Heiligendamm () is a German seaside resort founded in 1793. It is the oldest seaside spa in continental Europe. Heiligendamm is part of the town

Bad Doberan Bad Doberan () is a town in the district of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Bad Doberan. In 2012, its population was 11,427. Geography Bad Doberan is situated just west of Rostock's city c ...

in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

and historically belongs to

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

. The cluster of resort architecture mansions and spa buildings at the seafront are reminders of the glory days when this part of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

was one of the playgrounds of Europe's aristocracy.Bradley, Kimberly
"A Spa Town Reclaims Its Glory,"
''New York Times.'' June 3, 2007. Due to the classicist white buildings lining the beach promenade, the town is also known as the "White Pearl" (german: Weiße Perle) or the "White Town by the Sea" (german: Die weiße Stadt am Meer). Today, the area by the sea is occupied by a five-star hotel, the

Grand Hotel Heiligendamm The Grand Hotel Heiligendamm is a luxury hotel and gated community in Heiligendamm on the Mecklenburg Baltic coast in Germany. The five-star grand hotel is counted among the best hotels in Germany. The hotel was the first seaside resort in Germa ...

. A

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

steam railway, known as the "

Molli The Molli (''German: Mecklenburgische Bäderbahn "Molli"''; short: MBB; also: Molli Bahn or Mollibahn) is a narrow-gauge steam-powered railway in Mecklenburg, Germany, running on gauge track. It operates between Bad Doberan, Heiligendamm and ...

", links Heiligendamm with

Kühlungsborn Kühlungsborn () is a ''Seebad'' (seaside resort) town in the Rostock district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the Baltic Sea coast, 11 km northwest of Bad Doberan, and 25 km northwest of Rostock. The town has an ...

and Bad Doberan.

History

Heiligendamm um 1841 Salon und Badehaus, Godewind Verlag

Heiligendamm was developed as an elegant meeting place for the nobility and high society. Among its most prominent guests were the

German Emperors The German Emperor (german: Deutscher Kaiser, ) was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the offi ...

. Its founder and first guest in 1793 was the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Friedrich Franz I; he made the resort fashionable. Between 1793 and 1870, Johann Christoph, Heinrich von Seydwitz,

Carl Theodor Severin Carl Theodor Severin (13 September 1763, Mengeringhausen – 20 February 1836, Bad Doberan, Germany) was a German architect. He is regarded as one of the most important representatives of classicism in Mecklenburg. Life Severin was born the fir ...

, and Gustav Adolph Demmler created a veritable

Gesamtkunstwerk A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, literally 'total artwork', translated as 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of al ...

for bathing and lodging. Heiligendamm was always regarded as the most elegant seaside resort in Germany. Nobility from throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

used it as a summer getaway well into the 20th century. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the buildings of Heiligendamm were used as sanatoria and recovery ward. When

became part of the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, some of Heiligendamm's famous buildings were demolished and replaced by more utilitarian structures. After the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in 1989/1990, a group of investors bought most of the buildings and undertook a major programme of refurbishment. A new company, the Kempinski Grand Hotel, opened in spring of 2003 – it used six historical buildings including the historical ''Kurhaus'' at the beach of Heiligendamm. The development has led to some conflict with residents, as main streets and cycle paths have been removed or rerouted. Also again a famous building of the ensemble was demolished. The mansion next to the Grand Hotel was reconstructed until 2011, though. Renovations of other mansions are undergoing or planned. On July 13, 2006, United States President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

stayed at Heiligendamm while on a state visit to see German Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

. On June 6 to 8, 2007, Heiligendamm's

Grand Hotel A grand hotel is a large and luxurious hotel, especially one housed in a building with traditional architectural style. It began to flourish in the 1800s in Europe and North America. Grand Hotel may refer to: Hotels Africa * Grande Hotel Beir ...

hosted the 33rd summit of G8 leaders. During this time, thousands of

anticapitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, such as ...

activists from around the world blocked the roads to Heiligendamm and an estimated 25,000

anti-globalization The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...

protesters demonstrated in nearby

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

. In July 2013, the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm was bought by

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

-based accountant Paul Morzynski, who intends to carefully extend and reorganize the hotel.

