The first luxury hotels in Sweden

In 1795, Copenhagen became the first Scandinavian capital to have a hotel of high international standard, the Hotel d'Angleterre. It was not until 1857 before the first truly international class hotel, Hotel Rydberg, opened in Stockholm.
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The Hotel Rydberg at the Gustaf Adolf Square in Stockholm.

The funding for the new building was secured through the legacy of a wealthy merchant, Abraham Rydberg. Before his death, Rydberg had reserved a large sum of money in order to build a hôtel-de-ville (a city hall), but the Stockholm merchants' society instead chose to interpret this as meaning a hotel! 

The man, who was put in charge of the new hotel was King Oscar I's former French chef, Jean-François Régis Cadier. Rydberg soon became very popular, particularly with visiting diplomats, nobility and well to do industrialists. The hotel closed in 1914 and in its place the Skandinavisa Banken built a new office building.

Most Swedes probably do not know very much, if anything, about Hotel Rydberg, but almost everybody recognizes, and has tasted, Biff á la Rydberg (Beef Rydberg), which originates from Cadier's kitchen. 

The Grand Hôtel Stockholm in the late 1890s. 

However, before long Cadier saw a need for an even classier international hotel in Stockholm. His plans led to the building of the Grand Hôtel, which was inaugurated in 1874. The architect was Axel Kumlien. Cadier continued to operate the hotel successfully until his death in 1890. 

The Grand logo on a match box from the 1980's

The Grand Hôtel is still THE classical five star luxury hotel in Stockholm.Through the years the hotel has acquired the neighboring houses, and right now has about 300 guest rooms, 34 of which a suites. 

PS
Shipping and navigation were also very close to Rydberg's heart. In his will a large sum of money was reserved for the foundation of a navigation school.This led to the acquirement of a sail training ship, which was named Abraham Rydberg.