16 - Löschner´s Spring Bottling Plant

In the period from 1902 to 1909, Heinrich Mattoni funded large-scale collection works on Kysibl springs. The entire technically demanding project was managed by Swiss engineer Adolf Scherrer, who worked in the world-famous spa town of Bad Ems. As part of the adaptations, Löschner’s Spring, rising in a slope above the Lomnické valley, was newly tapped and a new bottling plant was built in 1907. The premises comprised two parts: the front Swiss House (Švýcarský dům) and the adjoining bottling plant. The design was developed by architect Alfréd Bayer from Karlovy Vary. The front operations house was approached in the Swiss style with a timbered storey and wide Alpine balcony in a gable positioned before the frontage. The gable was originally decorated with carved edge boards that were crossed at the top and terminated with Nordic dragons. The ground floor housed the plant while the administrator’s flat was located upstairs. A funicular railway for transporting crates with bottles of tapped mineral water led up and down into the valley. The front area of the funicular railway, called “Bremshaus”, was connected to a transport corridor, and there was a racking and bottling room in the rear part. Today, a unique Mattoni Museum has been opened in the Löschner’s Spring bottling plant.

Carpenter Götz built a lookout gazebo in 1909 at the junction of the road from the valley to Löschner’s Spring. At that time, a lovely view of the valley of the Lomnický brook with the spa complex could be seen from there. The large Theresa Park was originally developed on the opposite side. The individual parts of the park were harmonically combined to create a picturesque composition with grassy areas of meadows and groups of trees against a forest background. The landscaped park was also interconnected with a vegetable garden. A large greenhouse originally stood on the site where prefabricated buildings now stand, while flowers were also grown in formally designed beds in addition to vegetables for the spa restaurants. A paradise, an imitation of Homer’s Elysium, stretched out over the sunlit site. Today, it is home to one of the modern bottling plants of Karlovy Vary Mineral Water.

After his death, Heinrich Mattoni was laid to rest in the family tomb in the Drahovice cemetery (in the eastern part of Karlovy Vary).  It is also the resting place of other members of the Mattoni family, and you will find it next to the tomb of the Bechers, another prominent entrepreneurial family from Karlovy Vary.