Hotel-Slon Rosenthal Ashtray

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Vintage Hotel-Slon ashtray, marked Rasper & Söhne Wien, Rosenthal, and Johann Haviland.

Hotel Slon in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is an institution … Read more Vintage Hotel-Slon ashtray, marked Rasper & Söhne Wien, Rosenthal, and Johann Haviland.

Hotel Slon in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is an institution in hospitality; celebrating 460 years of tradition.

"In 1552, Maximillian II was the Archduke of Austria and about to become the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He was 25 years old and had recently married Mary of Spain.

On his way from Spain, he was bringing one of his wedding presents: an elephant called Suleiman. At that time, the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was Austria’s most terrible enemy. Therefore, domesticating such a powerful animal under that name was a symbol of great power.

Maximilian stopped at the best inn in Ljubljana with his escort and the wonderful animal, which impressed the population tremendously. The hotel Slon was later built on the site of this inn. The memory of Suleiman the elephant was still very strong in the city, so the guesthouse, and later the hotel, were named Slon (the Slovenian word for elephant)." See less