Refurbishment "Hotel on the Wartburg" in Eisenach

The Wartburg near Eisenach, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which, according to legend, had Ludwig Ludwig the Springer from the Ludowinger family built in 1067, has written German history over the centuries. For around 200 years, the Ludovingians were among the most influential royal families in the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. The castle received its place in the history books as a refuge for the reformer Martin Luther, who was banned by the emperor and cast a spell by the pope, who translated the New Testament into German there in just ten weeks in 1521, based on the Greek original text. On October 18, 1817, the fraternities celebrated the anniversary of the Reformation and the anniversary of the Leipzig Battle of Nations on the occasion of the first bourgeois-democratic assembly in Germany dedicated to a united nation-state. The Thuringian ancestral castle, which was restored by the Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach house in 1838 to 1890, has remained a center of attraction for millions of tourists from all over the world to this day. The "Hotel auf der Wartburg" owes its origins to this attractiveness and history. The hotel building below the Wartburg dates from 1914 and fits seamlessly into the castle ensemble. The Wartburg Foundation, founded in 1922, is in the hands of the Wartburg Foundation, in whose hands the administration and maintenance of Arcona Hotels & Resorts, based in Rostock, Germany, has taken the 5-star hotel on the Wartburg under its wing since 2001. After a five-month breather, it opened its doors again in summer 2011.

Luther and Prince rooms

The three-storey hotel nestled against the mountain has survived the century well and has grown in maturity and beauty with age. Most recently, the foundation's subsidiary Wartburg Wirtschaftsbetriebe GmbH and operators have taken care of this. The hospitable, 5-star hostel has been "revamped" in the 90s, but has recently undergone continuous renovation, with the balancing act between maintaining its value and maintaining a contemporary atmosphere. It currently has 35 rooms. Two more The thematic focus is based on historical events. There are rustic Landgrave rooms, womanly Elisabeth rooms, Luther rooms set on simplicity, and generous prince rooms. Nevertheless, no room is the same different floor plans, on the other hand the wealth of ideas and the diversity of the interior architecture, the revival of which the renowned designer Bärbel Schwabe and her Frankfurt-based company "Markenwelt" took on.

Because there was a need for refurbishment not only in the outer shell of the castle hotel, which was exposed to wind and weather, as marketing director Dorothee Schmidt explained. "The guest rooms also need a thorough overhaul every ten to twelve years." Making the best of what is available is one of the immovable principles of a 5-star hotel. Given its exposed location at the foot of the Wartburg Castle and in the interest of one The level of hospitality, the renovation of the hotel, in which four million euros were invested, extended to a high level, the roof renovation with specially fired bricks and the revision of the widely visible natural stone facade as well as the redesign of the majority of the rooms in the old walls The Frankfurt-based designer Bärbel Schwabe was entrusted with the design task that required expertise and sensitivity, who had been accompanying the hotel on the Wartburg for twenty years on its way to exclusivity and made a name for itself across national borders with design and spatial concepts.

The charm and zeitgeist of the Wartburg

The basic concern of the designer and her team was to create an impressive ambience and comfort through a characteristic interior. The color scheme aims to transfer the flair of the Wartburg to the rooms with charm and zeitgeist following the thematic assignment. For the smallest room category, the Luther room, dark colors were chosen that convey a feeling of security, but correspond to the spartan furnishings of the Luther period. In contrast, the Elisabeth room has a feminine character, which is expressed, among other things, by the fact that the ornamentation in the bed head draws on the free ornamentation of Saint Elizabeth's lifetime and links it with a new zeitgeist. With their ocher-colored walls and ceilings, the spacious prince's rooms take into account the high rank and sophistication. "We have never left the orientation towards the authentic references to the location, which was determined with the owner and operator," emphasized designer Bärbel Schwabe. The products selected in the concept frame met the expectations placed on them, with the coherence of the interior being the top priority Among other things, the high-quality Indeko-plus interior paint, which is particularly suitable for highly stressed areas, has been proven, which Caparol expert Ralf Engelhaupt recommended with knowledge of the property.

Master painter Christian Clas from the Eisenacher painting company Hillmer particularly appreciates that it is easy to work with, has an above-average coverage and can be repaired inconspicuously if necessary. The long-established painter's business has always ensured under Senior Wolfgang Hillmer that there was no lack of color at the Wartburg. Now the company, which has been managed by son Jürgen since 1997, has been awarded the contract for the painting work as part of the hotel renovation. It is state-of-the-art and has a pool of well-trained and experienced employees who know how to handle all standard products. In view of a wealth of good experience in painting work in the hotel, catering and commercial sectors, master painter Jürgen Hillmer decided in favor of Indeko-plus from Caparol. The sample panels corresponding to the color designs of the "brand world" withstood the critical gaze of the experts. However, before the paint could be applied to the wall and ceiling, a large part of the old wallpaper had to be removed and replaced with glass fleece. In the case of the Landgrave's room, the surfaces were colored underlaid and refined with antique glaze. What artistic substance had to be worked up was reserved for a painter.

By exhausting human resources and with the help of a well-thought-out concept, we were able to meet the given deadline and master the logistical challenge. In the hotel on the Wartburg, the end of the renovation of the premises has not yet been set. There is still work to be done until the house's 100th birthday. But what was accomplished in the five-month construction phase is received with satisfaction and approval.