The Bellevue Palace is a five-star luxury hotel located in the Old City of Bern, Switzerland. Owned by the Swiss Confederation, it is the state's guesthouse for visiting heads of state and government, and is host to dozens of members of parliament during the weeks the assembly is in session.
History
The original Bellevue Palace was built by the financier Friedrich Osswald in 1865 immediately adjacent to the seat of the federal government, the Bundeshaus. His heirs had the hotel torn down and rebuilt it in 1910[1] in the neoclassical style. The new Bellevue Palace was reopened in 1913, and General Ulrich Wille made it Switzerland's military headquarters during World War I.[2] During World War II, the hotel became a focal point of the warring powers' diplomatic and intelligence activities in Switzerland, and its bar was a haunt of OSS station chief Allen Dulles.[3]