Close your eyes and imagine a hot summer day. You’ve just jumped into the pool. The water is refreshing, and there are other swimmers around you, among whom you will find the faces of some of your colleagues. What are they doing there, you ask? The pool is located on your company’s premises, and you can swim after work. Just as the people from Chemosvit could do after the swimming pool was built on the company premises in 1957.
Cold water swimmers were the first
The management of Chemosvit, the company which was experiencing water shortages especially in winter, had planned to build a water reservoir. Its construction was approved by the representatives of the Municipal Council and the enterprises at a meeting on 6 July 1957, and it was intended as a water reservoir for the plant and as a swimming pool for the people of Svit in the summer months.
The place for its construction was determined near Chemosvit just behind the Poprad River. According to the original plan, the reservoir was to be 10 x 20 m, 1 m deep. However, the final design proposed building a separate reservoir for children with a depth of about 0.5 m and a large reservoir for adults with a gradual increase in depth up to 2 m.
Construction began on 10 July 1957 and the water was pumped into the reservoirs exactly three months later. One day later (11 October) the first cold water swimmers and the main workers on the project bathed there. The opening ceremony took place on 22 May 1958.
Swimming pool with sausages
The average daily attendance ranged from 200 to 320 people, depending on the weather. In 1971, it was open for 62 days and visited by 19 927 people. The admission between 1972 and 1973 was 4 crowns for adults, 3 crowns for students and soldiers and 2 crowns for children.
Due to bad weather, the swimming pool was only open for 10 to 15 days In some years. Therefore, the authorities planned for a long time to build an indoor swimming pool in Svit, which could use the heat of the wastewater from the local power plant.
The weather does not matter anymore
The plan to build an indoor swimming pool was given a sharper outline in 1978 thanks to the efforts of many Chemosvit and city officials. The Ministry of Construction approved the construction in 1980.
The investor of the construction was Chemosvit, which in cooperation with the Municipal National Committee, provided the project documentation and managed the entire investment construction. Chemosvit took over the implementation of the entire building.
The indoor swimming pool with a 25-metre swimming pool, a swimming pool for children and a steam sauna was opened in Svit on 21 June 1982. It is still used. The temporary swimming pool, which served the citizens for years during hot days, has disappeared.
Are you interested in other topics from history? Read also about the town library, which offered almost 30,000 books, or about Tomáš Baťa, without whom Svit would not exist.