Kurhaus di Merano

On the Passer riverside at the edge of Merano's old town, the white Kurhaus has anchored the spa town's public life since 1874. Its Art Nouveau Kursaal, rotunda and dome were added between 1912 and 1914 by Viennese architect Friedrich Ohmann.

Why it matters

Merano grew rich selling Alpine air and mild winters to the Austro-Hungarian world, and the Kurhaus is the building where that story is most visible. Opened in 1874 as a spa and reading establishment, it became the stage on which the resort's Belle Époque society performed. Ohmann's expansion crowned it with one of the great Art Nouveau interiors of the Alps, and the venue was formally inaugurated on 31 December 1914. It remains an important part of Merano's civic and cultural life.

What to notice

The white facade is crowned by roof figures known as the dancing graces, and a terrace descends toward the Passer. The Kursaal's ceiling, painted by Rudolf Jettmar, Horatio Gaigher and Alexander Rothaug, is surrounded by Jugendstil ornament. The Pavillon des Fleurs, once the Mirror Hall for chamber music, survives as a hall of mirrors. The Sala Ohmann and the Rotunda complete the sequence of rooms.

Context and history

The original 1874 building survives as the western wing, lit in its first decades by 102 gas flames before electric light arrived in 1897. As Merano's reputation peaked, the municipality commissioned Ohmann, then a celebrated Viennese architect, to give the resort a hall worthy of it; work ran from 1912 to 1914 and delivered the Kursaal, the Rotunda and the famous Art Nouveau dome. In the imperial era the rooms drew aristocrats, officers and cultural figures including Rainer Maria Rilke, Richard Strauss and Franz Lehár. Empress Elisabeth is said to have strolled here, and Emperor Franz Joseph also visited. A careful twentieth-century renovation returned the interiors to their period condition, and a modern refit preserved the ornament.