1914-1919 years
The hotel was built by the design of the famous architect Frederik Janusz and opened on May 1, 1914. At that time, it was one of the best hotels in the city – an imposing tenement house with two front facades, large attic rooms and an elegant clock tower.
The building housed a hotel, restaurant, cinema, and shop. All that institutions had a common name “Austria”, which soon was referred to the entire building. During the century, the hotel changed its name several times – “Odesa”, “Warsaw”, “Spartak”, “Dniester”.
Under the ZUNR, the tenement house received a somewhat resort signboard “Odesa” and became a home for the leadership of the young republic. Next to the hotel rooms, in the cinema hall, meetings of the Parliament or the National Council took place.
It was here on January 3, 1919, that the significant decision was made to unify ZUNR with the Ukrainian People’s Republic. . During the “capital” period of Stanislavov’s history, such well-known politicians as Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Simon Petliura, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Kost Levitskyi, Dmytro Vitovskyi, Lev Bachynskyi visited the “Odesa” hotel.
1922-1991 years
During the Soviet era, the former respectable hotel turned into a low-class establishment with toilets in the corridors. The entire room stock was redone into narrow pantries, while toilets were eliminated. One shower and one toilet serviced the entire floor. The issue of comfort was not taken into account at all.
For more than 40 years, no reconstruction of the building was carried out. The wooden floors rotted, became unsafe for guests to stay in, the heating and sewage communications completely rusted, all sawage was concentrated in the hotel basements and emitted heavy odors, so the hotel was closed as an emergency facility.
2016-2023 years
In 2016, in the course of technical inspections of the hotel’s condition, certified specialists found that the load-bearing wooden floors of the building were in a dangerous condition and lost the ability to hold the structure as a whole, which threatened the complete destruction of the hotel and nearby buildings.
Accordingly, work was carried out on the fundamental strengthening of the floors and roof structures in accordance with the design and estimate documentation, the boiler room was equipped, comfortable rooms and the restaurant were restored.
The NADIYA PALACE hotel combined the most modern technologies, the love and friendliness of the staff, the cultural heritage of the city and historical secrets…
Renovation
An architectural classic
During the restoration of the facade, the original ivory-colored paint was discovered under multi-year layerings. As it turned out, the color of the paint was typical for that time and corresponded to the European architectural trends of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The tonal solution of cream color and structure of the facade paint is an architectural classic that adds softness and harmony, personifies natural landscapes, and is associated with a natural and simple state.
Vegetable stucco
During the careful restoration of the stucco on the hotel’s facade, masterpiece still lifes with pea pods, peppers, zucchini and garlic were hidden under the layers of plaster. There is an assumption that the architect Frederic Janusz was inspired by the works of the famous Italian decorator and artist Giuseppe Archimboldo, known throughout the world for his crazy “Vegetable Portrait” of Emperor Rudolph II.
Behind the story
Mysterious medallions of Janusz
Medallions are located between the 2nd and 3rd floors of the hotel facade. In architecture, stucco means a molded relief in an oval frame. The medallions depict a man with a non-standard hairstyle for those times. Why did the architect Janusz, who built the hotel, decorate it with this particular image?
It is said that this is a profile of Ferenc Liszt. Allegedly, a Hungarian pianist was in Stanislaviv and gave a concert. Later, on the site of the house where he performed, the hotel “Austria” was built, with a portrait of the pianist engraved in medallions. If compare the bas-relief with the portrait of Liszt, a certain similarity is noticed, but they say it could also be Mozart the younger, or Frederic Chopin, who once visited Stanislaviv.
Belvedere tower and clocks
On the roof of the hotel, a tower with three clocks was restored, which became the decoration of the city. The design of the spire in the Art Nouveau style is decorated with 3 balls covered with gold leaf, the middle one of which is decorated with 8 mallows, which are a symbol of infinity in nature. In addition to symbolic fragments, the spire has its own important function on the tower. . It serves as a lightning rod for the entire hotel building. Each element of the clock carries a deep sacred meaning. The hands of the clock personify the harmony of nature, which God created on the fourth day: sun and moon, day and night. The arrow of the heart is also a symbol of love, which passes through the star of life and unites the universe in a perfect harmony.
Hedy Lamarr – Austrian-American film actress, inventor.
Hedy Lamarr (born Eva Maria Kiesler) is a legendary Austrian-American actress, one of the brightest movie stars of the “golden era” of cinematography. She became famous after the release of the film “Ecstasy” because of the quite audacious, for those times, erotic scene of bathing in a forest lake, shown on the big screen for the first time. In the 1960s, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her achievements in the film industry. Hedy entered history thanks to a completely different facet of her talent – the development of scientific ideas. So, in 1942 she (together with the composer George Antheil) received a patent for the invention of a technology that is still actively used in wireless data transmission protocols (CDMA, Bluetooth, GSM, Wi-FI).
