Memories brought hundreds of visitors to the Liberec spa

    LIBEREC - Curiosity and nostalgia brought over 600 visitors today to the dilapidated neo-Renaissance spa in Liberec, which was recently acquired by the Liberec city hall. The public thus got the first opportunity in 15 years to see the consequences of decades of neglect. Instead of the scent of chlorinated water and steam, they were greeted by moldy ceilings.
    "We have already started with the most urgent repairs, employing people here for public benefit work," said city spokesman Martin Korych to ČTK. According to him, the roof needs repair and the skylight and windows must be covered to protect against pigeon attacks. The city hall estimates the most urgent costs at around 15 million crowns. The total reconstruction of the monument will cost between 250 and 350 million crowns.
    According to Liberec Mayor Jiří Kittner, there will never be a spa in the monument again. However, it could become a multifunctional representative building for the Center for Education of the Liberec Region. Currently, it is used by entrepreneurs who rented the spaces from the former owner. The pool, showers, and changing rooms are a storage area for antique furniture.
    "It would be best if the city established oriental baths here, people would come just like to the Tipsport Arena, in which the city invested over 800 million crowns," noted a fifty-year-old man who learned to swim in the spa as a child. The lifeguard back then constantly pushed him away from the edge of the pool with a stick for help to non-swimmers.
    The more than one hundred-year-old neo-Renaissance monument on the grand Masaryk Avenue has been primarily damaged by rainwater in the past, which penetrated the building through the leaky roof for many years.
    The dilapidated spa forms an architecturally unique whole with the neighboring North Bohemian Museum and children's polyclinic. The city acquired the monument in May at an auction for nine million crowns to save it from collapse.
    The spa was established between 1900 and 1902 and has been preserved in its original form. Baths, massages, and other services ended there in 1990. The building then changed owners several times, most recently belonging to the Mona company, which is now in liquidation. Mona secured loans for millions with the now-defunct AB Bank.