When Austrians Rudolf and Christian Ploberger visited Prague in 1990, just after the Velvet Revolution, they were struck by the lack of a fine personal hotels. Rudolf had such a hotel in Wels, Austria, the Best Western Hotel Ploberger, a charming 82-room property near the city’s historic town center. He and Christian decided to create similarly stylish, sophisticated accommodations in the heart of Prague that would suit the needs and tastes of modern travelers, yet reflect the grand architectural traditions of the Bohemian capital.
Today, Hotel Josef and Maximilian Hotel stand as gleaming monuments to their efforts, smart design hotels that seamlessly combine comfort and class in the midst of Prague’s historic attractions. Under the guidance of General Manager Manfred Tobolka, who brings a high level of service standards from Vienna, both hotels offer unique settings, thoughtful amenities and a captivating travel experience to match the beauty and charm of their surroundings.
To realize their vision, the Plobergers enlisted noted Czech architect Eva Jiricna. Born in the Moravian town of Zlin, Eva followed in her architect father’s footsteps, studying in Prague and London, where she was forced to stay by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. But she turned misfortune to advantage, designing residential, retail and public projects for clients ranging from the London Docklands Development Corporation to Harrods, for which she has won many awards, including a recognition for lifetime achievement from the Czech Ministry of Culture in 2009.
In addition to her work for the Plobergers, Eva has made other significant contributions to Prague architecture. Her glass and steel orangery at Prague Castle added a contemporary touch to a landmark set of heritage buildings, and her renovation of St. Anne’s Church in Old Town for former President Vaclav Havel’s VIZE 97 foundation established an important philanthropic and cultural center that reflects its new name and mission: Prague Crossroads. Her firm, Eva Jiricna Architects, is noted for its innovative use of classic materials – glass, steel and stone – in a harmony of architecture and engineering, a holistic approach exemplified by the Hotels Josef and Maximilian.
Hotel Josef
Unlike most of its Old Town neighbors, Hotel Josef, which opened its doors in June 2002, is not an old structure dressed up to look new. It was designed from the ground up, inside and out, by Eva with an unusual attention to detail. From the Thonet chairs and tables in the breakfast room to the Baleri armchairs and Philippe Starck fittings in the guest rooms, the hotel is a compendium of modern design, assembled with great thought and care to create an airy yet substantive environment. The overall design captures elements of Bohemian crystal and the city’s famed Cubist and Functionalist architecture, blending them with elegance and purity of tone.
Entering the lobby, one barely feels indoors, with the floor-to-ceiling windows spilling in plenty of light and acting as a frame for the activity on the cobblestoned street. Front-panel lighting on the reception desk and the lobby bar add a soft, radiant glow to the white and cream color scheme. The centerpiece of the lobby is one of Eva’s favorite design elements, a glass and steel spiral staircase, engineered so neatly into a compact space that it manages to be both stunning and unobtrusive.
The hotel’s 109 rooms are split between two buildings, the front “pink house” and the rear “orange house.” The two structures are connected by a glass walkway that affords a view onto the landscaped courtyard, a soothing patch of green in an urban environment. The breakfast room, with its classic canework and steel tube seats designed by Marcel Breur for Thonet, also look onto the courtyard, where guests can dine or just relax at outdoor tables during the warmer months.
The rooms offer everything a modern traveler expects: a plasma TV, DVD-CD player, free high-speed Internet, mini-bar, bathrobe, hair dryer, tea and coffee facilities and air-conditioning. Most of the rooms face the courtyard and are soundproof. A majority of them are non-smoking.
Splashes of color brighten the dominant white and neutral tones of the rooms, which offer some distinctive touches. Eva personally designed the desks and beds, and in a whimsical stroke, gave the bathrooms in 35 of the rooms glass walls, frosting those that hold the WC and shower as a nod to modesty. The coat hangers, the flowers, even the menu cards were all selected to fit the overall tone and design.
Business services, though discreetly placed, are also up to four-star standards. There are three air-conditioned conference rooms, one of which offers access to a private garden. Located conveniently off the connecting glass walkway, a work center offers free use of PCs and a printer. Translation and secretarial services are available, and busy executives can also take advantage of a limousine service, laundry and dry cleaning, a fitness area with exercise machines on the sixth floor, and a sauna and massage room. There are also guarded indoor parking spaces.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Hotel Josef is its clean, uncluttered look, brightened throughout by light, natural colors and the ubiquitous use of glass. The unbroken lines and airy feeling open up all the spaces, making them seem larger, and offering the eye and mind a respite from the visual overload on Prague streets. After a busy day sightseeing or in meetings, the Hotel Josef is like an oasis, calm and cool, a relaxed, luxurious retreat from the cares of the world.
