Owners of the Kyselka Spa: There is no use for all the buildings

Photo: Lukáš Podhorský

Prague - There is no use for all the dilapidated spa buildings in Kyselka, which have the status of a national cultural monument. At today’s public hearing in the Senate regarding the petition Save the Kyselka Spa, which has been signed by around 15,000 people to date, the owners of the spa stated that these were once considered some of the most beautiful in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. The final recommendation from the Senate’s petition committee on the matter will be clear only in a few weeks.
    The spa is owned by Karlovarské minerální vody (KMV), which uses the mineral water as a commercial product, and C.T.S. Duo. The spa is often cited as an example of failed privatization after 1990. The biggest problem leading to the disappearance of the spa and its deplorable state is considered to be the separation of the bottling plant from the spa part during privatization. While the bottling plant is profitable, the spa is deteriorating.
    "Rescue cannot be done gradually. It must be done all at once. Because if we go step by step and we focus on one and then the other, in the meantime, irreversible damages may occur," defended his position KMV director Alessandro Pasquale.
    According to Martin Kadrman, vice president of the Association of Organizations for the Protection and Development of Cultural Heritage (ASKORD), the Kyselka spa could be a prosperous project in the future, just like the renovated spa in Luhačovice. "We ask the governmental authorities to compel the owners to adhere to the laws and to ensure that all monuments are preserved. Twenty years of neglect by the owners have caused the buildings to be usable only after many, many years," Kadrman stated.
    ASKORD criticizes KMV and C.T.S. Duo for insufficient care regarding the monument-protected area and for wanting to save only some of the twenty dilapidated buildings. Local residents, witnesses, restoration experts, architects, and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Kateřina Klasnová (VV), who has taken an interest in the case, also participated in the sometimes heated debate.
    Both parties now must present their positions and proposed solutions to the committee. In the coming weeks, committee members will discuss them and issue a final recommendation to the upper chamber. The Senate cannot do more on the matter.
    The Kyselka Spa has the status of a national cultural monument. According to the Ministry of Culture, the individual buildings are a historically and urbanistically valuable part of a unique complex. However, due to long-term lack of maintenance, they are in a state of emergency.
    The current owners only want to save four to five buildings out of a total of twenty. A hotel is planned in Mattoni's villa, and exhibition spaces are expected to be built as part of the colonnade reconstruction. The project costs have been estimated at 400 million crowns.