Spektakel in the Tourist Hotel!

For the 2022 festival, Barents Spektakel will find its home in the old Tourist Hotel in Kirkenes!

The hotel, as it looks today, was built in 1956, and the characteristic yellow building had been welcoming guests for overnight stays until 2013. Although the hotel has been empty for many years, its 61 rooms, reception, bar and seminar rooms – each with one of Kirkenes’ most beautiful views – all maintain an unmistakable character and charm. It is therefore with great joy, enthusiasm, and respect for the nostalgia  that rests over the building, that Pikene på Broen can announce that we will now try to breathe new life into the building during the Barents Spektakel festival in February 2022!

It is through good dialogue with Rica Eiendom, who own and manage the building, that Pikene can “move in” to the hotel with our festival programme. The tourist hotel in Kirkenes was one of the first hotels in the Rica chain, and board member of Rica Eiendom, Ole-Jacob Wold, expresses his fondnessfor the building and how happy the board are about the impending reopening:

– It’s great to have Barents Spektakel use the hotel and have it open again during the festival. To have activity in the property is positive for all parties, both for Rica, but also for the city”, says Wold, who knows the Tourist Hotel well.

Between 1977 and 1981, he led the operation of the hotel, and he still remembers how visitors and locals filled the building with life for many years.

The upcoming festival theme is “Where do we go from here?” which aims to raise questions in a time of uncertainty, not only in terms of the pandemic and its connected societal restrictions, but also concerning the movements of everyday life, the needs of local businesses, and the future of the border communities of the north in light of the challenges such as global warming and changing international political climates. In this way, the tourist hotel forms an interesting framework for reflecting and refreshing our thinking about how we live our lives – about the role of tourism in the town, why people come to visit Kirkenes, what it is that might attract people to stay here, or where it is people go if they decide to leave. 

During the festival, the tourist hotel will be used for exhibitions and live events – all within the limits of the current coronavirus restrictions. Updates on the programme will be launched in late January! Stay tuned!