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The Hôtel Ritz is a grand palatial hotel in the heart of Paris, in the 1st arrondissement. It overlooks the octagonal border of the Place Vendôme at number 15. The hotel is ranked highly among the most prestigious and luxurious hotels in the world and is a member of "The Leading Hotels of the World". As of 2014 the Ritz is closed for a major multimillion-dollar renovation. The hotel, which today has 159 rooms, was founded by the Swiss hotelier, César Ritz, in collaboration with the chef Auguste Escoffier in 1898. The new hotel was constructed behind the façade of an 18th-century town house, overlooking one of Paris's central squares. It was reportedly the first hotel in Europe to provide a bathroom en suite, a telephone and electricity for each room. It quickly established a reputation for luxury, with clients including royalty, politicians, writers, film stars and singers. Several of its suites are named in honour of famous guests of the hotel, including Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway who lived at the hotel for years. One of the bars of the hotel, ''Bar Hemingway'', is devoted to Hemingway and the ''L'Espadon'' is a world-renowned restaurant, attracting aspiring chefs from all over the world who come to learn at the adjacent Ritz-Escoffier School. The grandest suite of the hotel, called the Imperial, has been listed by the French government as a national monument in its own right. During the Second World War, the hotel was taken over by the occupying Germans as the local headquarters of the Luftwaffe. After the death of Ritz's son Charles, in 1976, the last members of the Ritz family to own the hotel sold it in 1979 to the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. In August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales and Al-Fayed's son, Dodi, dined in the hotel's Imperial Suite before their fatal car crash. The hotel is being entirely renovated to get the Palace distinction. It has been closed since 1 August 2012, with plans to re-open its doors in July 2014, but the opening has been delayed to late 2015. Because of its status as a symbol of high society and luxury, the hotel has featured in many notable works of fiction including novels (F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''Tender Is The Night'' and Hemingway's ''The Sun Also Rises''), a play (Noël Coward's play ''Semi-Monde''), and films (Billy Wilder's 1957 comedy ''Love in the Afternoon'' and William Wyler's 1966 comedy ''How to Steal a Million''). ==Background and history== The site was purchased in 1705 by Antoine-François Bitaut de Vaillé,〔Antoine-François Bitaut, seigneur de Vaillé, conseiller du Roi, died 17 June 1735 (obituary notice of his widow Marguérite-Angélique Rouillé in ''Mercure de France'', December 1749:212).〕 and a private residence was constructed, which was occupied by several noble families and later became the Hôtel de Gramont. The façade was designed by the royal architect Jules Hardouin Mansart. In 1854 it was acquired by the Péreire brothers, who made it the head office of their ''Crédit Mobilier'' financial institution. In 1888, the Swiss hotelier César Ritz and the French chef Auguste Escoffier opened a restaurant in Baden-Baden, and the two were then invited to London by Richard D'Oyly Carte to become the first manager and chef of the Savoy Hotel, positions they held from 1889 until 1897.〔Ashburner, F. ("Escoffier, Georges Auguste (1846–1935)" ), ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2006. Retrieved 17 September 2009〕 The Savoy under Ritz was an immediate success, attracting a distinguished and moneyed clientele, headed by the Prince of Wales. In 1897, Ritz and Escoffier were both dismissed from the Savoy, when Ritz was implicated in the disappearance of over £3400 worth of wine and spirits.〔Brigid, Allen. ("Ritz, César Jean (1850–1918)", ) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edition, May 2006. Retrieved 18 September 2009〕 Before their dismissal, customers at the Savoy had reportedly urged them to open a hotel in Paris. Aided by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle, Ritz purchased the palace and transformed the former Hôtel de Lazun building into a 210-room hotel.〔 He stated that his purpose for the hotel was to provide his rich clientele with "all the refinement that a prince could desire in his own home." He engaged the architect Charles Mewès to update the original 1705 structure. Ritz's innovative standards of hygiene demanded a bathroom for every suite, the maximum possible amount of sunlight, and the minimum of curtains and other hangings.