was then often dubbed "The Bohemian Lido".[2] Because the post-war communist regime made the entire area one of the centres of socialist-style recreation in all of Czechoslovakia (especially in the 1970s and 1980s), sometimes it is today referred to as "Ibiza for the poor".[3] There was relatively high density of Jewish families in the vicinity, who either are post-WWII natives here or moved here from Prague and other big cities since the 1990s.[4]

Some well-known 20th century characters associated with the town include Franz Kafka (who has even dedicated one of his novels to the place, titled "The Synagogue of Thammühl"), Karel Poláček, Friedrich Torberg, František R. Kraus or Miloš Forman, apart from more ancient personalities, such as Emperor Charles IV or the romantic Czech poet Karel Hynek Mácha, whose famous poem "Máj" is said to take place onshore of the hereby lake.