|
Hotel Beau-Rivage
Geneva
Hotel history part 2
- online
reservations at the Hotel Beau-Rivage.
Article added on December 9, 2003
The second tragic event related
to the Hotel Beau-Rivage is the suicide of the German CDU-politician Uwe
Barschel. His corpse was found in the bathroom of room no. 317 in the early
morning of Sunday, October 11, 1987. A cocktail of deliberately taken
medicaments caused his death.
Since 1982, Uwe Barschel had been the Minister-President of the German Land of
Schleswig-Holstein. Many had seen in him a possible successor of German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Barschel's career came to an abrupt end in 1987, when
he was held responsible for a slander campaign against his
concurrent from the Social-Democratic Party, Björn Engholm. Barschel denied
the accusation but an investigating committee by the parliament of Schleswig-Holstein
came to the contrary conclusion. Barschel was politically finished.
A second report by the regional parliament of October 1995 confirmed the
responsibility of Barschel, limiting it however to his political, not personal
responsibility. The German and Swiss examining magistrates
concluded in 1998 and 1999 respectively, that the involvement of another person
in his death could be excluded. In other words Uwe Barschel committed suicide
and was not murdered.
Of course the history of the Hotel Beau-Rivage cannot be reduced to these two
somber stories. For instance in 1918, the hotel was the midwife of a
state: the "birth certificate" of Czechoslovakia was signed at
the Beau-Rivage. Its new president, Tomas G. Masaryk, resided in the
hotel. In August 1991, the last president of the Czechoslovak Republic, Vaclav
Havel (1989-1992), also stayed at the hotel. He unsuccessfully tried to avoid
the breakup of of his country. In 1993 (and again in 1998), he was elected the
first president of the new Czech Republic.
Asked about lesser known events or anecdotes, the present owner and
administrator of the hotel, Jacques Mayer, told me that the heavyweight
champion Sugar Ray Robinson used to take a very unusual breakfast at the hotel in the 1950s:
sardines with strawberry jam.
The list of celebrities and stars who have stayed at the Hotel Beau-Rivage
since its opening in 1865 is impressive. Here just a short selection: The most
famous and admired actress of her time, Sarah
Bernhardt (1844-1923), whose real name was Henriette-Rosine Bernard, was a
hotel guest like her fellow countryman Charles de Gaulle, for whom, as for
many other guests such as Ludwig II of Bavaria and composer Richard Wagner,
the dates of stay are unknown. The Duke and the Duchess of Windsor came in
1939. He had abdicated and renounced on the English throne just three years
earlier because both the British government and the Anglican church had been
against his 1937 marriage with the divorced American Wallis Warfield-Simpson.
The American silent film star Harold Lloyd used to climb the columns in the
atrium of the Beau-Rivage instead of using the stairs or the elevator. In more
recent years, the singer and drummer Phil Collins, formerly a member of the
group Genesis and now a successful solo-musician, celebrated his third wedding at the hotel.
The widow of the American president, Eleanor Roosevelt, stayed at the Beau-Rivage
in 1947, Mary Pickford in 1948, Clark Gable in 1952, Jean Cocteau in 1953. The
Aga Khan, Soraya, the former wife of the Shah of Persia (in fact of Iran), the
Egyptian King Faruk, the pianist Daniel
Barenboim, the Swedish prime minister Olaf Palme, the German Chancellor Helmut
Schmidt and many others signed the hotels guest book. Just a few days before I
arrived at the Beau-Rivage, the famous Italian soprano Cecilia Bartoli stayed
at the hotel when she gave a recital in Geneva.
The Beau-Rivage is also famous as the host of the jewelry and watch auctions
in May and November by the auction house Sotheby's which, since 1987, has
established in the hotel's basement. Among the world's most famous
auctions ever featured were the jewels of the Duchess of Windsor
(1987) and the Baroness of Rothschild, which both took place at the Beau-Rivage.
The five-star hotel combines tradition with innovation. One can even speak of
a tradition of innovation since, in 1872, the Beau-Rivage was the first hotel
in Switzerland and the third in the world to offer an elevator for its guests.
This tradition continues today: in April 2003, the Beau-Rivage was
the first Swiss hotel to offer wireless LAN connections by Cisco Systems in
all rooms and public areas.
Last but not least, the gourmet restaurant
"Chat-Botté" is worthy of mention. It opened in 1968 and its chef, Richard Cressac,
managed to get 18/20 points with Gault Millau and one Michelin star (which he
lost in 2000). In August 2001, Cressac left the hotel in order to fulfill his
dream of his own restaurant, "La Chaumière" in Troinex, canton of
Geneva. His successor at the "Chat-Botté" became his longtime
right-hand Dominique Gauthier, who had been the de facto or executive chef
for quite some time. He made an excellent start and after one year was already
awarded 16/20 points by Gault Millau, a record he has maintained ever since.
Unfortunately, I have not yet had the time to test the restaurant under his
direction. Incidentally, the Beau-Rivage has a second restaurant since 1999,
"Le Patara", which offers Thai cuisine.
In short, the Hotel Beau-Rivage offers a discrete but refined luxury in a
relaxed atmosphere on the shores of Lake Geneva. The family-owned five-star
hotel is led in the fourth generation by the Mayer family.
Part 1
of the article about the Hotel Beau-Rivage.
|
Chambre Deluxe (the category tested by Cosmopolis). Photo © Hôtel Beau-Rivage.
More articles about Geneva
- Fête
de l'Escalade
- Interview
with Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the ICRC
- Hotels
of all categories in Geneva
Suite Sissi (named after Empress Elizabeth). Photo © Hôtel Beau-Rivage
Genève.
Suite Richard Wagner. Photo © Hôtel Beau-Rivage Genève.
Chambre Deluxe (the category tested by Cosmopolis). Photo: © Hôtel Beau-Rivage.
|
