What makes the aura of a building? Do walls hold a memory of the people whose biographies are connected to them – of the lives lived and lost within them?
The “Citaldel Inn” is a luxury resort in Western Ukraine, praised by it’s guests for the in-house gourmet restaurant, the lavish decorations of it’s rooms, the hardworking staff and the rich breakfast buffet. But the citadel that gives the hotel it’s name has a turbulent history. Built mid-19th century during the reign of the Austrian Empire as a military base, the citadel and the area around Lemberg (Lviv today) fell under German rule quickly after the the beginning of World War II. The Nazis opened “Stalag-328” here, a concentration camp where 150 000 people were tortured to death or died as a result of hunger or exhaustion. Today not even a memorial plaque disrupts the idyllic weekend of the hotel guest.
Roger Eberhard’s photographic series, an objective typology of images, shows the views from eight of the hotel’s rooms, complemented by four exterior views of the building. The silence and the stillness of the images allow for both the photographer and the viewer to reflect on how history connects to places and how we are still connected to the stories told by these places.