Zlíchovský lihovar Other

Welcome to Prague, part Smíchov, where you are currently standing in front of one of the fascinating witnesses of the industrial past of our city. In front of you is the former Zlíchovský lihovar, an area which, in times of its greatest fame, formed the heart of local production. If you look at the buildings in front of you like this, you might see the atmosphere of the old workshop complex, where the administration buildings were connected to the operating ones. The dominant factor that immediately attracts your vision is a distillery with its turret part and a high chimney with many edges of the head, which stands on a square base. It is a place where the noise of machines with the smell of chemical processes once mixed and the history of the Prague industry was written.

Now let's go back a little bit in time to understand how it got to this place. It's a thousand eight hundred and eighty. In Prague, trade and production flourish at that time, and it is this year that Samuel Fischl and Adolf Rosenbaum establish their alcohol and potash factory. Imagine these two men as visionaries of their time who saw the potential in the locator conditions of Smíchova. Their aim was to create an efficient company that would process molasses, which is the thick syrup produced in the production of sugar, and then produce alcohol from it. However, this process did not end simply because the premises included a potash factory where the alcohol was further processed. It was a complex system where one product served as a basis for another.

Now that you know the beginnings, pay attention to the architecture itself. Look carefully at the distillery building. Note its specific appearance, especially the windows that end with a half circle. This detail gives the building some elegance that contrasts with its purely practical purpose. If you look even more carefully, you'll see a decorative spiral staircase from cast iron. It is one of those rare elements which we rarely see in industrial areas today and which shows that even in the factory we could think of aesthetics. The whole complex passed in the year one thousand nine hundred and seventh significant reconstruction, when the alcohol refinery building was built so that the company could grow and keep up with the period demand.

When we think about the people who worked here, we go back to the already mentioned founders, Samuel Fischer and Adolf Rosenbaum. They were people who brought a modern approach to business to Prague. Their distillery was not just a small workshop, but it became a major player in the market. Imagine that seven such large industrial distilleries existed within the Prague Chamber District and this particular company was the third largest of them. This gives us a clear idea of the scale of production and the number of people who worked here every day, kept the boilers running and oversaw the quality of the distillates.

However, the history of this place did not stop at the time of the alcohol. The times have changed and the use of buildings. Let's move on to the year one thousand nine hundred fifty-seven. At that time, there was a fundamental change in the site's function. The buildings that originally served as a potash house were converted into an acetate factory. The production of vinegar was strategically important at the time and thus the site adapted to the new needs of the time. It is fascinating to see how one and that mesma building can serve completely different purposes over the course of several decades, while retaining its basic character.

I will now lead you to something that is truly special for this place. You may have noticed the buildings look old, but they're in good shape at the same time. That's not a coincidence. Since the year two thousand and two are protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic. Why is it important? Because Zlíchovský lihovar represents an authentic element of industrial architecture. While many other factory sites in Prague have been levelled or completely rebuilt in modern offices in recent decades, key elements have been preserved to enable us to touch history. The chimney you see above you is not just a pile of bricks, but a symbol of years of hard work and technical progress in the late nineteenth century.

The interesting thing that may interest you is the combination of function and form. Note how the clean industry intersects in this area with details that are almost artistic, such as the cast iron staircase. It is a reminder of the time when industrial buildings were also made aware of a certain standard of beauty. It is a place that tells us a story about the transformation of Prague from the royal city to the modern industrial centre.

Now, when you look around you, see this space as a bridge between the past and the present. You're standing in a place where the tenths of a century before it was decided the fate of a big business, where people were sweating at boiling boilers, and where the air carried the smell of molasses and alcohol. Today, it is a quiet place that encourages us to think about how quickly our city changes and what remains of it.

Thank you for accompanying me on this short trip to the history of the Zlichov distillery. I hope you enjoyed seeing these unique buildings and that you felt the spirit of old Smíchov. Now I invite you to look at the facade details in peace, look again at the shape of the chimney, and perhaps imagine what this area looked like at the time of its greatest glory, when clouds of smoke came out of it, and there was constant activity in the streets. I wish you a pleasant further journey through Prague and enjoy the rest of your day. Goodbye.