〔Brigid Allen, ‘Ritz, César Jean (1850–1918)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 (accessed 3 July 2012 )〕 At the same time he furnished the hotel with all the old-fashioned appeal of an English or French gentleman's house, in order to make clients feel at home.〔 The hotel opened its doors on 1 June 1898 to a "glittering reception". Together with the culinary talents of his junior partner Escoffier, Ritz made the hotel synonymous with opulence, service, and fine dining, as embodied in the term "ritzy." It immediately became fashionable with Parisian socialites, hosting many prestigious personalities over the years, such as Marcel Proust, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, King Edward VII, and the couturier Coco Chanel, who made the Ritz her home for more than thirty years.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Hôtel Ritz Paris : Hôtel de luxe 5 étoiles Paris. Hotel Place Vendôme )〕 Many of the suites in the hotel are named after their famous patrons. Hemingway once said, "When in Paris the only reason not to stay at the Ritz is if you can't afford it". Hemingway, who stayed at the hotel many times after World War II, was there when he learned his wife wanted a divorce. He reacted to the news by throwing her photo into a Ritz toilet and then shooting the photo and the toilet with his pistol. In 1904 and 1908, the Ritz garden café was painted by the Swiss artist, Pierre-Georges Jeanniot. Proust wrote parts of ''Remembrance of Things Past'' here from around 1909. The building was extended in 1910, and César Ritz died in 1918, succeeded by his son, Charles Ritz. Queen Marie of Romania stayed at the Ritz Hotel with her two eldest daughters, Elisabeth (of Greece) and Maria (of Yugoslavia) in 1919 while campaigning for Greater Romania at the Paris Peace Conference. Many other prominent royal figures and heads of state slept and dined at the hotel over the years. Edward VII reportedly once got stuck in a too-narrow bathtub with his lover at the hotel.〔 August Escoffier died in 1935. In summer 1940, the Luftwaffe, the air forces of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, set up their headquarters at the Ritz, with their chief Hermann Göring. After the death of Charles Ritz in 1976, the hotel went into a period of slow decline.〔(As the Paris Ritz Shutters, Remembering Its Mysteries, Misbehaviors, and Unhurried Luxuries | Society | Vanity Fair )〕 As it lost its luster, its clientele diminished, and for the first time in its existence it began to lose money.〔 It was rescued, however, in 1979 by an Egyptian businessman, Mohamed Al-Fayed, who purchased the hotel for $20 million and installed a new managing director, Frank Klein.〔 Klein in turn put Guy Legay, the former chef of the three-star Ledoyen, in charge of the kitchen.〔 Al-Fayed renovated it completely over several years without stopping its operation; this was achieved by annexing two town houses, joined by an arcade with many of Paris's leading boutiques.〔 The renovation of the hotel was headed by the architect Bernard Gaucherel from 1980 to 1987. The entire ten-year renovation cost a total of $250 million.〔 The restaurants were given a new look, and a swimming pool, health club, and spas were created in the basement.〔 The Little Bar was renamed the Hemingway Bar.〔 In 1988 the Ritz-Escoffier School of French Gastronomy was established in honour of Auguste Escoffier. On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales and Al-Fayed's son Dodi Al-Fayed, and their chauffeur Henri Paul, dined in the Imperial Suite of the hotel before leaving the hotel with bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, only to have a fatal car accident in the Pont de l'Alma underpass. In the 21st century, the Ritz remains possibly the most prestigious and luxurious hotel in the world and the finest and most expensive in Paris.〔 It is referred to by some as the best hotel in Europe and one of the world's most famous hotels.〔 It is one of "The Leading Hotels of the World". On August 1, 2012, the Ritz closed its doors for the first time in its history for an extensive restoration.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=A Legend in Progress | Ritz Magazine )〕 It is scheduled to reopen in late 2015.〔(The Ritz Paris, where Hemingway once hung out, now looks at a year-end reopening )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hôtel Ritz Paris」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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