ONCE A PALACE
Once a Palace - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Once a Palace | |||||
| By: Robert La Bua and Sarah Han, Issue 41 – Summer 2010 | |||||
| (palace Hotels & resorts) | |||||
| FEW ARE AS ACCOMPLISHED IN CREATING A SENSE OF OPULENCE IN ARCHITECTURE AS A ROYAL FAMILY, WHICH IS WHY THEIR FORMER HOMES MAKE MAGNIFICENT HOTELS. | |||||
| Hôtel de Crillon, Villa d’Este and Ashford Castle are famous around the world for their splendour as palaces turned hotels. Less renowned, but just as appealing for their extravagant surroundings and royal pedigrees, there are former palaces welcoming paying guests in many countries. | |||||
| INDIA | |||||
| Of all the countries in the world, India stands out as the land of palace hotels. The wealth of India’s princely class is almost beyond comprehension today; palaces taking years to construct were built for one weekend’s use. As in the United Kingdom, many of India’s privileged have opened their homes to paying guests in recent decades, making for an abundance of palaces available as hotels while still occupied by local royalty, usually in separate wings. The state of Rajasthan has India’s highest concentration of royal palace hotels, crowned no doubt by the blissful and beautiful Samode Palace, north of Jaipur. Initially built in the 16th century as a Rajput fort, it was transformed into an exquisite palace in the Rajput and Muslim architectural style under nobleman Rawal Berisal’s reign. The castle became increasingly more extravagant over time, especially when Rawal Berisal’s descendant Rawal Sheo Singh added the well known Darbar Hall and Sheesh Mahal (Hall of Mirrors). These are now used as dining rooms for guests of this most exclusive property, converted into a heritage hotel of 35 rooms in 1987. | |||||
| www.samode.com | |||||
| Taj Lake Palace Udaipur, located on a four-acre island in Lake Pichola, is among the most famous of India’s palace hotels. Built in 1746 by Maharana Singh II, 62nd successor to the royal dynasty of Mewar who are believed to be descendants of the Sun God, the palace served as a summer residence. According to legend Maharana Jagat Singh II constructed the palace to woo beautiful women. Facing east to allow inhabitants to pray to the Sun god at dawn, the palace is a mirage of white marble and mosaic, resting peacefully by the Aravelli Mountains. | |||||
| www.tajhotels.com | |||||
| But many people prefer to stay in the crescent-shaped Shiv Niwas Palace built in the early 20th century so as to have the view of the Lake Palace from the shore. The former royal residence of Maharana Fateh Singhji was converted into a hotel at the instigation of Maharana Bhagwat Singhji to entertain visitors to Udaipur, a role it performs to this day. | |||||
| www.eternalmewar.in | |||||
| Beyond Rajasthan, there are palace hotels found throughout India. Lalitha Mahal Palace in Mysore, India’s City Of Kings, was built for the singular occasion of the reception of the Viceroy of India by the Maharaja of Mysore. As one of the last palaces constructed in India, the 1931 building is colossal even by palace standards and reflects a distinctly British influence. | |||||
| www.lalithamahalpalace.in | |||||
| GERMANY | |||||
| One of Germany’s most noteworthy palaces, Taschenbergpalais’ history goes back more than 300 years to the time of King Augustus the Strong, who presented the palace as a gift to his mistress, the Countess of Cosel. The court deemed the Countess as dangerous in the political realm due to her meddling in Augustus’ Polish politics. After rumours emerged that King Augustus had given the Countess a secret written promise of marriage, the Countess was banished from the court and the king gave her Taschenbergpalais by way of compensation. The palace is located just steps from Dresden’s UNESCO World Heritage city centre, which includes the marvelous Zwinger Palace, Semper Opera, and Royal Palace. Like the rest of Dresden, Taschenbergpalais was totally destroyed by the firestorm subsequent to bombing raids during World War II; as luxury was not a priority in the former East Germany, Taschenbergpalais lay in ruins for the next forty years, until the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the subsequent wave of investment that followed gave new life to the palace, painstakingly rebuilt stone by stone according to its original plans. The restoration was completed in 2001 — just in time for the Elbe River to reach record height and inundate the city in 2002. And so the work began again, first with the clean-up, then with the re-restoration. What one finds now is a splendid hotel whose suites come in a variety of configurations and are sometimes surprising in their modern styles, ranging from elegant, muted tones to cow-patterned fabrics (the Cow Suite is one of the most popular). Accommodation at Taschenbergpalais is crowned by the appropriately named Crown Prince Suite, a four-bedroom, two-living room suite of rooms in the classic sense; the near-infinity effect of the rooms opening one into the other was impressive enough to host US President Barack Obama during his visit to Dresden earlier this year. | |||||
