|
Originally bought from state control in 1990 after the fall of the East German regime and then extensively refurbished. The furniture in the bedrooms is a Biedermeyer pastiche that now looks heavy and dated. Shutters, in need of overhaul, allow windows to provide full blackout when used in conjunction with curtains.
|
Like the hotel the Bauhaus designed building that now houses the Bauhaus art school survived the decades, and is a part of a large art campus offering a range of degree and postgraduate art studies. Weimar also houses the original Bauhaus museum predating the more well known Dessau building, with many works of interest to designers, and well worth a visit. Staying at an hotel as historic as the Elephant makes the visit only more compelling.
|
In the five years that have elapsed since my visit to neighbouring Jena the economy of the old East Germany has obviously been transformed. Empty roads then have become crowded with BMWs, Mercedes and Volkswagens, trucks and vans now. Streets in Weimar have the fashion houses and café society that characterises so many streets in the rest of Germany. Whilst statistics show the East still struggling to catch the West these are necessarily a backward snapshot, as all statistics are. My instinct is that the economy here is healthy and the future for the Elephant is as bright as its past is dark.
|
Suite at the front of the hotel shows where the refurbishments are heading. Full air-conditioning adds to a stylish contemporary interior. Refurbishment is incremental, with owners Arabella Sheraton opting to undertake a phased refurbishment and the hotel working in concert with the Bauhaus to use ‘forbidden’ art to add contemporary styling. There is a small gallery which shows the work of staff at the Bauhaus, and with a sense of irony artists banned under the 1933 regime are now used to decorate the rooms – incidentally demonstrating not just the emotional power of art, or just its philosophical importance but also how visually it can add so much to an interior compared to formulaic ‘decorator’ items.
|
