The Bellevue Palace is a five-star

luxury hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

located in the Old City of Bern, Switzerland. Owned by the

Swiss Confederation ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, it is the state's guesthouse for visiting

heads of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

, and is host to dozens of members of

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

during the weeks the assembly is in session.

History

Hotel Bellevue Bern Staatsarchiv Bern FN Jost N 772

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 in the neoclassical style. The new Bellevue Palace was reopened in 1913, and General

Ulrich Wille Conrad Ulrich Sigmund Wille (5 April 1848 – 31 January 1925) was the General of the Swiss Army during the First World War. Inspired by the Prussian techniques that he had been able to observe at the time of his studies in Berlin, he attempted ...

made it Switzerland's military headquarters during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the hotel remained open for business. It 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. One half of the restaurant came to be frequented by Allied guests and the other by patrons from

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

states. After the war, the hotel's fortunes declined sharply. To prevent the state hotel from being acquired by foreign buyers, the

Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB; german: Schweizerische Nationalbank; french: Banque nationale suisse; it, Banca nazionale svizzera; rm, Banca naziunala svizra) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy an ...

acquired it in 1976, and in 1994 made a gift of it to the Confederation, which retains 99.7% of the hotel's shares. After it became apparent that the Bellevue Palace was in need of an overhaul, as it lacked amenities such as

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

, 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. Following a spate of bad publicity over low staff wages, the Confederation turned over the management to a chain of Swiss luxury hotels in 2007. The Bellevue Palace has been host to a great number of heads of state and government, including

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, Mikhail Gorbachev,

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

, Queen Elizabeth II and

Emperor Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. Bo ...

. 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. Parts of

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

's spy novel ''

Smiley's People ''Smiley's People'' is a spy novel by British writer John le Carré, published in 1979. Featuring British master-spy George Smiley, it is the third and final novel of the " Karla Trilogy", following ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and ''The Hono ...

'' and its TV adaption are set in the Bellevue Palace. In Swiss politics, the hotel's bar and lounge are known to be the site of much late-night political

horse trading Horse trading, in its literal sense, is the buying and selling of horses, also called "horse dealing". Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for sale, the sale of horses offered great opportunities for dishonesty, l ...

during parliamentary sessions, such as arranging elections of Federal Councillors.

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 , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , photo=BerneseAlps.jpg , photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau , country= Switzerland , subdivision1_type= Cantons , subdivision1= , parent= Western Alps , borders_on= , ...

over the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it descen ...

. The hotel's cuisine is rated at 16 Gault Millau points. ''

Frommer's Frommer's is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the compan ...

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." The hotel is a member of the

Leading Hotels of the World In typography, leading ( ) is the space between adjacent lines of type; the exact definition varies. In hand typesetting, leading is the thin strips of lead (or aluminium) that were inserted between lines of type in the composing stick to incre ...

association.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellevue Palace Hotel buildings completed in 1865 Hotel buildings completed in 1913 Hotels in Switzerland Buildings and structures in Bern Companies owned by the federal government of Switzerland State guesthouses Diplomacy Military history of Switzerland 1913 establishments in Switzerland Swiss companies established in 1913 Tourism in Bern