Sights

The

resort architecture Resort architecture (german: Bäderarchitektur) is an architectural style that is especially characteristic of spas and seaside resorts on the German Baltic coast. The style evolved since the foundation of Heiligendamm in 1793, and flourished espec ...

near the beaches of Heiligendamm, consisting of

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and

historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...

mansions and spa buildings, is part of a unique heritage, as the first such buildings of the European continent can be seen here. The area of the

is partly accessible to visitors, but should be experienced respectfully to not disturb the hotel guests. The narrow gauge railway known as ''

Bäderbahn Molli The Molli (''German: Mecklenburgische Bäderbahn "Molli"''; short: MBB; also: Molli Bahn or Mollibahn) is a narrow-gauge steam-powered railway in Mecklenburg, Germany, running on gauge track. It operates between Bad Doberan, Heiligendamm and Kü ...

'' ("Molli Resort Railway") runs through Heiligendamm from Kühlungsborn to Bad Doberan. The line between Bad Doberan and Heiligendamm was built in 1886. The ''Protestant Forest Church'' (''Evangelische Waldkirche'') was renovated after

die Wende The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity ...

, the ''Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart'' (''Herz-Jesu-Kapelle'') is close by. Heiligendamm also has a 200-metre-long pier into the Baltic Sea that allows great views of the ''White Pearl Mansions'' at the beach.Ostsee-Zeitung
''Seebrücke in Heiligendamm wieder begehbar''
/ref>

Images

Image:Heiligendamm_Gedenkstein.jpg, Foundation memorial stone Image:Kurhaus, Heiligendamm.jpg, The ''Kurhaus'', earliest example of

, part of the

Image:Heiligendamm Beach Villas Panorama 2.jpg, Beach villas at Heiligendamm, the so-called ''Perlenkette''. File:Heiligendamm Villa Großfürstin Marie - Perle.jpg, Reconstructed ''Villa Perle'' in 2013 (formerly demolished in 2007 for the G8 summit) File:Heiligendamm Alexandrinen-Cottage 2010-05-17 076.jpg, ''Alexandrinen-Cottage'', a noble mansion next to the Grand Hotel File:Heiligendamm May 2007 019.jpg, The narrow gauge line ''Bäderbahn Molli'' in Heiligendamm station File:Heiligendamm Waldkapelle 2010-05-17 045 detail.jpg, Catholic forest chapel of 1888

Literature

;in English language * Charles James Apperley: ''"Nimrods German Tour"'' – a travel through northern Germany, especially to Heiligendamm in 1828. Publishing company: Godewind Verlag, Germany 2006. ;in German language * Hans Thielcke: ''Die Bauten des Seebades Doberan - Heiligendamm um 1800 und Ihr Baumeister Severin''. Godewind Verlag, 2004 . (Reprint d. Originalausgabe von 1917) * Friedrich Compart: ''Geschichte des Klosters Doberan''. Godewind Verlag, 2004. . (Reprint der Originalausgabe von 1872) * Heinrich Hesse: ''Die Geschichte von Doberan-Heiligendamm''. Godewind Verlag, Wismar 2004, . (Bearbeitete Neuauflage der Originalausgabe von 1838) * Adolf Nizze: ''Doberan-Heiligendamm: Geschichte des ersten deutschen Seebades''. Godewind Verlag, Wismar 2004, . (Bearbeitete Neuauflage der Originalausgabe von 1823) * ''Die Reise eines Gesunden in die Seebäder Swinemünde, Putbus und Doberan''. Godewind Verlag, Wismar 2005, . (Bearbeitete Neuauflage der Originalausgabe von 1823) * Hans-Jürgen Herbst: ''Kalender 2007, Doberan & Heiligendamm, erstes deutsches Seebad''. Godewind Verlag, 2007, . * Dr. Samuel G. Vogel: ''Allgemeine Baderegeln zum Gebrauche für Badelustige überhaupt und diejenigen insbesondere, welche sich des Seebades in Doberan bedienen''. Godewind Verlag, 2004, . (Bearbeitete Neuauflage der Originalausgabe von 1817)

References

External links