Hotel in Bern, Switzerland
The Bellevue Palace is a
five-star
luxury hotel located in the
Old City of
Bern ,
Switzerland . Owned by the
Swiss Confederation , it is the state's guesthouse for visiting
heads of state and
government , and is host to dozens of members of
parliament during the weeks the assembly is in session.
[1]
History
Reception in 1933
The original Bellevue Palace was built by the financier Friedrich Osswald in 1865 immediately adjacent to the seat of the federal government, the
Bundeshaus . His heirs had the hotel torn down and rebuilt it in 1910
[2] in the
neoclassical style. The new Bellevue Palace was reopened in 1913, and General
Ulrich Wille made it Switzerland's military headquarters during
World War I .
[1] During
World War II , the hotel became a focal point of the warring powers' diplomatic and intelligence activities in Switzerland, and its bar was a haunt of
OSS station chief
Allen Dulles .
[3]
[2] One half of the restaurant came to be frequented by
Allied guests and the other by patrons from
Axis states.
After the war, the hotel's fortunes declined sharply.
[2] To prevent the state hotel from being acquired by foreign buyers, the
Swiss National Bank acquired it in 1976, and in 1994 made a gift of it to the Confederation, which retains 99.7% of the hotel's shares.
[1] After it became apparent that the Bellevue Palace was in need of an overhaul, as it lacked amenities such as
air conditioning ,
[1] it was closed in 2002 for a one-year renovation that cost
CHF 40 million and cut the number of rooms from 230 to 130.
[1] Following a spate of bad publicity over low staff wages,
[1] the Confederation turned over the management to a chain of Swiss luxury hotels in 2007.
[4]
The Bellevue Palace has been host to a great number of heads of state and government, including
Winston Churchill ,
Mikhail Gorbachev ,
Jawaharlal Nehru ,
[1]
Queen Elizabeth II and
Emperor Akihito .
[5] When it was used as a negotiating venue in the
Helsinki process during the
Cold War , some participants called it "the best-protected building in Europe" due to its array of security features and extensive police protection.
[6] Parts of
John le Carré 's spy novel
Smiley's People and its TV adaption are set in the Bellevue Palace.
[5] In
Swiss politics , the hotel's bar and lounge are known to be the site of much late-night political
horse trading during parliamentary sessions, such as arranging elections of
Federal Councillors .
[1]
Characteristics
Apart from ballrooms, restaurants, salons, bars and conference facilities, the Bellevue Palace features an array of suites, including an extensive "Presidential Suite" with a view of the
Bernese Alps over the
Aare .
[1] The hotel's cuisine is rated at 16
Gault Millau points.
[5]
Frommer's Switzerland describes the Bellevue Palace as "the grand old dame of Bern" and "the most lavish and opulent choice in town", opining that "dining on the renowned Bellevue Terrace is one of the reasons to come to Bern."
[7] The hotel is a member of the
Leading Hotels of the World association.
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