The Conference Venue Évian-les-Bains

Picture postcard of Évian and Lake Geneva, around 1900

The card depicts a view from the Dent d’Oche, ­Évian’s mountain, over the city and Lake Geneva (French: Lac Léman) to the northernmost region of the French Alps. To the far right is the Hotel Royal, the conference venue and accommodation for numerous delegates; to the left is the Hotel Splendide, which houses other delegates, representatives of non-governmental organizations and media representatives.

City map of Évian-les-Bains, 1930

Évian-les-Bains advertising poster, based on a design by the Corsican landscape and graphic artist Lucien Peri (1880–1948), ca. 1930

With the democratization of many societies after World War I, Évian’s five luxury hotels lose much of their noble clientele. For economic reasons, the city must now pitch itself as a recreational and leisure paradise for the wealthy French bourgeoisie. The number of guests increases from 13,000 in the pre-war period to 18,000 in 1929; of these, 8,500 come from abroad.

Hotel Splendide and Cachat Refreshment Hall, around 1919

The Hotel Splendide is built in 1839 as L’Hôtel des Bains, above the famed spring of the Cachat family. It is expanded several times. In 1898, following the last expansion, the majestic building is renamed Hotel Splendide. A park connects the hotel with the Refreshment Hall, built in 1900 above the Cachat spring. Supposedly to protect the spring, but probably more for economic reasons, the Hotel Splendide is demolished in 1983.

Picture postcard of the Hotel Splendide with cable car, around 1907

By 1907, a cable car is operating on a 357-meter-long track, which leads from the Cachat spring’s Refreshment Hall, i.e. the Hotel Splendide, to the Hotel Royal at a higher elevation, with only one station stop between them. In 1913 the rail line is extended in both directions and now stops at a total of six stations. This allows conference participants to travel easily back and for th between conference room, accommodations and entertainment venues in the city center.

Picture postcard of the Hotel Royal in Évian-les-Bains, around 1927

The Hotel Royal, which opens in 1909, is planned by the Société des Eaux Minérales d’Évian as “Europe’s most beautiful hotel.” Built in the British-Norman style, it is named for the British king Edward VII. A suite is always reserved for him there, but he dies in 1910 without ever setting foot in it. Still, the Hotel Royal soon becomes the preferred residence for members of the European aristocracy, Middle Eastern potentates and writers like Marcel Proust, who is said to have written par ts of “Remembrance of Things Past” there.

Advertisement promoting the Hotel Royal as the “venue for the international conference of July 1938”

The 1938 Refugee Conference establishes Évian as a site for high-level international meetings. At later conferences in Évian – in May 1961 and March 1962 – France and the Algerian National Liberation Front agree on a ceasefire and on Algeria’s independence. In early June 2003, the Évian Summit of the eight most important industrial nations takes place.

1938 guestbook, Hotel Royal in Évian-les-Bains

Conference participants listed in the 1938 guestbook, Hotel Royal in Évian-les-Bains 1938, p. 1/3

Conference participants listed in the 1938 guestbook, Hotel Royal in Évian-les-Bains 1938, p. 2/3

Conference participants listed in the 1938 guestbook, Hotel Royal in Évian-les-Bains 1938, p. 3/3

Hotel Royal wine and menu list for July 11, 1938

The Hotel Royal offers top-quality gourmet cuisine, both at daily meals and at receptions organized by the conference’s French honorary president and American president for international delegation leaders.