| www.kempinski.com/dresden | |||||
| ITALY | |||||
| The Villa d’Este in Italy dates back to 1568 when it was built for Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio as a summer villa. Located in the Italian town of Cernobbio the villa overlooks Lake Como. The Milanese Calderari family acquired the villa in 1784, taking on refurbishments and constructing a new park with a striking nymphaeum (a building filled with fountains, plants, sculpture and paintings dedicated to nymphs) and a temple. By 1815 Caroline of Brunswick, the estranged wife of future King George IV, made the villa her new home. Encircled by 25 acres of gardens, the Renaissance-style building was transformed into a luxury hotel in 1873 where each of its 152 rooms now has its own décor. | |||||
| www.villadeste.it | |||||
| TURKEY | |||||
| A similarly impressive edifice is Istanbul’s Çiragan Palace, located directly on the Bosphorus Strait and completed in 1871 with the intention of displaying the wealth of both the Ottoman Empire and that of its owner, Sultan Abdulaziz. After it was inhabited by many royal families and bearing the injuries of repeatedly being torn down and rebuilt, Sultan Abdulaziz did not actually get to live in the palace for very long before he was found dead in his bed in 1876. In 1910 a fire destroyed the palace, leaving merely a stone shell. Only by 1991 was it rebuilt into the luxury hotel it is today. Originally planned as a Western-style residence, it was finished in the Arabian style and today reflects aspects of both, with the two bedroom Sultan Suite the finest example of this rich cultural blend — serving, then, as a fine metaphor for Istanbul itself. | |||||
| www.kempinski.com/istanbul | |||||
| IRELAND | |||||
| The Irish offer a luxurious castle as a hotel near Cong in County Mayo. Built in 1228 by the Anglo-Norman de Burgo family, Ashford Castle changed residents many times over the years, enduring transformations from a defensive castle to a French Chateaux to the Victorian Neo Gothic style. In 1939 Noel Huggard converted it into an exclusive hotel, hosting numerous royal figures over the years. Amongst them were King George V of United Kingdom, Prince Edward and Prince Rainer III of Monaco. Accommodation at Taschenbergpalais is crowned by the appropriately named Crown Prince Suite, a four-bedroom, two-living room suite of rooms in the classic sense; the near-infinity effect of the rooms opening one into the other was impressive enough to host US President Barack Obama during his visit to Dresden earlier this year. | |||||
| www.ashford.ie | |||||
| MALTA | |||||
| Not all palace hotels are enormous. Some, in fact, are intimate — without compromising on majesty. The Xara Palace Relais & Châteaux on the enigmatic island of Malta is one such property. It was built as the residence of the noble Moscati Parisio family in the old capital of Morocco, Mdina, also known as Citta Notabile (Noble City) in the times of the Knights of Malta. As such, its buildings were always of the best quality and well maintained. Little has changed in Mdina since the time of the Knights, save perhaps for the opening of Xara Palace as a hotel in 1999. The sweeping views from its fine restaurant, de Mondion, set on top of the city ramparts, take in almost the entire island. | |||||
| www.xarapalace.com.mt | |||||
| FRANCE | |||||
| Le Crillon is one of the world’s most sumptuous hotels; the fact that it sits on prime real estate on Place de la Concorde is almost incidental to the utter luxury within the palace’s Aubusson-adorned walls. King Louis XV appointed architect Louis Francois Trouard to construct the palace in 1758. Initially home to the Duc d’Aumont, it reflects the characteristic French style of the 18th century. In 1788 it was acquired by the Count of Crillon, who gave it the name. One of the two identical stone buildings of the palace was transformed into a luxurious hotel in 1909. The acme of opulence, Le Crillon is currently for sale for $US420 million. | |||||
| www.crillon.com | |||||
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