Hotel Le Montreux Palace (Vladimir Nabokov)

The Fairmont Le Montreux Palace hotel, located among the majestic Alps and on the shore of Lake Geneva, boasts a centuries-old tradition of exceptional hospitality and iconic Belle Époque architecture since its founding in 1906. Our prime location provides access to the best attractions in Montreux, including the famous Montreux Jazz Festival and the charming Montreux Christmas Market.

It is renowned for its famous guests. Its luxurious rooms have hosted the likes of Leo Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky, Charlie Chaplin, Gabrielle Chanel, Audrey Hepburn, Michael Jackson, and many others. But the most illustrious guest of this hotel on the shore of Lake Geneva was undoubtedly Vladimir Nabokov.

The great Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov has his own remarkable story of life in one of Europe’s most unique hotels, Le Montreux Palace.

In 1959, Vera and Vladimir Nabokov stayed at the Le Montreux Palace hotel for the first time. After spending 20 years in America, the Nabokovs decided to move to Europe to be closer to their son Dmitry, who was living in Milan at the time. In 1961, the Nabokovs stayed again at the Le Montreux Palace hotel.

This time they settled in the old wing of the hotel on the sixth floor in an apartment with a kitchen, apartment 065 on the sixth floor, where the famous Russian-American writer lived with his wife Vera for the last 16 years of his life. The apartment now bears his name. It was here that works such as “Ada,” “Pale Fire,” and others were penned. It was in Montreux that Nabokov completed his translation of Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” and began writing the novel “The Original of Laura” (in Russian, “Laura and Her Original”), which he was unable to finish. The writer died on July 2, 1977, having bequeathed to burn 138 index cards with drafts of the novel. But neither his wife nor his son dared to do so, and these drafts have now been published.

After Vladimir Nabokov wrote “Lolita” and sold the rights for its film adaptation, he could afford to write novels not locked in a bathroom (as he had done before), but in a separate study of a first-class European hotel. Namely — at the Montreux Palace in Swiss Montreux, where Sarah Bernhardt and Richard Strauss had once stayed. Together with his wife Vera, the writer moved in on October 1, 1961, planning to stay briefly but remained for a full sixteen years — until his death. Nabokov rented several rooms on the sixth floor (now called Nabokov's Floor) with a balcony where he liked to pose for photographers and admire the ever-changing Lake Geneva with reflections of the surrounding mountains. Vladimir Vladimirovich wrote mostly standing in the mornings, and he worked well in Montreux: here he composed several novels and translated “Lolita” into Russian, which brought him a comfortable old age. He met friends and other guests in the hotel lounge over a cup of tea and occasionally left the hotel to hunt butterflies — in the Alps, Corsica, and Sicily. Today’s guests of the Nabokov Suite, besides the chance to live in a real house-museum, receive the last unfinished novel by Nabokov, “Laura and Her Original,” which he also worked on in Montreux.

In Montreux, Vladimir Nabokov wrote a lot, played chess with his wife, took long walks in the mountains where he delighted in catching butterflies.

“With the money he spent on the Montreux Palace, you could have bought a castle,” said Dmitry Nabokov, the famous writer’s son. Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Vera arrived in Swiss Montreux in October 1960. The family planned a short stay but ended up living in the hotel for 17 years; the writer died at the Montreux Palace in 1977. Nabokov rented an apartment on the sixth floor, which now bears the name Nabokov's Floor. From the balcony of his room, he admired Lake Geneva and posed for photojournalists. Here he wrote several of his works. Today, guests of the named room live in a real museum where Nabokov’s belongings are kept and receive as a gift the novel “Laura and Her Original,” which the writer did not manage to finish.

Before Nabokov, the Le Montreux Palace hotel, built in 1906 in the Belle Époque style, hosted members of the royal family and Russian aristocracy traveling from Saint Petersburg to Switzerland seeking relief from long cold winters in Montreux’s mild climate.

In April 1999, the Le Montreux Palace hotel celebrated Vladimir Nabokov’s 100th birthday. A large exhibition of the writer’s books was organized in the lobby, featuring a photo archive and his famous butterfly collection. On April 23, Nabokov’s birthday, a monument was unveiled in Montreux, created by sculptors Alexander and Philip Rukovishnikov.

The hotel’s Belle Époque decor was chosen for some scenes of Peter Ustinov’s film (“Lady L,” 1964), a comedy starring Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, David Niven, and Cecil Parker.

The film tells the story of an elderly Corsican lady who recalls the love of her life, including an anarchist and an English aristocrat.

And the BBC and Luc Besson productions film (“Kiss of the Dragon,” 2001), starring Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, and Tchéky Karyo.

Sources:      

https://realty.rbc.ru/news/5c2220639a79472d99e282d0

https://russianmind.com/shvejczariya-nabokova/