The history of Kiviks Hotell
What is now a hotel at Moriabacken 22 in Kivik originally consisted of a building called Emiliero. The villa was built in 1908 for lawyer and businessman Åke Hjort and his wife Emilia Persson from Malmö. The couple’s adopted son Olof later sold the villa to Colonel Einar Wikland and his wife Ruth in 1917.
Einar Wikland was for some time adjutant to Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, later King Gustaf VI Adolf, and undertook several trips of a diplomatic nature with him. Mrs. Wikland was a teacher of French and of an extremely refined character. It is said that when her husband became ill, she drove the tractor herself, wearing both a coat and a hat, as befitted a proper lady. Speaking of hats, we actually still have Adjutant Wikland’s fancy top hat in a hat box here at the hotel! We are happy to show it on request.
In the summer of 1934, the Crown Prince couple visited Emiliero, then known as ‘Wikland’s villa’, in connection with the inauguration of the restored Kungagraven (Bredarör). The reason for this was that Prince Eugene was renting the villa at the time. He had also done so in the summers of 1931 and 1932, attracted by the special light we have here in Österlen – artist that he was.
In 1957, Emiliero was bought by Kristianstad County Council and converted into a convalescent home. The villa was extended with a wing that included rooms, a dining room and a kitchen. In the original villa, much of the interior was demolished and unfortunately a number of fine tiled stoves were removed. In our honeymoon suite, however, a very beautiful tiled stove has been preserved and it really makes the room particularly romantic.
In 1992, the home was closed and the villa was sold to a restaurant business.
Today, Kiviks Hotell is run and maintained by the Linde family from Lund who acquired the hotel in 2007. After a complete renovation of the entire property, the doors were reopened to guests in spring 2008.