The Rigi Kulm Hotel is located immediately below the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

of Mount Rigi in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

in the

canton of Schwyz The canton of Schwyz ( ; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton in central Switzerland between the Swiss Alps, Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne to the west and Lake Zürich in the north, centred on and named after the town of Schwyz. It is one ...

, Switzerland, about ten miles south of

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and eight miles east of

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

. Opened in 1816, it can only be reached on foot or via the Vitznau–Rigi or Arth–Rigi railways. It is said that 125 named peaks and thirteen lakes are visible from the hotel.

History

A wooden hotel was begun in 1814 by Joseph Martin Bürgi, a cloth cutter from

Arth Arth is a village, a town, and a municipality in Schwyz District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The municipality consists of the villages Arth, Oberarth, and Goldau. The four settlements Rigi Kulm, Rigi First, Rigi Klösterli, and ...

. He ran out of funds, however, and the project ceased. The following year, Heinrich Keller, an illustrator from Zurich, began raising funds for the hotel, but the amount proved insufficient. Keller tried again, this time attracting the interest of well-to-do people in Switzerland's largest cities. The hotel opened on 6 August 1816, with its first guests arriving just over a week later. Bürgi died in 1833, and his son, Caspar Bürgi-Ritschard and his wife, Elisabeth, assumed ownership. The second incarnation of the hotel was completed in 1856, designed by Zurich architect Ferdinand Stadler. On 7 June 1875, hotel number three, owned by Friedrich Schreiber, was opened. Its architect was Horace Édouard Davinet. The Arth-Rigi railway commenced operations shortly beforehand.

Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886), also called the Swan King or the Fairy Tale King (), was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke ...

was one of the hotel's guests. A

tea set A tea set or tea service is a collection of matching teaware and related utensils used in the preparation and serving of tea. The traditional components of a tea set may vary between societies and cultures. History China The accepted hist ...

he brought is on display in the dining room of today's hotel. Schreiber died in 1912. Swiss hotelier

César Ritz César Ritz, born Cäsar Ritz (23 February 1850 – 26 October 1918), was a Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels, most famously the Hôtel Ritz Paris, Hôtel Ritz in Paris and the The Ritz London Hotel, Ritz and Carlton Hotel, London, Ca ...

was the manager of the hotel when an incident occurred that changed his career. The

central heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. A central heating system has a Furnace (central heating), furnace that converts fuel or electricity to heat through processes. The he ...

at the hotel broke during a frigid day, and a group of forty people were arriving for lunch. Ritz changed the menu to hot dishes, moved a table into the smaller

drawing room A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name is derived from the 16th-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th ce ...

, and heated forty bricks in the oven to be wrapped in

flannel Flannel is a soft woven fabric, of varying fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fiber. Flannel is commonly used to make tartan clothing, blankets, ...

cloths placed at the footstool of each guest. This quick thinking was noticed by Max Pfyffer, the designer of the

Grand Hotel National The Grand Hotel National is a 5-star hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland, which opened in 1870. Located on the shores of Lake Lucerne, it looks out over Lucerne bay and the Alps of Central Switzerland. It offers 41 rooms and suites as well as 22 resid ...

in Lucerne, who noted his efficiency in a scrapbook. After a period of decline during the two world wars, the Käppeli family, headed by building contractor Ernst Käppeli, purchased the hotel in 1949. The current building was completed in 1954. It was renovated in 1994. The 200th anniversary of their being a hotel at the location was celebrated in 2016.

Through the years

File:Galleani Luigi.Hotel Righi (sic)-Kulm. Brunnen -vitznau, Lago Dei Quattro Cantoni, Hotel Rigi-kulm A M.1800 27A134.jpg, File:Mittelholzer Rigi vor 1920.jpg, 1920

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.rigikulm.ch Tourist attractions in Switzerland Buildings and structures in Switzerland Hotels in Switzerland Hotels established in 1816 Hotel buildings completed in 1854 19th-century architecture in Switzerland