Baur Au Lac

In 1844, Johannes Baur opened his second hotel in Zurich right beside the lake with an open view of the mountains. 

The building of the BAUR AU LAC started on part of the old war harbour which had been filled in a short time before. In its first ten years, the hotel was still more of a large villa and served as an elegant residence for families. In 1854, the large block forming mayor parts of today's hotel was completed.

After constant enlargements, the BAUR AU LAC had reached more or less its present size by 1898. The huge amount of customers brought to his new hotel from the very start must have surprised even Johannes Baur. In any case, his business success put him in a position to keep the BAUR AU LAC up-to-date at all times and to make it into the most comfortable hotel far and wide.
By 1854, just 10 years after the BAUR AU LAC had opened, the «Leipziger Illustrierte Zeitung» was already devoting a whole page to the famous hotel on Lake Zurich in issue number 575, with the headline «Zurich is made more beautiful». This article states: «Art must vie with nature, which displays, even lavishes, all of its charms here. The exterior of the hotel promises a great deal. But when one goes inside and walks through the luxurious salons and bedrooms, all of one's expectations are exceeded.»   Chief attraction for aristocrats and artists   Today what surprises us particularly is the magic and power of attraction which the hotel immediately exercised over large numbers of the European aristocracy. One simply had to have been there to join in all of the conversations about it. Austria's Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) spent a whole summer here with two princes and an entourage of 60 people.
The Russian Tsarina also stayed at the BAUR AU LAC. Later, the German Emperor Wilhelm II. and countless princes, counts and barons followed. Then came the artists, invited by Zurich’s young moneyed "nobility" - first and foremost the wife of Alfred Escher, the railway king. Richard Wagner gave the world première of the first act of his «Die Walküre» in the BAUR AU LAC, singing himself and accompanied on the piano by his father-in-law, Franz Liszt. The most famous musicians in the world have gone in and out ever since. The list extends from Arthur Rubinstein to Placido Domingo and Zubin Mehta.
The visual arts have been represented by Marc Chagall, Joan Miro and Henry Moore.

Countless stories could be told - if it were not for the hotel’s discretion which also became part of its reputation. But the hotel was making its own history: In 1853, the French and the Austrian delegation stayed there at the «Peace of Zurich» conference.

Or: in 1892 here in the BAUR AU LAC, Baroness Bertha von Suttner convinced the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel of the necessity for an international peace prize.

For 150 years, there was of course no end to the «circulus virtuosus» of constant renovations. In 1995, Johannes Baur’s descendants had to face the greatest challenge in the history of the hotel. A complete renovation of the building was impending and with it, probably the largest innovatory project that Swiss hotel history had ever seen. But also in the years before this, the BAUR AU LAC had undergone much construction work:   Ready for the challenges of the next century  

The complete renovation of the BAUR AU LAC points the way to the next century. There is hardly any other hotel with such a range of elegant and luxurious rooms, such comfortable and exquisite marble baths as the BAUR AU LAC now offers to its guests.

From Empress Elisabeth of Austria (see: The Travelling Empress) to the magnates of all industries, the guest list is as long as the Who's Who. The Russian Tsarina also stayed at the BAUR AU LAC. Later, the German Emperor Wilhelm II. and countless princes, counts and barons followed. Richard Wagner gave the world première of the first act of his «Die Walküre» in the BAUR AU LAC, singing himself and accompanied on the piano by his father-in-law, Franz Liszt. The most famous musicians in the world have gone in and out ever since. The list extends from Arthur Rubinstein to Placido Domingo and Zubin Mehta.

Michel Rey