Due to the success of the Czechoslovak new wave film in the 1960s, the party at power wanted to promote the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to compete with other European film festivals. The Hotel Thermal therefore was built to demonstrate cutting edge Czechoslovak architecture. It houses the festival to this day without major changes. The exterior and interior are interlinked by the materials used – concrete, glass, metal and wood. The furniture of the hotel was originally designed by the architects themselves. (Special thanks to Marie Kordovská)

After the fall of communism, a series of unauthorized reconstructions took place, which mostly affected the interiors and especially its unique furniture, which was originally designed by the architects themselves. 

Around the year 2014, the Czech government, who is the official owner of Hotel Thermal, decided to invest in a complex—and much needed—reconstruction. The process of preparing the renovation was however mostly lead without any architects or conservational supervision in the team and without consulting Věra Machoninová (*1928). The renovation was implemented in several phases, some of which are already finished, while others will be following as soon as more funding is available. 

Immediately after the plans to reconstruct Hotel Thermal were revealed, the family of the architects started a campaign “Respekt Madam” to promote the quality of the original architecture, while also trying to get the Czech historical heritage organization to look after the building and also trying to communicate with the management of the hotel and the government officials in charge. However, despite various efforts to express the necessity for conservational supervision during the renovation, the new management has started further alterations on its own, destroying parts of the original design even further. 

One of the most visible changes to the original design is their choice to use a different color of glass on the façade. The original glass was matte brownish-grey. The Machonins referenced the surrounding forest and rocks when designing the building and therefore created a façade that had a matching color. Now, the new glass elements of the façade are reflective and blue in its tonality, which makes the building more reminiscent of architecture of the new millennium and gives the building a different appearance which has lost its previous aesthetic relationship with the surroundings. 

While the original design and glamorous atmosphere of the hotel are mostly no longer visible, the efforts made by the Respekt Madam group lead to a version of the reconstruction which was less destructive than some of the original plans. The hotel was however never listed as a protected monument, allowing the hotel management to carry on with the reconstruction without control by architects or architectural historians. 

At least, the hotel is located in historically protected zone of the city center. This has probably led to the fortunate circumstance that so far the exposed concrete façade has remained largely ok under the renovation work: it was merely power washed. There were some unfortunate adjustments to the concrete façade during the 2014 renovation, but these interventions were limited to a tiny, fairly hidden area by one of the restaurants. The Hotel Thermal is still considered to be under threat. It is necessary that the owners recognize the architectural heritage in the building and do not contribute to its further loss in future renovation measures (last updated on January 14, 2025).

The status text was created in cooperation with Marie Kordovská, granddaughter of the architects