A little out of the ordinary
by Lotte Schonfelder
A hotel is a hotel. A hotel is a bed, a bathroom and breakfast.
That is what most people think, but a hotel is more than just a place to sleep. It should also give guests the feeling that they are welcome, a feeling of pleasure and cheerful hospitality. And if it is an environmentally friendly enterprise as well, then it must be a hotel a little out of the ordinary …
…. as is the Augustin Hotel.
It is also unusual in being Bergen's oldest family-run hotel, owned by the same family for three generations. And it is Bergen's only city centre hotel that is not part of a hotel chain, which is reassuring as you can be sure that your hosts are genuinely interested in doing their best for their guests.
The oldest part of the hotel was built in the Art Nouveau style in 1909 and has been owned by the Smørås family since 1919. Since then the hotel has expanded, incorporating old neighbouring houses and building new wings. In recent years, it has undergone extensive modernisation. Guests can enjoy both a pleasant "old-fashioned" lounge and modern, award-winning interiors. Its highly conscious use of colours and fittings helps make the Augustin a hotel out of the ordinary.
Art is important to the hotel's owners and this is apparent throughout the hotel, not merely in the specially designed award-winning doors but also in its many original works of art, mostly by Norwegian artists. Paintings, sculptures and graphic prints add character to the hotel rooms and public areas. Johan Anton Risan, Johanne Marie Hansen Krone, Jacob Weidemann, Franz Widerberg, Per Barclay, Knut Steen and Bård Breivik are among the artists represented.
The hotel staff share the owners' attitude to running a hotel. Demonstrating friendliness and respect towards both customers and colleagues, showing responsibility and not being afraid to do that little bit extra for the guests – these are some of the Augustin Hotel's basic values. There are no shortcuts to success; it comes when guests grow fond of the hotel and want to come back. And there are many who want to do just that.
Guests see what is on the surface and notice the hospitality and smiling faces, but Augustin is a little unusual behind the scenes as well. As the first hotel in Bergen it has received an Environmental Lighthouse Certificate, the result of spending two years thinking in terms of the three Es - environment, environment, environment - of recycling and pollution prevention. There are, for example, no plastic cups or glasses in the rooms. Instead, they are made of real glass, which means between 40 and 50 thousand fewer plastic cups in the waste bins every year. Paper serviettes have been replaced with cloth ones, leftover pieces of candle are recycled to make new, artistic candles and a grease trap is used to purify the wastewater. All this means environmental and financial savings.
The hotel is also out of the ordinary in terms of food and drink. The Brasserie No22 has a modern rustic interior but there is nothing rustic about the food it serves – neither its light meals nor its tempting main dishes. The meeting and functions department is also unusual. It is in a 400-year-old stone cellar with long-standing traditions as a tavern. The bar counter is a piece of contemporary art.
On historical ground
The church father, St Augustine, after whom the hotel is named, was no stranger to worldly temptations. He would surely have felt himself at home between Altona's thick stone walls ? and he would certainly have appreciated the restoration work the Augustin Hotel has carried out.
The Altona cellar is what remains of the Altona building that was part of this block. Among other things it housed one of the oldest known taverns in Bergen, dating back to the first half of the 17th century and perhaps even earlier. The tavern also had rooms where travellers could stay; in other words it was a hostelry. It was also the Bergen's cultural centre for a period. Both Det Harmoniske Selskab (the Musical Association) and Det Dramatiske Selskab (the Theatrical Association) held house here during the latter half of the 18th century. Det Harmoniske Selskab grew to become the present day Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the world's oldest symphonic orchestras. Det Dramatiske Selskab grew large and rich enough to build first the city's old theatre and subsequently its new one. The Altona building was host to a highly varied cultural scene during several historical periods and survived several of the city's big fires, but after a fire in 1901 it all came to an end. The area was scheduled for development and new buildings were erected - but the cellar remained intact.
In the 1990s the Augustin Hotel bought the property containing the cellar and set about extensive restoration. Now, the five-roomed cellar is once again a tavern, with wooden beamed ceilings in two of the rooms and stone vaulted ceilings in the others. It has an old hearth and a new bar counter, and is a fully-licensed wine lounge and bar.
