Montreux Palace
by Michelle Meenawong
Title
Montreux Palace
Artist
Michelle Meenawong
Medium
Photograph - Metal Print
Description
Fairmont Le Montreux Palace is a luxury hotel located on the shores of Lake Geneva at Avenue Claude Nobs 2, in the city of Montreux in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland
At the end of the 18th century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau chose this romantic landscape as the setting for his novel “La nouvelle Heloise”. In 1816, Lord Byron discovered the shores of Lake Geneva, and his poem “The prisoner of Chillon” made Montreux and the spectacular Chillon Castle famous. Tourism took off in the 1850s, and by the end of the 19th century. In 1881, two famous Swiss pioneers from Montreux Alexandre Emery and Ami Chessex buy the Hotel du Cygne (built in 1837). In 1895 they found the company “Le Montreux Palace & Cygne”. The Swiss architect Eugene Jost builds the Palace in a record time of 18 months and the hotel opens on March 19, 1906. The new hotel is joined to the original Hotel du Cygne by the Salon de Musique, the Grand Hall and richly decorated ballrooms. The new Palace was considered a modern hotel as it offered heating, electricity and private bathrooms with hot and cold running water.
Wonderful parties such as Venetian Nights, fancy-dress balls, concerts and many other grand social occasions were held in the magnificent “Art Nouveau” and “Neo-Baroque” rooms. Guests came from all over the world: European aristocrats, Russian princes, New-York bankers, and maharajahs. A sports hall was built in 1911 to entertain the guests: The “Pavillon”, housed a tea room, a skating rink and a firing range.
World War 1: The hotel was used as a hospital to shelter wounded Allied soldiers. In the 1920s, Montreux regained its former glory with the return of the rich and famous. In 1928, the Montreux Palace took part in the foundation of “The Leading Hotels of the World” association.
On 20 July 1936, the important Dardanelles treaty (a peace pact between Greece, Turkey, England, France and Russia), better known as the “Montreux Convention” was signed at the Montreux Palace in the Salle des Fêtes. 500 diplomats invited by the Turkish Republic arrived at the Palace on 23 June 1936. The conference should have lasted a week but lasted over a month. The pact was finally signed on 20 July at 10pm, and is recalled by a plaque in one of the salons.
World War 2: Tourism receded and the hotel was used as a hospital again.
Since then, the palace has been classified as a cultural property of national importance.
A very grateful thank you to the following groups for featuring this picture
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Uploaded
June 12th, 2018
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