In the unique setting of its historical salons, restaurant and hotel rooms, Hotel Schloss Spyker not only presents works of art from the 19th – 21st centuries by artists like Rodin, Lehmbruck, D. Giacometti, Chillida, Chagall, Christo, Dali, DeSoto, Tapies H. Janssen, but also changing exhibitions by contemporary artists like K. Meixner and A.C. Schmetjen.
Art
A Castle for Art Lovers
Stucco ceilings
In 1652 the then owner of Spyker Castle, Field Marshall Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel, had the stucco ceilings installed in the piano nobile. The early-baroque reliefs are unique in the entire Baltic region and are the work of stucco plasterers Antonius Lohr and Nils Eriksson. All the ceilings feature vivid three-dimensional figures.
The themes in the foyer represent the four elements: fire, air, water and earth.
As the name suggests, the ceilings in the big Four Seasons Salon feature spring, summer, autumn and winter. Each season is depicted in medallion form with a wealth of lavish details. Embellished with mythical creatures like a unicorn as well as very realistic depictions of deer, horses, birds or even little owls peering out of their holes and adorned with an array of plants and other ornaments, their three-dimensionality is fascinating.
The ceiling in the smaller Blue Salon features the “Judgement of Paris”, a story from Greek mythology in which Paris appears to Hermes, who asks him to decide which of the three goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite is the most beautiful. Paris makes his judgement and decides in favour of Aphrodite, who has promised him the hand of the most beautiful woman on earth. The other two goddesses are disappointed: Hera swears eternal hatred on Paris and the Trojans, thus contributing to the destruction of Troy.
Although the fruit and bird motifs in the honeymoon room and adjacent room are less opulent, they are nevertheless beautiful in their simplicity.
History Schloß Spyker
A building that probably served as a granary was erected in the 14th century. Spyker could be derived from the Low German word ‘Spieker’, meaning granary.