Hotel Bristol, also known as Absalons Gaard after a later owner, is a former hotel located on the City Hall Square in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

History

As a hotel

Hotel Bristol was built in two stages. The first two wings, along the City Hall Square and Frederiksberggade, were designed by the architect Vilhelm Fischer, who won an architectural competition, and built from 1901 to 1902 as Hotel Bristol. In 1932, a third wing, designed by Waldemar Schmidt, was built along Vestergade. The Hotel Bristol closed in 1917 after a bankruptcy caused by a fire.

Later occupants

After the closure, the building became the new headquarters of ''Absalon'', an insurance company founded in 1909, and changed its name to Absalons Gård (en. House of Absalon). Later the newspaper ''Aktuelt'' was based there.

Architecture

The three-wing building is constructed in red brick with granite rustication on the ground storey. The most distinctive feature of the building is its tower which stands 50 metres tall and is capped by a copper roof.

Trotsky and Hotel Bristol

Hotel Bristol The Hotel Bristol is the name of more than 200 hotels around the world. They range from grand European hotels, such as Hôtel Le Bristol Paris and the Hotel Bristol in Warsaw or Vienna to budget hotels, such as the SRO (single room occupancy) ...

provided

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

with an alibi following his 1936 Show Trial. Trotsky was accused of plotting against

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

at the cafe of the Bristol in Copenhagen where E. S Golzman confessed to meeting both him and his son

Sergei Sedov Sergei L. Sedov (1937) was a Soviet engineer and scientist killed in the Great Purge for being the son of Leon Trotsky. Personal life The son of Leon Trotsky by his second wife, and younger brother of Lev Sedov, Sergei L. Sedov was born in . H ...

. Danish newspapers could afterwards report that the hotel had been closed since the fire in 1917. The details have been laid out in 'Leon Trotsky and the Hotel Bristol That Never Was', chapter 9, in ''High Times at the Hotel Bristol'', a book about incidents at

s around the world.

Other incidents

* The internationally renowned Danish actor

Valdemar Psilander Valdemar Einar Psilander (9 May 1884 – 6 March 1917) was a Danish silent film actor, who was the highest-paid performer of his period and received critical acclaim as the greatest male lead during the golden era of Danish cinema. Biography Ear ...

died in the hotel while he stayed there as a guest in 1917.

References

External links

Copenhagen and Hotel Bristol
in the Trotsky trials {{Copenhagen hotels Defunct hotels in Copenhagen Hotel buildings completed in 1902 Hotel buildings completed in 1932 Leon Trotsky