1910 – A print shows the buildings on top of the Bruhnskoppel near Malente-Gremsmühlen in Germany. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo: F. Henning
The story behind the image
This is a print from a photo book published by photographer Friedrich Henning around 1912 that covers the area of Ost-Holstein in Northern Germany. The image shows the hotel and restaurant Bruhnskoppel near Malente in Northern Germany.
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 started the business with a restaurant on the top of the Bruhnskoppel, a hill overlooking the landscape near Gremsmühlen. Tourism in the area had been slowly picking up, and the restaurant was so successful that he extended the business with a hotel around 1895, which was run by his son, Friedrich Rudolph Grebien. He 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 finally 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. A “lost place” in the middle of a (still) beautiful landscape.
The image is interesting because it shows the hotel with its impressive tower from an unusual perspective. I think the building on the right did not belong to the hotel, but I really can’t say. I have seen a number of shots with the hotel on top of the hill but the building on the right is new to me.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | c. 1910 |
| Photographer | F. Henning, Plön |
| Location | Bruhnskoppel, Germany |
| Image Source | 12 x 17 cm rasterized print |
| 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 | 3991 x 2800 Pixels |
| Copyright | Scan © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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