Salzburg’s Hotel Kobenzl, situated above the city, is known as a former luxury hotel. When photographer Matthias Hoch and writer Andreas Maier visit the Kobenzl for the first time, it has been empty for years. The splendour of the former five-star hotel has acquired what could charmingly be called a patina (Die Zeit). In Matthias Hoch’s photographs, which closely observe the surfaces and texture of the rooms, a vivid presence emerges from the preserved past. Supplemented by archival material, they reveal the intertwining of home and hospitality with the idea of exclusivity and luxury. A surprising turn in the hotel’s history marks its transformation into a “refugee distribution centre”. The former advertising slogan “The world at home in the Kobenzl” takes on a new meaning.

Matthias Hoch, *1958 in Radebeul, Germany, visual artist and photographer, lives and works in Leipzig.