In 1888, a new spring of Franz Josef was drilled. From this spring, water had to be carried day and night on backs in baskets to the warehouse, and the empty bottles still had to be transported by cable car to the second bottling plant. This, of course, significantly increased costs. In order to concentrate the work on one place, a new large building was added in 1898 by the princely building and royal court councilor, Professor A. Sáblík. It contained a magnificently furnished bottling plant, two large rooms for washing bottles equipped with the most modern machines. There was also a production plant for Bílin digestive pastilles, a warehouse and other ancillary rooms. The entire building was equipped with electric lighting and central heating. All machines were powered by electricity. The building was beautifully decorated on the outside and became a new decoration of Bílinská Kyselka.

Reasons for its creation

The high transport capacity of the railway and the advantageous location of the Bílina bottling plant on the Prague-Duchcov route with connections to all other important railways gave rise to the idea of ​​expanding the function of the distribution building to include collection, storage and washing of bottles not only for the needs of the spring directorate, but also for other spring bottling plants such as Krondorf, Eugenka, Bylany, Kysibelka and Karlovy Vary. It was also very advantageous for loading the wagons, which did not have to arrive empty. These were essentially the first attempts at recycling packaging. And here, strongly promoted by the state power of the Monarchy, they were even quite successful.

The new building had to be completely showy, as it covered the new dominant feature – the Reuss monument with a garden, as well as the original dominant feature, the New Procedure House (Neues curhaus) with its front staircases and the original commemorative marble slab.

Requirements and necessities

The requirements for the new building were contradictory and problematic, but in the end they were very successfully solved with a specific design. The preserved original sheet bears visible traces of its "unofficial" creation. Thanks to many notes and pencil sketches, we can well imagine how it was created over a glass of good beer in the spa restaurant.

The idea of ​​creating a new front building that would visually preserve the symmetry of the premises had several pitfalls. The space was available because the magnesium powder factory had long been demolished and the Bílina-Kyselka stop was sufficiently far from the axis of the premises. However, the railway loading itself was not perpendicular to this axis.

This problem was solved by a junction that appears to be rectangular, but is actually about 5 degrees from a right angle. This junction was planned as a handling area for passing bottle carts and as the main passage to the yard behind the railway loading building and the Oktagon.

On the drawing we can see the red marked routes for handling carts. They were built on the chassis of a very common means of transport in this region – a mining truck. It moved on simple small rails by human power. Its journey to the first floor was ensured by elevators in the factory building.

The carts had classic switches, but also turntables on which the cart could be turned and directed into the work area. Today, their role has been taken over by manual and motorized pallet trucks and, of course, forklifts, popularly called "lizards".

Two wings also meant two work teams, a unique environment for classic intra-company rivalry. Of course, this competition was used to maintain high work performance.

The best in the Monarchy

The building also included a preparation and washing room for cork stoppers, of which we have a beautiful "advertising" picture, taken for a work science textbook for schools in the Monarchy. This factory was several times declared the best operation in terms of hygiene, technological facilities and quality of the working environment. All the children therefore knew Bílinská kyselka from their textbooks. It goes without saying how good it was for the "marketing" of the springs directorate.

Lozenge production

Mixing, pressing and drying the pastilles took up two entire rooms in the central part of the building. A relatively large amount of heat was needed for drying. This was provided by two boilers in the basement of the building. They were accompanied by two chimney sets, highly decorated with floral motifs. However, the truth is that the snoring chimneys did not contribute to the good atmosphere of the spa, which was sometimes plagued by the stationary steam locomotive itself. A special chapter is devoted to the production of pastilles itself.

Washing bottles and jugs

Washing clay jugs was very problematic. Both staff and customers complained that it was never possible to determine the actual quality of cleaning of the inner walls. Although both types of packaging were used simultaneously for a long time, gradually the switch was made to washing only glass bottles. Clay jugs were later used mainly as a "retro" reminder of the centuries-old glory of the springs. We must remember that in 1900 the history of the springs was already centuries old. From these series, a series of jugs with the classic SEDLITZ marking and the star of the Order of the Crusaders were accidentally preserved. They remained forgotten by the railway line, overgrown with bushes and covered with soil. This series was then accidentally discovered during the reconstruction of the premises in 2011! However, unlike the jugs from the 18th century, they were of much better quality and their glazing survived a hundred years in the clay without the slightest damage.