If you are staying at the Hotel Josef in early June, chances are you will run into a famous author. That’s when the Prague Writers’ Festival, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2010, brings an A-list of international literary figures to the city for insightful talks, lively discussions, book signings and other encounters with their readers. Guests who have appeared at the festival over the years include Nobel Prize winners Herta Mueller, Nadine Gordimer and Harold Pinter, Pulitzer Prize winners Jeffrey Eugenides and Michael Cunningham, Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood, Arab poet Adonis, American cartoonist Robert Crumb and German poet and essayist Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Among the luminaries appearing at the 2010 festival are Nobel Prize winners Gao Xingjian and Derek Walcott.
The president of the Prague Writers’ Festival, Michael March, is a poet himself, with five collections of published works. You can read a sample of his work, “When She Danced,” which is posted in the lobby year-round.
Hotel Maximilian
Two years after the Hotel Josef opened, the Plobergers asked Eva to work her magic again, this time on an existing structure literally around the corner. The Maximilian Hotel, a building originally dating from the 1920s, was the first property they opened in Prague, in the summer of 1995. The opening was attended by Austrian President Rudolf Kirchschlaeger, who served as the Austrian ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1967 to 1970. Despite orders not to do so, he issued exit visas to Czech citizens trying to flee the Soviet invasion of 1968.
Part of the appeal of the Maximilian was its location on Hastalske namesti, where a church has stood since the early 13th century. The magnificent St. Hastala church that dominates the square today was built as a three-aisled Gothic basilica in the mid-14th century. After a fire in 1689, the interior was rebuilt in Baroque style. Frescoes dating from the 14th century are still visible in the sacristy. You can get a fine view of the exterior from a number of balconies in the Maximilian, in particular those in room 206 and suite 406.
St. Hastala holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Czechs. St. Agnes of Bohemia, a princess who renounced her wealth and joined a nunnery to care for the sick and needy, reputedly took her vows there. Her grave was never found, though for centuries many people suspected it might be hidden beneath St. Ha?tala. In late 2009, two researchers thought they had found it, but their discovery proved inconclusive. Legend holds that when the remains of St. Agnes are found, the Czech nation will enter a new era of good fortune and abundance. True or not, the legends lend Hastalske namesti a special atmosphere.
The Ploberbers were looking to the future in 2004, when they asked Eva to give the Maximilan a “facelift,” transforming it into a signature property offering a greater degree of comfort and a design statement of its own without requiring major reconstruction.
The splendid results are clear from the moment you walk in the lobby, where a backlit yellow onyx wall provides a dramatic backdrop for the reception desks, which are done in walnut and black lacquer. The materials and design are a gesture to the ’20s, a time of transition from Art Deco to Modernism. That theme continues throughout the two guest salons, library, drawing room with a honor bar, the breakfast room, which has a new glass extension overlooking a garden terrace, and the bedrooms.
Other period references abound, starting with the colors – blue bed throws, red and purple chairs in the library, and Eileen Gray red on the tables. Much of the furniture also reflects the period, for example the Eileen Gray chairs by Pierre Chareau from La Maison de Verre in Paris. The graphic works on display throughout the hotel are by Czech artists of the era, on loan from Prague’s Museum of Decorative Arts. Keen eyes will spot other references to period designers such as Giuseppe Terrani, Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd, along with elements of the original Maximilian, designed by Czech architectural historian and critic Karel Teige.
If you want to pamper yourself, the Maximilian is a very good place to do it. The hotel’s Zen City Spa offers expert Asian massages that will restore your energy flows and balance. Refresh yourself afterward with a drink upstairs at the handsome honor bar, where you simply mark down your room number, help yourself to tea, coffee, beer or wine, and relax in front of the fireplace.
The 71 rooms, which include one suite, are again split between two buildings – the “black house” and “red house” – and designed for maximum comfort, with high ceilings, recessed lighting, blackout drapes and generous duvet bedcovers. The amenities are first-class: free high-speed Internet via Wi-Fi or telephone and analog data ports, plasma TV, DVD and CD player, mini-bar, bathrobe and slippers, hair dryer and air-conditioning. Most of the rooms are soundproof and nonsmoking.
The Maximilian’s generous breakfast buffet is justifiably known as one of the best in the city, and offers a generous schedule as well: 6:30 – 11:30 a.m. weekdays, 6:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. on weekends. Bright and airy, the breakfast room is a delightful place to linger over coffee.
Like the Hotel Josef, the Maximilian offers a full set of services for business travelers, including laundry and dry cleaning, limousine service or car rental, secretarial services and a business center on the ground floor with PCs offering free Internet. And naturally, it has its own distinctive touch. If you are lonely and seeking a bit of companionship, ask the reception desk for one of our pet goldfish, which will be delivered to your room in a fishbowl. The staff will be glad take care of your new friend during your stay.
Thoughtfully constructed to reflect the great architectural and design traditions of Prague, both the Hotel Josef and Hotel Maximilan offer a refined taste of the city with a modern burnish. The atmosphere of comfortable luxury is so entrancing, you may find yourself tempted to stay in the hotels rather than venture out on the streets. But there is a remarkable world to explore starting just steps from the hotels, ten centuries of sumptuous art and architecture on display in one of Europe’s greatest living museums. The remainder of this brochure will help you find your way to the city’s finest sights.
