Awards & Press

Only those who know about it can see the “Hotel Liberty’s” past as a city prison. Offenburg still on.

Behind the scenes at the Hotel "Liberty": SWR was there on Sunday and Monday for filming in the former Offenburgthe prison. According to Heiko Hankel, director of the "Liberty", scenes for a second part of the series "Hotel Stories" were filmed there.

Im OffenburgThe “LIBERTY” hotel successfully combines respect for history with a desire for comfort. It's a design hotel, upscale and original, with junior suites featuring old wooden beams, and children will find a plush rat on their bed. In the lobby, a motto of freedom hangs on the wall beneath old iron bars in white neon lettering. The hotel's history is not hidden.

Luxury behind prison walls? It's possible! The imposing building of the former correctional facility has been transformed into a luxury home. OffenburgEntrepreneurs Christian and Dietmar Funk transformed it into a mega-chic design hotel with magnificent details.

The Biedermeier furniture, the freestanding bathtubs, the vaulted ceilings – Heiko Hankel goes through the rooms of the Hotel Liberty until he arrives in his favorite suite: “The rooftop with old open beams, small library, separate bathroom and 80 square meters” particularly appealed to the director.

We tend to forget these days that freedom is our highest good. Here, the somewhat oppressive thought of a lack of freedom exists side by side with design and precision. There are very few hotels where every detail is so meticulously planned and executed so perfectly – and where the architecture of the past has been so actively translated into the present day.

Exceptional living – Cool enjoyment – ​​Professional presentation. At the heart of the Liberty, a light-flooded glass cube now spans the former prison courtyard – it is the hotel lobby with its much-praised acoustics.

They served more than 160 years in OffenburgIn the old prison, inmates served their sentences: Baden revolutionaries, Social Democrats persecuted by Bismarck, victims of the Hitler dictatorship. Here, bags were glued, soup was eaten, chamber pots were emptied – until 2009. Offenburg A new prison was completed.

The Hotel “Liberty” opened two years ago in the Grabenallee in Offenburg – Time for an interim assessment. Investor Dietmar Funk and hotel director Heiko Hankel explain where things initially went wrong and how things are going now.