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The Park Weggis, formerly known as the Park-Hotel Bellevue and later the Park Hotel Weggis, a five-star hotel on the shore of Lake Lucerne and at foot of the Rigi. It is surrounded by landscaped waterfront grounds on the south-western edge of the village of Weggis. The main building of the current hotel dates back to a building erected in 1875
which was originally opened as the Hotel Bellevue and was extensively remodelled in 1912 in the Belle Époque style. Between 1998 and 2007 the hotel was remodelled and expanded once again. The Park Weggis is one of the “Swiss Deluxe Hotels”.
History
[edit]Construction
[edit]During the 1870s, Wilhelm Strässli bought the Bächelen farm estate in Weggis and on it built the Hotel Bellevue which opened in 1875. It consisted of a main building and an annex. To begin with it had around 50 beds, and almost all of the rooms had a lake view. The Hotel Bellevue was one of the first hotels of its size in Weggis and marked the beginning of a boom in tourism at Lake Lucerne. The area of shoreline at the foot of the Rigi had been discovered as an attraction - steamboats on Lake Lucerne had already been
actively used for tourism since the 1870s and the number of visitors to the Rigi had been steadily rising ever since the mid-19th century. The mild climate in Weggis was gradually becoming famous and the village even started to be described in tourist brochures as “Nice on Lake Lucerne”. In 1899, the Hotel Bellevue increased its number of beds and renovated its annex, with new bartizans, carved balcony balustrades and white paintwork that earned it the nickname “Schlössli” [“Little Castle”], which it still has to this day.
Remodelling by architects Möri and Krebs in 1912
[edit]The number of overnight stays in Weggis each year quadrupled between 1893 and 1910, with the result that the owner of the Parkhotel Bellevue, Alois Egli (who bought the hotel in 1907), wanted to expand it significantly. This comprehensive remodelling, which virtually amounted to rebuilding from scratch, was carried out by architects Alfred Möri und Karl-Friedrich Krebs. They had already refurbished the Hotel Montana in Lucerne in 1908 and it had made them a reputation. In 1912, Möri and Krebs also won admiration for their remodelling of the Parkhotel Bellevue. The art and architecture journal “Das Werk” praised not only the new layout but also the structure and colour scheme of the façade and the interior design as a whole. The architects took care to incorporate local rural elements in the remodelling, making the building an example of domestic revival architecture. Rooms and lounges are orientated towards the lake or the sun. The hotel was also made one storey taller, increasing the number of beds from 70 to 160. As a result the hotel gained in prominence which was addressed architecturally by the creation of function rooms. The lakeside terrace was redesigned with columns and arbours. The First World War between 1914 and 1918 was a severe watershed as tourism collapsed. There was a brief recovery, but then the Great Depression of 1929 and the Second World War (1939 to 1945) made matters worse. Things did not begin to slowly recover until after this. In 1946 the Hertenstein peninsula, at the entrance of which the Parkhotel Bellevue is located, was the venue for a defining political moment for Europe: 14 European heads of state gathered here to discuss the possibility of forming a European federation. They drew up the “Hertenstein Program” to establish a “Europa-Union” and thereby laid the initial foundations for the modern EU. This gathering also gave the Parkhotel Bellevue a stronger reputation, hosting personalities of European politics such as Luigi Einaudi and Alcide De Gasperi, both great statesmen of Italy at different times.
Remodelling from 1998 to 2007
[edit]The descendants of Alois Egli, who had initiated the great remodelling in 1912, kept the hotel alive into a fourth generation. It had been remodelled, adapted to new standards and renovated several times and then in 1997 the family sold the hotel to Aldopark AG, which is backed by the family of Martin Denz, a Swiss shipping entrepreneur in Greece. Aldopark AG had a completely different vision for the hotel: Over a total of some ten years, the “Schlössli” wing with its suites and the main building were all gutted and either remodelled or rebuilt, whilst retaining their historical appearance. The hotel was reopened in 2007 as the Park Hotel Weggis, and then in 2012 was renamed once again as the Park Weggis.
Awards and Trivia
[edit]- In 2016, the “La Brasserie” restaurant at Park Weggis was awarded the “Best of Awards of Excellence” by Wine Spectator.[1]
- In 2014, Park Weggis was awarded Award Level *** by the magazine “The World of Fine Wine”.[2]
- In 2006, Brazil's national football team trained for the World Cup in Germany and stayed at the Park Hotel Weggis.[3]
- In 2001, the Park Hotel Weggis was selected as “Hotel of the Year” by Gault-Millau. It was only the fifth hotel to ever achieve this award.[4]
Bibliography
[edit]- Carolina Morgan-Grap: Park Weggis. Hotelgeschichte seit 1875. [History of the hotel since 1875.] Weggis 2013.
External links
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Wine Spectator. 2016, retrieved 15 October 2016.
- ^ Park Weggis. The World of Fine Wine, 2014, retrieved 15 October 2016.
- ^ Ronaldinho in der Rachmaninow-Suite. [Ronaldinho in the Rachmaninoff suite.] NZZ, 29 April 2006, retrieved 15 October 2016.
- ^ Küche von Welt. [Kitchen of the world.] Bilanz, 31 December 2001, retrieved 15 October 2016.