Page 8 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace
P. 8

Opportunities must be seized whenever they arise. In the   way for the tourist industry. It tells how architects were given the
                                                                                                                                                         hospitality industry, where resources are more readily allocated to   opportunity to show what they could achieve with large volumes,
                                                                                                                                                         investments that will increase turnover or improve the look of the   and how highly-skilled craftsmen had the chance to express their
                                                                                                                                                         hotel, books of this scope are not published every day. Producing a   exquisite taste. We learn how managers were able to demonstrate
                                                                                                                                                         book of this kind to mark an anniversary might well be acceptable   the excellence of the Swiss hotel industry and how crucial it
                                                                                                                                                         as good publicity but there would be considerable concern about   has been to stress the way in which the hotel briefly provided a
                                                                                                                                                         its possible effect on the figures. The anniversary was no more than   magnificent backdrop against which historic events – some now
                                                                                                                                                         the starting point and certainly not the justification for this exercise.  virtually forgotten – were played out.
                                                                                                                                                         Furthermore, this book exists because of the main shareholder’s      The main shareholder, the Sandoz Family Foundation, has
                                                                                                                                                         desire to pay tribute to the combined talents of the builders, crafts-  for decades been privileged to witness at first hand how the Beau-
                                                                                                                                                         men, entrepreneurs and investors whose ceaseless efforts have, since   Rivage has striven to achieve excellence with a human face, un-
                                                                                                                                                         1858, brought about so many improvements and guided the Beau-  dergoing the transformations required to bring the hotel into the
                                                                                                                                                         Rivage towards the maturity of eternal youth.           twenty-first century both through modernisation and by restoring
                                                                                                                                                             When it opened in 1858, the Beau-Rivage was emblematic   it to the state intended by the original architects. The book fulfils
                                                                                                                                                         of a whole different world, as it still is today. Deep down it has   the need to explain why it is essential to preserve the special at-
                                                                                                                                                         always aroused widespread admiration even among those who do   mosphere that permeates the Beau-Rivage and makes guests feel
                                                                                                                                                         not have the means to enter. But it is possible to be fascinated by   that they have been in a place that is quite simply unique.
                                                                                                                                                         a cathedral without being a regular worshipper. In a city whose      This extraordinary book would not have been possible with-
                                                                                                                                                         charm resides more in its slopes, vistas and promenades than in the   out the unfailing dedication, talent and professionalism of the editor,
                                                                                                                                                         austerity of its large private mansions, its housing estates, post office   Nadja Maillard, or Flavia Cocchi’s elegant design. Our profound
                                                                                                                                                         or railway station, the Beau-Rivage is an unexpected architectural   thanks, expressed in and between the lines of this preface, go to
                                                                                                                                                         success, inspired, no doubt, by its proximity to Europe’s biggest   the industrious, knowledgeable and painstaking authors and to all
                                                                                                                                                         lake. The Neoclassical beauty of the original building, which was   those who have contributed to its production.
                                                                                                                                                         given new life by the contrasting neo-Baroque extension of 1908,
                                                                                                                                                         had little to do with the usual excesses of the past that character-
                                                                                                                                                         ised the late nineteenth century and the Roaring Twenties. Today,                                 Olivier Verrey
                                                                                                                                                         it bears witness to the fact that, from the very start, its founding                            Secretary General
                                                                                                                                                         fathers endowed the place with a great and beautiful soul, lending                       Sandoz Family Foundation
                                                                                                                                                         it its own unique identity in a world dominated by ostentation and
                                                                                                                                                         superficial luxury.
                                                                                                                                                             As such, the Beau-Rivage richly deserves a tribute such as
                                                                                                                                                         this, systematically presenting its architectural, historic, economic
                                                                                                                                                         and social virtues. The book contains a combination of scientific
                                                                                                                                                         and historical articles and vivid accounts of events and personal
                                                                                                                                                         recollections, as well as four original short stories by contemporary
                                                                                                                                                         authors. It also recalls how nineteenth-century travellers paved the







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