New decoration of Kyselka

The very first idea of ​​the building's appearance was immediately depicted on lithographs of leaflets and postcards. On them we can see a rather classic facade of the building in the style of a Roman temple. However, a more distinctive version was realized with a large Lobkowicz coat of arms and figures of mythical demigods, symbols of spa body cleansing. Hygia and Telesfor, symbols of purity and healing, are depicted on the building many times, from small children to adults.

The building's other decoration consists of many precisely executed floral motifs and ornaments. There are also symbols of industry and science, and each corner of the building is decorated with an elliptical medallion with the letters B and S wedged together, the initials of the name "Biliner Sauerbrunn".

The name in the local Germanic language also adorns the front of the building, which is also one of the few places reserved for an inscription. Above this inscription is also the date of construction, 1898, in Roman numerals.

Integrated Rock Spring

The southern part of the building was completed by a lower building with a transparent roof, the edges of which resemble a large terrace. However, it was not possible to enter the glass panels, the side opening was only used for washing the ceiling windows. This richly lit space housed a two-story building, the second floor of which was completely sunken into the ground. The underground part essentially formed a bathtub made of waterproof concrete. The interior is richly decorated with antique-style tiles, and at the bottom of the room there is a rectangular depression with the source of the Rock Spring, to which workers descended for filling. The completed bottles were then lifted by elevator in carts to the first floor so that they could be loaded onto rails at ground level to the railway loading area.

The further fate of the building

After the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, the rights of the nobility were abolished. However, the company remained as a business property of the Lobkowicz family. The last owner during the First Republic was Max Lobkowicz, who was also the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Czechoslovak government in exile in London during World War II. During his tenure, the company MATTONI UNGARN was also added to the ownership of the bottling plant, which the family sold to Max Lobkowicz after the death of Jindřich Mattoni in the form of a sale of shares.

In the building's archives, a document was found about the seizure of Bílinská Kyselka as property of the Czech nobility for the needs of the Wehrmacht, specifically the Afrika Korps, the African Expeditionary Corps of the Nazi army. Bílinská Kyselka was widely known for its perfect durability, refreshing abilities and, above all, its composition suitable for extremely hot weather. After all, it was widely used as a protective drink in heavy industry.

After the war, the building served mainly for administrative purposes, gradually transforming into the Directorate of West Bohemian Springs. From here, the activities of most well-known brands of spa springs, their maintenance and development were managed. The socialist state practically stopped the export of Bílinská and Zaječická to foreign markets. It was decided to focus only on the domestic market. Therefore, considerable attention was paid to production, while the building itself fell into disrepair. Thanks to many political influences, the area was isolated from the world, its transformation into a "workers' paradise" was not realized, and it gradually became overgrown with deliberately planted fast-growing trees. The ornamental trees gradually grew thick, the trees completely swallowed up the once metropolitan areas. Insensitive additional operational additions were added to the building, such as electric elevator shafts, an evaporation line, air conditioning, workshops and the like.

After the end of the socialist era, the building and the property were returned to the Lobkowicz family in restitution. They very soon sold it to private Czech hands, where it remains to this day. The new owner, BHMW as, embarked on a long journey of restoring not only the buildings, but also the violently interrupted fame of Bílinská and Zaječická in our country and abroad. Thanks to the preserved complete company archive, it was possible to design an extensive reconstruction of all buildings and, while maintaining full technical functionality, operate bottling to its full extent. As ever before, many parts of the building are now used in a slightly different way than was planned in the original design, as technology and work procedures are changing.

The main thing, loading, remains the same. The distribution building is still in use in the 21st century and certainly does not disgrace our ancestors.

We will discuss the extensive reconstruction in 2011-2014 in a special chapter.