UNDATED – A postcard shows the buildings and new pavillion on top of the Bruhnskoppel near Malente-Gremsmühlen in Germany. Scan © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
This is a postcard shot of the Hotel Bruhnskoppel near Malente-Gremsmühlen in Northern Germany. The postcard does neither mention the name of the photographer nor the publisher. But it’s likely that it was one of the regional photo pioneers, Alb. Giesler from Eutin, or Julius Simonsen from Oldenburg.
What’s more, the card was never sent and does not show a date. We can safely say that it was shot after 1895 because this postcard from 1895 does not show the pavillion, but a super large postcard flyer from 1905 explicitely highlights the music pavilion:
Another postcard sent in 1905 also shows the pavilion.
Anyway, the property was owned and managed by my great-great-grandfather, Johann Hinrich Grebien (1826-1903), father of Dorothea Christine Grebien.
In 1870, Johann Hinrich had opened a restaurant on the top of the Bruhnskoppel, a tiny hill near Gremsmühlen. Tourism in the area had been slowly picking up, and the restaurant was pretty successful. In fact, it was so successful, that he extended the business with a hotel around 1895, which was run by his son, Friedrich Rudolph Grebien, who added a 21 meter high tower that provided stunning views across the landscape. Friedrich operated the hotel just until the end of 1907 when he sold it.
The hotel continued a wild ride through the decades until it closed in 2010. It followed a bizarre story of several investors who were talking about investing into a new, fully restored hotel. But these plans were never put into reality. At the same time, the buildings were destroyed by the weather and by vandals. Today, it has become a shame for the community, labeled as a “lost place”.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | unknown, estimated 1900 |
| Photographer | unknown |
| Location | Bruhnskoppel, Germany |
| Image Source | 13 x 8 cm postcard |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 6057 x 3704 Pixels |
| Copyright | Scan © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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