Residents of the exclusive Swiss resort of St. Moritz were woken recently by the sound of sirens wailing, alerting them to the fact that something was not quite right. Opening their shutters, they were presented with an amazing sight: a submarine had broken through the ice of the land-locked frozen Lake St. Moritz, some 1800m above sea level.
Closer inspection, however, revealed that all was not as it seemed. The submarine is, in fact, an art installation-cum-pop up bar, created by the Swiss inventor Andreas Reinhard, who made his name by creating the first upside-down hot-air balloon in 1994.
Reinhard approached the powers that be in Engadin-St.Moritz, White Turf and the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz last autumn with the idea of the submarine and they all jumped at the chance to get involved. The Kulm Hotel St. Moritz is the main sponsor of the bar, which is serving sushi (prepared by chefs from the one-star Michelin Ryokan Hasenberg in Widen), sake and Champagne.
The Kulm submarine bar, measures 40m in length and is 9m high by 4m across and was constructed by a team of 13, including an engineer, architect, carpenter, locksmith, electrician, painter and lighting technician.
Built over a two-week period in a warehouse near Zurich, in utmost secrecy, it was then transported in pieces to St Moritz and assembled overnight on Friday 7 February, so that its arrival was a complete surprise to local residents.
Visitors to White Turf, the famous horse races on snow on the frozen lake, have been able to enjoy the hospitality of the submarine bar while sitting on padded torpedo segments and recordings of turbine generators and a real sub breaking through ice are played in the background for a complete sensory experience.
“The Kulm Hotel has always been an innovator, ever since its founder Johannes Badrutt made a bet almost 150 years’ ago, with his departing summer guests, that they would enjoy a winter holiday in the Engadin as much as they would a summer one – and if they didn’t he would cover the cost of their holiday. It felt natural, therefore, for the hotel to get involved in this novel and playful initiative,” said Heinz E. Hunkeler, Director General of the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz.
