Alfred Nobel in Marienbad: a guest of 1893

A guest from the north

In 1893 a man stayed in Marienbad whose name is today associated above all with a prize: Alfred Nobel. According to the hotel newspaper of the Ensana houses, the Swede took rooms at the Hotel Casino in Ruská Street (Russian Street). It is a short sentence — but one that places Marienbad among those places where world history and spa life met.

Who was Alfred Nobel?

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm in 1833 and died in San Remo, Italy, in 1896. He was a chemist and inventor, and his name is inseparably linked with dynamite. In his will he decreed that his fortune should be used for prizes, which have been awarded every year since 1901. The chemical element nobelium is also named in his honour.

Marienbad in 1893

What did the town look like in which Nobel stayed? The neo-Baroque Main Colonnade had been built in 1888–1889, the Cross Spring pavilion had stood since the 1820s, and the town theatre since 1868. One building that still shapes the townscape was rising in precisely these years: according to our page on UNESCO World Heritage, the New Baths were built between 1893 and 1896.

Other prominent guests had been in town not long before: Mark Twain spent the summer of 1891 in Marienbad, and the list of officially documented guests gives 1890 and 1891 for Johann Strauss. Nobel died in December 1896; only a few months later, in 1897, King Edward VII came to Marienbad for the first time. You can read more about him in our piece on King Edward's Trail.

A later winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature also appears on the town's guest list: Rudyard Kipling.

What we do not know

What brought Nobel to Marienbad and how long he stayed is not recorded in the sources available to us. The hotel newspaper gives the year 1893; individual compilations of guest lists add the year 1894. We therefore stay with what is documented: Nobel was a guest in Marienbad and stayed at the Hotel Casino in Ruská Street. Traces of that era are best sought in the townscape itself.

In the footsteps of the guests of the past

If you are interested in the guests of that time, Marienbad has many places that have preserved their era:

• The Main Colonnade with the Singing Fountain, where guests met for the morning drinking cure.
• Hlavní třída (Main Street) with its historic hotels.
• The New Baths, which arose in the 1890s and with which the Royal Cabin of Edward VII is associated today.
• The Town Museum, which tells the story of the spa town.

We introduce further guests of the town, from Goethe and Chopin to Kafka, on our page Famous Visitors and in the article Famous Guests of Marienbad. If you would like to follow the traces on foot, you will find ideas in the On Foot Through the UNESCO Heritage.

Sources

Studies and official documents this article relies on. Our content does not replace medical advice.

1. Marienbad News, summer 2023 (Ensana Health Spa Hotels) — feature "Historical window: Alfred Nobel (1833–1896)" — Printed edition of the hotel newspaper (Czech only): Nobel visited Marienbad in 1893 and stayed at the Hotel Casino in Ruská Street; the issue presents him as the "anniversary figure" of the year. The article gives no further details on the reason for or length of the stay.
2. Town of Mariánské Lázně — history of the town (official pages) — Alfred Nobel is among the officially documented guests of the town.

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