The Karlovy Vary Hot Spring Pavilion awaits a detailed construction survey

Karlovy Vary - Visitors to Karlovy Vary will have to forgo a visit to the Vřídlo Pavilion with the fountain of the most famous spring for several weeks. The entire object and its immediate surroundings are awaiting extensive structural and technical surveys to show their actual condition. The results of the survey will determine the investments for the restoration of the pavilion. The adjacent colonnade for drinking cures is already accessible after the annual maintenance in January. This information was provided to ČTK by the director of the Administration of Natural Healing Sources, Milan Trnka.
      It is currently unclear how long the Vřídlo Pavilion will be closed. According to Trnka, this will depend on the progress of the survey. However, the work should be completed by the beginning of the new spa season in May. The director stated that it is an exceptional event and the management of the colonnades has received several hundred thousand crowns for diagnostics. "The structure of the building underwent a static assessment about ten years ago. This survey should be even more detailed. The Vřídlo Pavilion is exposed to significant stress caused by various factors," noted Trnka.
      For example, the pavilion is constantly exposed to water mist from the erupting Vřídlo. Essentially, it is a weak carbonic acid, which negatively affects the structure of the building. As a result, metals corrode much faster and it also disrupts the concrete, the director pointed out. Water thus acts on the pavilion from above and from underground, where healing springs push to the surface. The powerful eruptions of Vřídlo are also accompanied by tremors. "We need to deal, among other things, with how to ensure the best possible drainage of the pavilion," stated Trnka.
      The Vřídlo colonnade, built in 1975, has undergone cleaning of large accumulation tanks this year, which can hold a total of 80 cubic meters of water. Maintenance workers must climb into them and remove the deposited mineral from the walls using hammers. The drinking stands, where people fill their cups with water, have also undergone thorough cleaning. During the downtime, hundreds of kilograms of deposited mineral are removed from the cleaned fixtures and technology. "The columns of the colonnade received new coatings this year," added the director.
      The Karlovy Vary Vřídlo Pavilion was closed for a longer time than the usual one month at the beginning of January 2009. At that time, spa visitors had to wait until March for the eruption of Vřídlo. The pavilion with Vřídlo received exceptional attention from stonemasons back then. They cleaned all the marble cladding on the walls and floors that were exposed to the scattered mineral water. The long outage was also related to the renewal of all heat exchangers that were three decades old. Their replacement with new technologies cost more than one million crowns.