Cristina & Nicolas
Stammershalle
About the Venue
The name Stammershalle is a combination of the family name 'Stammers' and 'halle,' which means slope or rocky projection. Originally spelled Stammershalde, the 'd' was removed when the spelling reform took effect in 1948, so today we spell it Stammershalle with two 'l's.
Stammershalle's History
For more than 100 years, the golden half-timbered structure of Stammershalle Badehotel has been an iconic landmark on the northern coast of Bornholm, overlooking the Baltic Sea, with waves crashing against the rocky coastline just 30 meters away. The story of this magical seaside hotel begins with the Stammers family in 1746, who lived on the site. It was their half-timbered buildings that the German millionaire and journalist Rolf Muller purchased in 1909 to build a recreational spa hotel with a view of the Baltic Sea towards Christiansø. Hotel Stammershalde was completed in 1911, and soon German tourists flocked to Tejn to visit the beautiful Bornholm nature and the charming seaside hotel. When World War I broke out, German tourists found it impossible to travel to Denmark, leading to an economic crisis and Rolf Muller's bankruptcy in 1926. Carl Christian Jørgensen, who already owned Hotel Sandvigt and Hotel Allinge, purchased Hotel Stammershalde in 1927. In 1928, he appointed his daughter Karen to manage the hotel. In 1932, she inherited Hotel Stammershalde, and together with her German husband Emil Mecklenburg, they operated the place until 1960.
In the Troll Forest behind Stammershalle stands the giant rock Elverhæj, weighing 430 tons and being Denmark's third-largest glacial erratic. In 1934, Macklenburg opened Bornholm's Zoological Garden with 70 different species of animals which became quite the tourist attraction. When World War II reached Bornholm, the zoo closed, and although many enclosures were torn down, if you take a walk in the Troll Forest, you can still see the bear cave, almost intact.
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The Mecklenburg couple had no children to inherit the seaside hotel, so they sold their life's work to Jørgen and Kirsten Wang Hansen in 1960. The new owners installed water and district heating, and from the coastal road, curious souls could see new additions springing up. A carousel in front of the reception and Bornholm's first heated swimming pool were also added. To the tunes of a live orchestra, the island's youth danced on the restaurant's dance floor when Wang Hansen invited to 'dansant' on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This brought renewed life to the old hotel, making it a modern meeting place for guests seeking the idyllic location, good food, and a warm atmosphere in the 1960s and 1970s — characteristics still associated with Stammershalle Badehotel today.
Stammershalle Today
After 15 years as managers, Jørgen and Kirsten Wang Hansen handed over the hotel to their son Torben Wang Hansen and his wife Marianne, who ran the place for the next 30 years. Subsequently, various owners left their mark on the buildings until Frederik Cardel Falbe-Hansen, Carl-Eric Falbe-Hansen, Susanne Vang Søgård, Ulrich Søgård, Gustav Søgård, and Oskar Søgård took over the historic hotel in 2021.
Despite modernizing the tower rooms and adding new annexes, all work was done with respect for the hotel's history. Old traditions and original ideas have been revived so that today you can experience the bygone rural life from a contemporary perspective. Wang Hansen's swimming pool has been reimagined as a luxurious spa area, and with the new wine cellar, their vision of festive evenings in the restaurant with live music from the grand piano continues. The dense treetops of the Troll Forest nostalgically bring the history to life as you walk along the winding paths. The same goes for the sunrises and sunsets, as fiery red as when the Stammers family first settled in the area, for the view from our terrace towards Christiansø and Gudhjem remains sharp and unchanged.