The Senate requested a halt to the devastation of the dilapidated Kyselka Spa

Prague / Karlovy Vary - The Senate today requested an end to the devastation of the dilapidated complex in the Karlovy Vary region. It called on the regional office to advocate for the immediate provisional securing of the listed buildings in the complex. Together with the owners of the buildings, it should prepare a meaningful project for the use of the buildings. The senators then recommended to the Ministry of Culture to advocate for the demands for the remediation of the complex and to establish a supervisory group composed of representatives of the affected parties and also parliament.
    The senators made this decision following a petition against the devastation of the spa complex, which has so far garnered support from nearly 19,000 people. The petition was organized by the Association for the Protection and Development of Cultural Heritage of the Czech Republic (ASKORD), which aimed to acquire the complex without compensation. It accuses the companies Karlovarské minerální vody (KMV) and RSI of only wanting to repair half of the 13 buildings as owners.
    KMV was defended by the lawyer of the company, Martin Hanzl. He stated that the company owns only a smaller part of the buildings and therefore does not bear any responsibility for the others, and its operations had no impact on the condition of the buildings. He rejected attributing to KMV the role of "the devil that brings all evil in Kyselka". Vice President of ASKORD, Martin Kadrman, on the other hand, called the assertion that KMV and RSI have nothing in common a false and embarrassing game.
    Although the Karlovy Vary region is monitoring the developments in Kyselka, it cannot adequately respond to the Senate's call to advocate for the provisional securing of the listed buildings in the complex. It has no competencies for that, said regional office spokesperson Andrea Bocková to ČTK today. Similarly, it cannot prepare a project with the owners of the buildings. "In this case, the regional office only acts as an appellate authority in the field of heritage care. However, it has no legislative tools to compel the owners of the complex to do anything," Bocková stated.
    For insufficient care of some heritage objects, KMV received a fine of 1.8 million crowns from the Karlovy Vary magistrate at the beginning of the year. The regional office confirmed this, and the company intends to defend itself in court. KMV also announced that it plans to start the renovation of two buildings this year at a cost of 60 million crowns. The company promised to invest around 400 million crowns in the complex. By summer, it also wants to put a railway siding into operation to the bottling plant of mineral water in Kyselka, as recommended by the Senate.
    "Other points of the resolution do not concern KMV, and therefore the company cannot comment on them or take any action. At the Senate meeting, several senators (Pikhart, Jílek, Horník) publicly confirmed KMV's position that it was not a legitimate petition and that the petitioners simplified the discussion by collecting electronic signatures. KMV also shares the position of senator for the Karlovy Vary region, Horník, who labeled the petitioners' actions regarding Kyselka as militant," Hartl told ČTK.
    The dominant structure of the spa complex is the Ottov Spring Pavilion, built according to the design of Vienna architect Karl Häybeck. Another valuable building is the Mattoni Villa, constructed between 1885 and 1886. The spa has suffered due to the consequences of privatization in the 1990s. It changed owners several times, and the buildings were not maintained. The condition of the structures is now extraordinarily poor.
    According to the Senate, the blame for this lies not only with the owners of the buildings but also with the ministry and the heritage office, as they have not sufficiently enforced compliance with the heritage law. They are said to share some blame as well for not using the opportunities provided by the building law to prevent the devastation of the buildings.