The Fife Arms hotel, a work of art in the Scottish Highlands

When Iwan and Manuela Wirth traveled to the Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands just over ten years ago, they fell in love with the area. Perhaps for a Mediterranean the beauty of these glacial mountains, shaped by centuries of icy winds, is not so impressive, but the Wirths are Swiss and understand mountainous landscapes. And, also, beauty: not in vain are they one of the most influential couples in the art world. And prolific.

His gallery, Hauser & Wirth, has locations in Zurich, London, New York, Somerset, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Gstaad. The marriage that, among others, preserves the legacies of Louise Bourgeois and Henry Moore, is also behind the reopening of the Chillida-Leku space, in Hernani. And the spectacular project of an exhibition center located in the port of Mahón, in Menorca.

A recovered establishment

The building, located in the Braemar square, was renovated during five years

Almost three thousand kilometers from this Mediterranean island is the town of Braemar, in the middle of the Highlands. With 800 residents, close to the River Dee and surrounded by the mountains of the Cairngorms National Park, the lowest temperatures in the UK have been recorded here. In this cold and remote place the Wirths materialized another of their projects, this time in the form of a hotel. This is The Fife Arms, a unique building located in the town square, which they renovated during five years. In 2019, shortly after its inauguration, it was chosen Hotel of the Year by The Sunday Times.

The Fife Arms was already so named in 1852, when the Aberdeen Journal announced the opening of a first-class establishment in Braemar. The hotel had been named after the Earl of Fife, who owned the building and the nearly thirty hectares of land that surrounded it. Its then promoter, Mr. Hunter, knew of the tourist possibilities of these pristine and wild Scottish landscapes. He spared no expense to convert the house into an inn with all the comforts.

His bet worked; the hotel was a success. However, not all the credit was his. The area had recently had some luxury vacationers: none other than Queen Victoria of England, her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and their nine children. The royal couple had acquired a castle in neighboring Balmoral. To Alberto, the mountainous landscape reminded him of his native Germany. Furthermore, like so many aristocrats, he was an inveterate hunter, and the heather-covered forests and moors were abundant with deer, grouse, and pheasants.

The court of the empress of India was not exactly modest, so the original castle soon became too small. The prince built a larger one: gray granite and “Scottish baronial” style. The new Balmoral, where the English royal family still summers, was completed in 1856.

The fascination of the British for their royalty is not new and hundreds of vacationers arrived in the area, eager to imitate the royal entertainment. Hunting, fishing in the crystal clear waters of the Dee and, above all, walks, regardless of the weather. Queen Victoria took very long walks around her castle, which has twenty thousand hectares. He also attended, with his entire family, the summer event: The Braemar Games, a competition of traditional Scottish sports such as log throwing, stone throwing and bale throwing.

When she was widowed, the monarch spent longer and longer periods in Scotland. On the way to his castle he used to stop at the Fife Arms, to change his horses, generating great anticipation. She was often accompanied by her faithful servant, John Brown, who began working as a groom at Balmoral as a teenager and became her right hand man.

Brown has a room with his name in the remodeled hotel, which has been decorated inspired by his figure. The same is true for the remaining 45: each has been dedicated to a place, theme or character related to Braemar or Scottish history and culture. Thus, there are royal suites (that of Queen Victoria, the Indian suite, that of Princess Louise …), rooms dedicated to literature (such as the one that honors Robert Louis Stevenson, who began to write The island of the treasure in the village), science (inspired by Scottish feminist and doctorate Elsie Inglis and botanist David Douglas) and, of course, the nature of the area (with rooms dedicated to the local wildflowers and the ubiquitous heather ).

At The Fife Arms, the trend of personalizing hotel spaces reaches its peak. The Wirths do not do things by halves: for the decoration they have used, in addition to the best fabrics (tweeds and tartans made to measure), the best wallpapers and the most beautiful antique furniture. Not forgetting a selection of the 16,000 historical objects related to the area that the couple has amassed in recent years. Scottish swords and daggers, taxidermy pieces, chandeliers, Jacobite chalices, engravings, miniatures, sculptures, ceramics… As a result, both the common areas and the hotel rooms make up a gigantic cabinet of curiosities; a three dimensional work of art about the history of this part of Scotland.

Museum

There are paintings by Picasso and Freud and, in
the courtyard, a chandelier by Louise Bourgeois

Art, naturally, is also present throughout the establishment. There are works by local artists that are combined with other commissioned ones. Highlights include the ceiling in the main hall, inspired by the minerals of the Highlands, by the Chinese painter Zhang Enli, and the chandelier-sculpture by the Indian artist, Subodh Gupta, in a dining room.

Other pieces come from the private collection of the Wirths: to highlight, the gigantic chandelier by Louise Bourgeois in the patio and two paintings by Lucian Freud and Pablo Picasso, in another room. These spaces are open to all, as the owners have placed emphasis on involving the local community in their unique establishment, employing local artisans, historians, bricklayers, merchants, and so on. And for those of whom Scotland is a long way off, Phaidon Publishing has just published a splendid book dedicated to this exquisite hotel.

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