Blode Hotel

The guest house on the eastern part of the fishermen’s settlement of Nida, which hosted numerous artists, had been established by Friedrich Blode in 1867. Since many of the guests were not very wealthy, Friedrich Blode often allowed them to pay for their stay with paintings. Later, the guest house had a special ‘artists’ corner’, featuring numerous paintings by the artists that had stayed here.
Circa 1885, Hermann Blode took over his father’s hotel and in time became the famous ‘artist patron’. The first painters used to gather for fun evenings and serious conversations at his famous ‘artist terrace’. As more and more artists discovered the beauty of the Curonian Spit and Nida, circa 1890 the hotel of Hermann Blode became the centre of Nida artists’ colony. The Artist Terrace hosted not only painters, but also writers, composers, musicians and actors. The abundant records of the guest books helped to get a picture of the artist community, which used to visit here: Ernst Bischoff-Culm, Walther Heymann, Max Pechstein, Lovis Corinth, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Mann, Hans Beppo-Borschke, Karl Schmidt-Rotluff.
In 1923, the northern part of the Curonian Spit was given to Lithuania. The subsequent economic difficulties forced Hermann Blode think about closing the hotel that was rich with traditions. In the course of these events Hermann Blode fell ill and thus Erns Mollenhauer slowly took over the artist getaway, which was already famous beyond Germany. Hermann Blode died in 1934 and was buried in the old cemetery of Nida’s fishermen.
In 1944, as the front line approached Nida, Hermann Blode’s hotel was surrounded by trenches, while the rooms and halls hosted soldiers and refugees, who came over the ice of the Curonian Lagoon. The entire village was evacuated, except for the enlisted fishermen. The studio’s treasury and collection were burned in a makeshift bathhouse for the Soviet troops, which was established in the very same studio. The old family house of Hermann Blode (the centre of Nida artists’ colony), which stood there since 1867, had been demolished in the early 1960s to be replaced by a new building. What is left of the beautiful and elaborate artist getaway is a significantly altered southern wing.
Today (2018), this place is known as Nidos Smiltė hotel. The hotel also hosts the Hermann Blode museum, exhibiting facts and photos of the hotel’s history.

Compiled in 2018.