Krakow, Cracow, Cracovie...
Krakow, Cracow, Cracovie...
The Forum HotelThe Forum Hotel is another curiosity of Cracovian architecture. Some time ago it used to be the most modern building in Krakow, today it is the biggest billboard in the city, which blocks the view of Wawel. The edifice does not perform its function anymore, either. Even though it was a place vibrant with life, a pride of Krakow, nobody lives there now. In the past the hotel was swarming with important people who slept in its luxurious apartments, such as George Bush, Vaclav Havel, Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand, Steven Spielberg and Lech Wałęsa. Today the place is empty, as if all its inhabitants died, and resembles a forlorn old castle. Nobody really knows why the hotel was closed down. Allegedly, the foundations of the building were disturbed by the 1997 flood and since then the hotel has been unsafe for the people. This is just one of the possible explanations. There are also some allegations that the edifice has some structural defects ever since it was built. No matter what finally caused the hotel to close down, it has to be admitted that the history of the edifice is quite paradoxical.
However, not only the people connected with politics and business can feel nostalgic about the hotel. The place was the venue for wedding receptions and prom balls, so many common Cracovians have some memories connected with it, too. The hotel, which used to be vibrant with life, was a landmark of the city. The great, but short history of the hotel came to an end on 9th November 2002. On that day the ‘Accor’ chain (owner of Sofitel, the name which Forum adopted for 1.5 years), who had bought the building from ‘Orbis’, officially announced that the hotel was closed down. Even though today the edifice is mainly used as an enormous advertising area where huge billboards appear once for a while, it inspires many artists. The hotel’s mysteriousness was used, for example by Marcin Świetlicki. In his novel “Twelve” all characters are somehow connected with the hotel: they live there and they discover a mysterious crime in the same place. Another artist inspired by the hotel is Monika Wiechowska who took photos of the empty hotel’s interior and exterior. Her works were later on display in the Potocka Gallery. What will happen to the building in the immediate future? It is still uncertain. There are plans to pull the edifice down and make room for new luxurious apartment houses, but the City Council has not granted permission for that yet, even though the investors applied for it over two years ago. Right now the empty building is left alone to scare or to inspire. It is a clear sign that everything is mortal, regardless of all the great things achieved in the past. |
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Everything began in 1978 when the construction of the building designed by Janusz Ingarden started. The works lasted over 10 years and finally the hotel was opened in 1989, which was the year symbolic for the Poles. Since that date the travellers could stop in this new four-star hotel which had 278 rooms including 15 luxurious apartments. The building was truly modern at the time. For example, it was equipped with automatic door, which was extremely unusual in those days. Apart from that it was fully air-conditioned and had an automatic flushing system in toilets, which, it has to be admitted, made an impression on some of the guests. In the Forum Hotel one could really taste the world of the rich and the famous. There were: a casino, two restaurants, a drink bar, a two-level car park, a centre of biological regeneration, a perfume shop, bureau de change, a flower shop, travel agency, six conference halls as well as two tennis courts and a mini golf course next to the building.