Eva Maria Kiesler was born in Vienna in 1914 and was the only child in the family of Gertrude and Emil Kiesler. Father, Emil Kiesler, was from Lviv and managed a bank. There is an assumption that he was the brother of the famous Kasel Kisler, the owner of several iconic tenement houses in Stanislaviv, one of which was the hotel “Austria”. The Kiesler family often visited Stanislaviv.
Millionaire firefighters
In 1923, the hotel “Warszaw” was on fire. Firefighters had been bravely fighting the fire for 15 hours, and finally won. For this, grateful residents paid them two million Polish marks. In conditions of galloping inflation, this was the equivalent of two US dollars.
Geisha in Stanislav style
Under Poland rule, there were so-called “fordansers” or parquet dancers at hotels and coffee shops. In Stanislaviv, the hotel “Warszaw” was “famous” for them.
In her memoirs, Lyubov Bilobram, among others, the first Ukrainian woman from Stanislaviv with a pharmaceutical education, described what happened there in the 1930s: “Young people – women and men – were constantly working in this establishment, whose duty was to entertain customers. Girls in ball gowns entertained officers. Young men in tuxedos offered conversation and dance invitations to lonely old ladies. Some of them escorted a “fordancer” to their table and were comforted by his presence all evening. . In the end, a “dancer” was obliged to lead the lady to the coachman, put her in the carriage and kiss her hand in farewell. That’s how his “work” ended. The owner of the establishment was not concerned about private agreements between “fordancers” and female visitors of the restaurant.”
Wolf Messing
After the release of the film “Wolf Messing: The One Who Sees Through The Time”, the name of this illusionist and seer became very popular among broad sections of the population. Meanwhile, the fact that in June 1963 the legend of telepathy and hypnosis visited Ivano-Frankivsk and held a meeting with supporters in the hall of the hotel “Dniester”, remained almost unknown.
Molfar and Dniester
The well-known molfar Mykhailo Nechai began his public career as a phytotherapist, speaking at meetings with the city’s residents in the People’s House. He liked to live in a spacious suite room designed in the Hutsul style. There he received people who came to him with their problems. One evening, a lady from Lviv knocked on the door of his room. . In her hand she held some object carefully wrapped in a dark paper. With pleading eyes, the woman held out a package to molfar, explained that it was a portrait and asked to heal the picture. The story of the lady resembled the scenario of horror movies. Strange sounds in the apartment, whispers at night that came from the picture. Nechai kept the painting, and rumors spread through the hotel. Of course, the staff wanted to see what was painted on that picture, but when guests appeared in the room, the molfar instantly turned the portrait to face the wall. He complained that it was difficult for him to work with the portrait, but did not go into details. Finally, the hotel administration saw that mystical masterpiece. The portrait depicted an old Hutsul in a krisan. The character’s eyes were depicted so vividly, as if they were piercing and scanning, penetrating the soul.
It really was a masterpiece, creepy, mystical, but a masterpiece. We do not know what happened to the portrait next. Whether the old lady came back for it, or maybe it already has new owners…
Chanakhy and Serhiy Paradzhanov
On the first floor of the hotel “Dniester”, there was the “Chanahy” cafe. Its name came from a Georgian dish, which is literally translated as “roast”. There is an interesting story about how this masterpiece of Caucasian cuisine got to Frankivsk. In 1964, a stocky bearded man of Caucasian appearance settled in the hotel. At that time, the restaurant “Spartak” was located on the second floor, and a cheaper nameless cafe was located below. The guest often dined there, and once he asked the waiter to bring him chanakhy. But in the restaurant kitchen, they heard about that dish for the first time. The intrigued cook approached the visitor and asked what it was. He dictated an approximate recipe that somewhat differed from entries in cookbooks. Classic Caucasian chanakhy were made from potatoes, beans, spices and lamb. However, instead of lamb, the guest recommended beef – it boiled better and gave the dish enough stickiness. The cook noted everything and promised to prepare Georgian exotica the next day.
The next day, the bearded man already tasted Frankish chanakhy. He was satisfied. The dish quickly gained popularity and became a feature of the restaurant. In addition, the chef developed his own recipe for the sauce, which was kept secret and has not changed until today.
And now about the main thing. That bearded man was the film director Serhiy Paradzhanov, who at that time was shooting the famous “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” in the Carpathians. Although he came from an Armenian family, he was born and raised in Tbilisi, so he knew the national Georgian cuisine well. Now chanakhy by Parajanov’s recipe delight guests at the new OMNIVORE restaurant in the hotel premises.
A living chain of unity
It is a common misconception that the famous “living chain of unity” in January 1990 connected only Lviv and Kyiv. In fact, two more “chains” extended from it – to Ivano-Frankivsk and Transcarpathia. Adding Ivano-Frankivsk to the “chain” was important, since the city was the capital of the ZUNR in 1919. In memory of the landmark resolution, the chain started from the door of this tenement house in Ivano-Frankivsk and extended through Lviv to the Ukrainian capital. . The “living chain” stretched almost 700 km.
Gallery of the Hotel
The NADIYA PALACE hotel combines the most modern technologies, the love and friendliness of the staff, the cultural heritage of the city and historical secrets.
