About us

Hotel Dorottya is the highest quality hotel in Kaposvár, which attracts with its historical past, characteristic Art Nouveau style and modern design. It is located in the heart of the city center, right next to the pedestrian precinct, yet it is easily accessible even by car, and the train station is only a few minutes walk away. A private parking lot is available to guests next to the hotel building.

The reception welcomes guests on the ground floor, while the elegant and unique rooms, perfectly suited to the needs of the time, are located on the first and third floors of the Hotel Dorottya. The entire building is air-conditioned and open all year round.

The standard rooms located in the attic are all unique. Their special floor plan and exciting layout make them truly attractive. On the first floor, there are larger and more sophisticated superior rooms.

All rooms are non-smoking and is equipped with an LCD television, a minibar and a safe, and of course the now basic internet access is also provided throughout the hotel.

Thanks to the design and furnishings of the rooms, they are perfectly suitable for couples and families to spend a pleasant time and relax, but also for traveling business people and conference participants, combining the necessary conditions for work and relaxation.

THE PAST AND THE PRESENT

The Art Nouveau-style Dorottya House, built in 1910-11, is a beautiful decoration of the city center of Kaposvár. Its glorious but often turbulent fate has taken its toll on its walls, so its complete renovation was inevitable. The idea of the current owner of the house, which was originally built as a hotel, to renovate the hotel in accordance with the expectations of the modern era, but faithful to the original stylistic features, has created a perfect symbiosis between past and present.

During the reconstruction, closed parking spaces were first created, and then the legendary Mirror Hall was completed, which was and still is the scene of one of the outstanding events of the carnival, the Dorottya Balls. Two additional, smaller event halls await the participants and guests of corporate or private events. With a full technical background and trained staff, we strive to meet all needs.

The hotel operates on the first and third floors of the building. The attic has excitingly designed standard rooms, while the first floor has larger and more sophisticated superior and deluxe rooms. During the investment, great emphasis was placed on making the building accessible to all.

The hotel is the most upscale accommodation in the city with its 4* standard. In accordance with the expectations related to this, several small luxuries can be found in the rooms. LCD television, minibar, safe and of course the now essential internet access can be found everywhere. The standard rooms on the third floor stand out with their unconventional layout and modern style, while the superior rooms on the first floor, which satisfy even higher demands, await their guests with spacious space and outstanding quality.

THE STORY OF OUR HOTEL

One of the most patinated buildings in Kaposvár, the Art Nouveau listed building built between 1910 and 1911 according to the plans of Budapest architects Géza Aladár Kármán and Gyula Ullmann, under the leadership of Leó Baumöhl, houses the city’s highest-quality hotel, which was one of the area’s outstanding cultural centers even when it first opened.

Dorottya House, named after the heroine of the Csokonai comic-epic, is located in the heart of Kaposvár, right in the historic city center. In the past, it seemed a bit far from the train station on foot, but nowadays, the hotel’s guests can enjoy the advantages of its location alone.

The hotel was originally called Turul Hotel. The first national emblem of the Hungarians, the Turul bird flag, came to the fore again on the occasion of the thousandth anniversary of the country’s existence, and was thus placed on the corner facade of the hotel being built at that time. In the line of Hungarian elements of Art Nouveau, the turul with outstretched wings appears as the majestic lord of the air, and at the same time the mythical animal connecting the earthly and celestial dimensions.
The building, which still strongly shapes the cityscape, is almost a glorification of Art Nouveau. The building’s decorations are thanks to the master stonemason and stonemason Imre Borovitz, of which experts highlight the female heads depicted above the attic as the most beautiful in the city. The characteristic flexible lines, tendrils, and flowers of Art Nouveau permeate the exterior and interior of the house, leaving no doubt about its fidelity to the style.

”“The hotel and the café were popular meeting places for the better-off bourgeoisie and the large landowners in peacetime. There was a café and a billiard room on the ground floor, and a restaurant in the basement. József Rippl-Rónai was a regular guest of the café, who also organized an exhibition here. His younger brother, Ödön Rippl-Rónai, held an artist’s table in the restaurant of the Turul Hotel. The pleasant and high-quality stay here was contributed by the fact that twenty to thirty Hungarian and foreign newspapers came to the café every day, which could be read on a special newspaper stand.”? Aurél Bernáth wrote in his book This is How We Lived in Pannonia.

MÓRICZ ZSIGMOND: RIPPL-RÓNAI JÓZSEF

In addition to Rippl-Rónai, many other famous people also stayed here, including Zsigmond Móricz, Zoltán Kodály, Lajos Áprily, Lajos Kassák, Lőrinc Szabó, Áron Tamási, and the world-famous gypsy musician Simpliciusz (original name József Barcza) from Kaposvár also entertained the guests on several occasions.

The outbreak of World War II completely transformed life in the hotel. The cultural excitement disappeared, and the previously bustling café life was almost forgotten. In the post-war period, the hotel was called the Béke Szálló, and during this time the Turul statue was replaced by a large red star in the line of ornaments, and the general condition of the hotel and the standard of services deteriorated undeservedly.

Nowadays, the hotel is called Dorottya, borrowed from the comic-epic by Mihály Csokonai Vitéz, and its unique Mirror Hall, which can accommodate 400 people, has been the venue for the Dorottya balls that have been held since 1960. It has been renovated several times since the Second World War, but real modernization, preservation of value, and restoration to a standard worthy of the original only took place during the most recent renovation, in 2011.

You can read about the building and history of the hostel on the website of the Takáts Gyula Library in the virtual presentation titled Secession in Kaposvár. (“In Hungarian only”)

H. Molnár Katalin: A szecesszió Kaposváron ( 2021. October 8.)
Past and present-day pictures of the hotel on the Art Nouveau Kaposvár map can be seen here:
H. Molnár Katalin, Bálint Imre: Kaposvár szecessziós épületei (2021. October 8.)