With its baroque facade, colourful stained-glass windows and Russian antiques peppered throughout the property, the art nouveau-style Grand Hotel Europe blends perfectly with St Petersburg’s ancient architecture.
But while this building dates to the beginning of 19th century and holds the spirits of the classical masters, it still feels as fresh and lively as it must have when it opened. From that time far in 1875, the Grand Hotel Europe is steeped in Russian imperial history.
Tchaikovsky spent his honeymoon there, Johann Strauss occupied “comfort room No 26” for 14 days, Rasputin dined there, George Bernard Shaw met Maxim Gorky, Dimitri Shostakovitch played a sonata for Sergey Prokofiev. The last Russian Emperor Nicholas II given reception for the King of Siam – and talking about Royals: the Romanovs, Russia’s eminent tsar family, are still gathering at the Grand Hotel Europe for family reunions.
A living part of the city’s history, the hotel is conveniently situated on Nevsky Prospekt, the city’s finest avenue, and overlooks the Bolshoy Philharmonic Hall. It is close to the stunning Hermitage Museum, and adjacent to the Russian Museum, containing the world’s finest collection of Russian art, and the Mikhailovsky Theatre of opera and ballet.
However, the hotel itself is like a museum, – with its collection of more than 200 objects of antiques and treasures preserved through the history, – “the only museum in the world that rents rooms”.
Elegance reigns throughout the Grand Hotel Europe’s palatial interior, where history becomes a precious setting to modern comfort and convenience. The 301 spacious rooms and suites include 250 rooms that have recently been entirely renovated and decorated in traditional style, yet incorporating the latest technological advances. In surroundings redolent of the belle époque, the seven restaurants and bars of the Grand Hotel Europe offer the complete dining experience, from authentic Russian specialties and classical European dishes, to light meals in informal cafés. Centre stage is the Caviar Bar, offering an extensive selection of caviar, served with ice-cold vodka – the true taste of Russia.
The Health Club and SPA offers a fully equipped gym with the latest weight-training equipment, as well as a sauna, a solarium and beauty salon. Hotel’s events facilities are ideal for important meetings, conferences and banquets for up to 250 people. Also hotel provides catering for large or small gatherings in the best of St Petersburg’s opulent palaces.
Recently the Grand Hotel Europe has devised a new concept for its historic floor. The first floor is reached by a magnificent marble staircase, which echoes with the footfalls of these and many other eminent figures in the spheres of culture, science, sport and politics.
Historic floor houses the hotel’s most luxurious rooms and suites, which first amazed the world more than 135 years ago. Corridors with the hotel’s best rooms lead off in different directions from this room, and many of these rooms can justly be called celebratory rooms.
Guests staying on the historic floor can benefit the services of their own personal butler.
Each of the historic suites, the largest of which have Italian marble bathrooms big enough for a cocktail party, has its own decor and character. The Dostoevsky Suite, for example, is on a corner overlooking two streets, reflecting the Russian writer’s preference – he liked to observe street life while writing and always favoured a corner room. The Pavarotti Suite, where the Italian tenor stayed during his farewell tour in 2004, has a full-size grand piano.
The finishing touch of the excellent services delivered to the guest of the Grand Hotel Europe is the fleet of BMW 7th series limousines responding to any transportation caprice.
Mikhailovskaya Ulitsa 1/7 191186
St Petersburg, Russia. Tel: +7 812 329 6000; fax: +7 812 329 6001; hotel@grandhoteleurope.com; www.grandhoteleurope.com
