Hotel du Louvre (Paris)

 hotel  Add category

www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/france/hotel-du-louvre/paraz

The first incarnation of this hotel was the Grand Hôtel du Louvre, which opened in 1855. It was located in the huge building across the square, now known as the Louvre des Antiquaires. It was the first luxury hotel in France, a grand hotel with 700 guestrooms and a staff of 1,250. Renowned for its French and international cuisine, it was the first hotel to achieve recognition equal to its luxurious counterparts in New York and Switzerland.

A small department store also opened in that building in 1855, and it soon expanded to take over more and more of the structure. In 1887, the department store bought out the entire building, and the hotel business was relocated to the current location on the other side of the square, under the current name - Hotel du Louvre

The Hotel du Louvre has always had a reputation as a "hotel of character" and it has attracted many discerning guests of social, political and artistic importance. Playing host to important receptions and official functions is part of the hotels rich history. In 1897 the impressionist Camille Pissarro took up residence here and looking from the windows of his rooms, today known as the Pissarro Suite, created several of his great paintings of Paris.

Inspired by the atmosphere of the hotel and the area of the Louvre, Arthur Conan Doyle featured the Hotel du Louvre in many of his stories about Sherlock Holmes and this is remembered by the many Sherlock Holmes associations who gather regularly at the hotel today.

In 1910, Sigmund Freud visited the hotel several times whilst writing Un Souvenir d'Enfance de Léonard de Vinci, his thesis on the childhood of Leonardo, one of the greatest artists of all time. A major theme is Freud’s interpretation of the smile of Mona Lisa – otherwise known as La Gioconda or La Joconde – arguably the most famous painting in the world and displayed in the Louvre Museum, directly opposite the hotel.