Lázně Kyselka will remain a cultural monument, Besser decided

Photo: Lukáš Podhorský

Prague/Karlovy Vary - The Ministry of Culture has maintained the status of cultural monument for the area of the former Kyselka Spa near Karlovy Vary. There is no appeal against this decision. The Ministry of Culture announced this on its website. Minister Jiří Besser (TOP 09) rejected the September appeal and confirmed the previous decision of the Ministry of Culture from August.
The status of national heritage has thus been granted to about 20 dilapidated buildings. "I am surprised by this, but it is very positive news," commented Besser's decision for Lidovky.cz, President of the Association for the Protection and Development of Cultural Heritage of the Czech Republic, Pavel P. Ries.
According to the ministry's website, the Minister of Culture took into account that the individual buildings are a historically and urbanistically valuable part of a unique complex. "The individual objects in the complex are in an emergency state due to long-term neglect, however their restoration remains feasible and desirable from a heritage conservation perspective," the website states.
Some buildings in the spa area belong to Karlovarské minerální vody a. s. (KMV). Another owner is the company C.T.S. - Duo. KMV and C.T.S. - Duo presented their revitalization project for Kyselka in September, aiming to save at least some buildings for approximately 400 million crowns. KMV spokesperson Bibiana Beňová told ČTK today that the ministry's decision is certainly unrelated to this project and pertains to a much older request for the removal of heritage protection submitted to the ministry by C.T.S. - Duo.
Petr Dostál, Chairman of the Board of C.T.C. Duo, stated that the company received some information from the Ministry of Culture in their data mailbox, but he has not seen this message yet, so he cannot comment on what exactly the decision pertains to. He said that if it is related to the matter of heritage protection, then it probably does indeed concern an old request submitted to facilitate repairs in Kyselka. "Only when I familiarize myself with the decision in detail will I be able to comment on it," Dostál stated.
Of the approximately twenty heritage-protected objects in the former Kyselka Spa, the current owners want to save four to five buildings. The project is currently prepared in the form of a conceptual study that envisions new uses for each of the restored historical buildings. No one from the owners wanted to comment on whether the current decision of the ministry could influence it. According to Beňová, the new proposal for the restoration of part of Kyselka could not yet have been assessed by the ministry in such a short time.
However, the current activities of KMV and C.T.S. - Duo will be deemed insufficient by the Association for the Protection and Development of Cultural Heritage of the Czech Republic. According to the president of the association, Ries, this is not a project, but merely a study. "Moreover, this is the same study that C.T.S. - Duo presented back in 2006 and again in 2009. The same company is also the author of the study," Ries told reporters at the time.
The dominant object of the spa area is the pavilion of the Ottov spring, built according to the design of Vienna architect K. Häybeck. Another valuable building is the Mattoni villa, built between 1885 and 1886 on the site of an older manor house. The spa suffered from the consequences of privatization in the 1990s. It changed owners several times, and the buildings were not practically maintained. The condition of the objects is now exceptionally poor.