Maloja Palace

Geschichte

The Maloja Palace is a hotel 15km from St Moritz, in the Graubünden canton of Switzerland, at the top of the Maloja Pass (Italian: Passo del Maloja, German: Malojapass) (el. 1815 m.) linking the Engadin and the Bregell valley, very close to the village of Maloja a hamlet in the municipality of Bregaglia in the Maloja District.HistoryCamille Maximilien Frédéric, count of Renesse (9 July 1836 – 12 June 1904), built the hotel following the designs of Belgian architects Kuoni and Jules Rau in a Neo-Renaissance style; building commenced in 1882 and the hotel was opened on 1 July 1884. Initially called "Hôtel Kursaal de la Maloja" it was renamed "Maloja Palace", becoming the first hotel to bear the name "Palace" at its time and the biggest and most modern hotel in the Alps.The E-shaped building had five floors with a central cushion-domed roof, curved windows heads for ground and top floors relieve an overall barrack-like appearance, as do the colored frieze on a horizontal string-course in common with many more palace hotels at the outbreak of the Great War. Originally had 300 rooms and about 450 beds as well as 20 public rooms, two enormous dining rooms and an equally large ballroom possessing a small stage where, as part of the luxurious lifestyle intended to be on display, two concerts a day were given in summer months with musicians from the orchestra of La Scala.