Harman Patil (Editor)

Kempinski Palace Portorož

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Address
  
Obala 45, Portorož

Owner
  
Agri Holding AG

Closed
  
autumn 1990

Management
  
Kempinski Hotels S.A.

Kempinski Palace Portorož

Location
  
Portorož, southwestern Slovenia

Opening
  
20 August 1910, reopened on 18 October 2008

Kempinski Palace Portorož, until 2008 known as Palace Hotel (Slovene: hotel Palace), is a five-star deluxe hotel in Portorož, a settlement on the Adriatic coast in southwestern Slovenia. It is the only deluxe hotel in Slovenia.

Contents

Architecture

The central part of the hotel is the Crystal Hall (Kristalna dvorana).

History

The hotel was built since 1908 upon the plans of the Austrian architect Johann Eustacchio and opened on 20 August 1910 at the time of Austro-Hungarian Empire. At that time it was a tourist attraction of the highest quality. Portorož was, together with Grado and Opatija, categorized as one of the most important coast resorts and spas on the Austrian Riviera. The construction of the hotel was completed in 1912. At the end of 1983, it was proclaimed a cultural monument, and a park in front of hotel was called a monument of designed nature.

The hotel was closed in autumn 1990. In the 2000s, the Slovenian owner, coastal company Istrabenz Hoteli Portorož, signed a contract with a German hotel chain Kempinski to run and manage this hotel for at least 20 years. When they renovated the hotel, the front side was kept for historical reasons and everything else was demolished. The renovation was planned by Slovenian architects API ARHITEKTI and cost about 70 million euros. The hotel was reopened on 18 October 2008.

Notable guests

Among the notable guests of the hotel were:

  • Herbert Alsen, opera singer and conductor, director of Vienna Opera (from the 1960s until 1990)
  • Lex Barker, actor
  • Pierre Brice, film actor (presumably at the end of the 1960s)
  • Josip Broz, President of Yugoslavia (1953, 1968) - the Presidential Suite or Tito Suite (No. 112) has been named after him
  • Yul Brynner, film actor
  • Božidar Jakac, painter and photographer (from the end of the 1970s to the end of the 1980s)
  • Marcello Mastroianni, film actor (1956, 1985)
  • Ivo Pogorelić, piano player
  • Jože Privšek, jazz pianist, composer, and conductor (in the beginning of the 1970s)
  • Mikis Theodorakis, composer
  • Orson Welles, film actor and director (presumably at the end of the 1960s or in the beginning of the 1970s)
  • Adriano Celentano, Mina, Patty Pravo (1968), Rita Pavone (1963), Bobby Solo, and Ornella Vanoni, popular Italian singers

    • References

    Kempinski Palace Portorož Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA