|
17th
century
1760
"In
the district of Czersk in the Mazowsze land,
the possessions of Obory, near the Jeziorka
River, a water mill was built. This was not
an ordinary mill, for in one part corn was
ground, and in the other, which is bigger,
31 metres long and 21 metres wide, paper was
moulded in two ladles by a master of paper
art. Chronicles and books do not remember
his name, although the signs left by him on
papers suggest that his first name could have
started with A and his surname with K."
"The
Chronicle of the Paper Mill in Jeziorna, 1760-1980"
The 18th century
was the time of fast development of the paper
factory in Jeziorna. The proximity of Warsaw
meant a large outlet market for paper from
this factory. Paper from Jeziorna accompanied
the historical events of that time.
King Stanisław August Poniatowski used only
paper from Jeziorna to make out royal documents.
Paper from Jeziorna was used also to issue
the documents of the Four-Year Seym and the
Constitution of 3 May. The same material was
assigned by the Commander-in-chief Kościuszko
for the production of money, and as a result
the first paper money was printed on the paper
moulded in Jeziorna.
"Jeziorna,
the oldest machine Paper Factory in Poland
produces paper for the purposes of journalism,
writing and letter papers, moreover, it is
the only one to produce papers moulded manually,
used for registration documents, requiring
exceptionally strong and durable paper. In
Jeziorna paper for newspaper is produced in
rolls, on which the "Kurier Warszawski"
daily is printed with the application of the
fast press in Jeziorna."
The Przegląd
Techniczny magazine, March 1886
The
beginning of the 19th century
was not fortunate
for the paper factory in Jeziorna - and this
situation affected the whole country. Hard
times came then. A ban on moulding paper was
laid on Jeziorna. It was only after 6 years
of break that paper was moulded again.
1812
The Chronicle of the Paper Factory in Jeziorna
says, that on 29 May 1812 the owner of the
paper factory in Jeziorna, as the court supplier
of the Prince of Warsaw, received the title
of "ROYAL PAPER FACTORY" for Jeziorna.
Various kinds of paper were made there, most
of which were produced for the needs of the
Treasury. The production of the Jeziorna factory
was about 6-8 thousand reams a year, which
meant about 40 reams a day, excluding holiday
and standstill periods.
In 1830
the factory became the property of
the Bank of Poland, which began to invest
into the development of the factory. The most
important investment was bringing from Vienna
a machine for the "continuous making
of paper". This was the first
paper machine in Poland.
In 1869 the factory became
the property of the joint stock company of
"Mirkowska Fabryka Papieru" (the
Paper Factory of Mirkow).
At the turn of the century paper
was produced on four machines. Production
included valuable wood-less papers, vegetable
parchment papers, moulded papers. The specialty
of the factory were cigarette papers in sheets
and bobbins of all kinds.
 20th
century
Before the outbreak of the Second World War,
the Paper Factory in Jeziorna was a very modern
and up-to-date industrial plant, equipped
with a range of modern appliances for the
productions of many kinds of paper, which
had not been produced in Poland before. The
new assortment included ink paper, filter
paper, dust-absorptive paper, cardboard for
statistical machines, carbon paper, as well
as check paper, cable paper, photosensitive
paper and waterproof paper used for the production
of paper dishes, paper for technical drawings,
paper for artificial intestine, photographic
paper and many other.
In 1939
the factory employed 1200 workers,
and the annual paper and blotting paper production
amounted to 13 thousand tones. The factory
was working during the war, but in 1944 the
workers were exported and dispersed, and the
invader begin his systematic plundering and
destruction of the plant.
The post-war period witnessed
an intensive development and modernisation
of the plant. Filter paper, writing and printing
paper, map paper and valuable papers were
produced for the needs of home market. The
size of the assortment was growing systematically.
At the end of 1949 also machine vegetable
parchment paper, drawing and technical paper
as well as carbon paper was produced. The
factory employed then as many as 900 workers.
Thanks to its achievements and organizational
skills, the factory was transformed into the
"Warsaw Paper Plant".
In the 60's a mechanical
and biological sewage treatment plant and
filters were put to use. The sewage treatment
plant contributed to the improvement of the
cleanness of the Jeziorka* river, which had
a positive impact on the condition of Wisla
too.
At the beginning of the 80's
the factory employed 2000 people. The annual
paper production was about 75 thousand tonnes.
In 1985, the year of its
225th anniversary, Jeziorna was the biggest
paper factory in Europe in respect of the
number of paper machines used in one plant.
In mid-90's company's stocks
entered National Investment Funds, which created
new development possibilities for the plant.
In January 1998 within the
National Investment Funds campaign, the larger
part of the shares of Warsaw Paper Plant was
purchased by the Finnish company Metsa - Tissue.
In
December 1998 the oldest part of the Plant
was sold to the company of "KONSTANS"
(an Ltd. company).
* Jeziorka
- a side-stream of Wisla, flows through Konstancin-Jeziorna.
|
