Water Tower, a landmark of Pilsen, is celebrating its hundredth birthday today

Plzeň - The fifty-meter water tower of the Pilsner brewery, which appears in most photographs of Plzeň, is celebrating its 100th anniversary today. The building, designed in the style of Dutch windmills, was constructed as the brewery responded to the growing popularity of Pilsner Urquell beer worldwide. For the first time in history, the entire tower will be ceremoniously illuminated today with 3,000 light bulbs connected by two kilometers of cables. The lit tower will be visible from all over Plzeň until the end of February. This was stated by Jiří Mareček, spokesperson for Prazdroj.
    The water tower supplied water to the brewery throughout most of the 20th century. At the beginning of that century, the interest in Plzeň beer grew sharply, and it was necessary to ensure the brewery had a sufficient supply of water. "The chief engineer of the plant at the time, František Spalek, designed the construction. He traveled to German industrial plants to seek inspiration," said the spokesperson. The highest point in the brewery complex, the former execution hill of Plzeň, where Jan Sladký-Kozina also ended his life journey, was chosen as the construction site. Construction began in 1901.
    "Visitors can enter the tower and explore the architectural monument from the inside," said Jindřiška Eliášková, the manager of tourism and historical heritage at Prazdroj.
    The brewery used the tower continuously until November 2005. It was renovated from 1960 to 1963 and again from 1987 to 1991. At the top of the tower, a flag in the form of a statue of the beer god Gambrinus overlooks the brewery. There are two tanks in the dome. The larger one, with a capacity of 5,530 hectoliters, is intended for brew water sourced from underground wells in the neighboring district of Roudná, while the smaller one has a capacity of 2,540 hectoliters and was used for river utility water. Previously, this amount of water was sufficient to brew 700 hectoliters of beer. By the end of 2005, when the tower closed, it was possible to brew up to three times that volume due to production savings.
    Last month, the tower of the Plzeň brewery also appeared on a postage stamp. In the edition of Technical Monuments, an 18 koruna stamp was printed featuring an engraving by Jan Kavan and Václav Fajt.