A place of breathtaking beauty and splendour awaits you in Germany`s
oldest coastal spa. A place that turns hectic and stress into calmness and
relaxation. Experience uniqueness at the Kempinski Grand Hotel Heiligendamm.
HistoryIn 1793, upon the advice of his personal physician, Professor Dr. Samuel
Gottlieb Vogel, Frederick-Francis I Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin took his first
bath in the sea at "Heiligen Damm", and this marked the birth of the
first German seaside resort.
Vogel recognized the healing effect of sea water on a series of illnesses.
But the main advantages in favour of the location of Heiligendamm were of a
climatic nature, such as air that has little dust and is moist, low variations
in temperature, the surrounding lush beech forests, as well as the lack of
tides.
In the years following its foundation, there was a great deal of building done
at "Heiligen Damm" in order to do justice to the rising popularity of
the seaside resort.
Between 1793 and 1870, the architects, Johann Christoph Heinrich von Seydwitz,
Carl Theodor Severin and Gustav Adolph Demmler, created a unique, classical work
of art consisting of bathing and lodging houses.
In 1823 the first racecourse on the European continent was opened between
Heiligendamm and Doberan was thus the trophy of German horse-racing.
In 1862, the narrow-gauge railway which joined Doberan to Heiligendamm was
officially opened. This stretch of railway was extended to Kühlungsborn in
1910 and still operates under steam today.Since its foundation, Heiligendamm was
the most elegant seaside resort in Germany. European high nobility, including
the Tsar's family, spent their summer holidays here. Heiligendam remained an
exclusive spa into the thirties of the 20th century, with many prominent guests.
At that time in society, it was considered a must to have been there at least
once in a person's life.
After World War II, Heiligendamm's buildings were used as a sanatorium and a
place to convalesce.
In 1996, the Fundus Group, located in Cologne, purchased the "white town
by the sea". After extensive renovations, the opening of the Kempinski
Grand Hotel Heiligendamm in the spring of 2003 will mark the rebirth of this
exclusive spa.
The Kempinski Grand Hotel Heiligendamm opened on 1st of June 2003
after three years of careful reconstruction work and marked the rebirth of
Germany's oldest sea spread.