Historie

First, it is necessary to get acquainted with the Grandhotel Ambassador building itself - the National House in Karlovy Vary, as the hotel can boast of its rich history dating back to 1897. It was in this year that the Karlovy Vary sharpshooters' association raised a demand for the construction of representative premises, which, among other things, were to serve as the background of the shooting museum. A year later, in 1898, a proposal for the implementation of the building was presented to the city hall and the land was purchased from the city, and in the same year, the documents for the elaboration of the project were handed over to the Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer. The same architects who participated in the construction of the Karlovy Vary Municipal Theater or the Market Colonnade managed to complete the project as early as 1898, according to the specifications, i.e. a social hall with a capacity of 900 people, a dining room, a cafe, a restaurant and a beer hall, as well as the ground floor of a variety hall with the possibility of connection with a night bar. The building was approved at the end of February 1899 and construction began on March 27, 1899, which was completed on December 31, 1900. The then Grandhotel Schützenhaus (Shooting House) was inaugurated on February 23, 1901. A total of five above-ground and two underground floors in the historicist style with Neo-Gothic, Pseudo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau elements. From this moment, the history of the hotel begins to be written.

In 1904 Francis Joseph I was welcomed here, in 1908 the first Continental cinema in Karlovy Vary was opened in the Orpheum hall, in 1914 conscripts were recruited and trained here before joining the First World War, under the supervision of Karlovy Vary sharpshooters. Under the leadership of the later first president of the State of Israel, Dr. The World Zionist Congresses were held in Chaim Weizmann's Orpheum hall in 1921 and 1923. During the First Republic, at the end of the 1920s, the sharpshooters' association was dissolved, and in 1930 the Grandhotel Střelnice was transferred to the property of the city. At that time, the name was changed to Hotel Národní dům. In 1937, Rudolf Aplt and Klement Gottwald spoke here about the issue of the German minority in the Czech border area, and in 1938 a congress of members of the Nazi party NSDAP was held here. On October 8, 1942, the cultural department of Karlsbad organizes a concert for fallen German soldiers at Stalingrad, Ein Deutschens Requiem, in the large hall. After the Second World War, part of the families from the bombed districts find temporary accommodation in the hotel, and in the late forties the hotel and the hall begin to serve their purpose again, and in addition to accommodation, concerts, circus performances and variety shows are regularly organized here with the participation of artists and performers from all over Europe.

Since 1958, the building has been included in the list of protected cultural monuments. After 1968, the hotel continued to be operated and occupied by guests, with only a few minor interior renovations and renaming of the indoor restaurants. Entertainment programs, concerts, variety shows, masquerade balls, balls, dance parties, afternoon teas and even boxing matches were still held here.

In 1988, the series Cirkus Humberto was filmed here. In the last years before its closure, the hall is again the screening location of the International Film Festival. After the revolution of 1989 and the collapse of the company, the building was taken over by the state and in 1992 the city of Karlovy Vary bought the hotel. Subsequently, the hotel was offered for sale and will be sold. However, the new owner never paid for the hotel, and legal disputes dragged on until 2000, when the hotel returned to the city. It was resold in 2010, and from April 1, 2011, the renovation began, which was completed on May 1, 2015.