The owner's Family coat of arms
During your stay you are bound to notice some of the street names around the hotel.
The owner’s family settled in Geneva in 1357, and you will see the family arms above the lift door (the hat above the arms means that the family had the title of “Bougeois de Genève”. Today the family wishes to share some of their experience with you.
Rue de Grand Pré
This name, meaning “great meadow street”, refers to the pastures that used to surround the area, renowned for their beauty and the quality of the grazing.
Rue de la Cannonière
This name recalls the cannon firing range that used be here. But don’t worry, you won’t be woken from you sleep – the last firing practice took place in 1782!
Rue Vermont
This name was given to the street by a Geneva citizen, Mr. Aubert, in honour of the American state of Vermont where his wife was born in the 1850s.
Rue Giuseppe Motta
Giuseppe Motta (1871-1940) was the first Italian speaking Swiss to be elected President of the Confederation. He was present at the first meeting of the League of Nations (later to become the UN) on 15 November 1920, and campaigned tirelessly for Switzerland’s membership of the organisation. That finally only happened in 2002.
Before Geneva became the centre for the European Christian Reform movement under Calvin in 1541 it had been a fervently Catholic city.
Every year on 12 December Geneva celebrates the “battle of the scaling” in 1602, when the Duke of Savoy’s troops attempted to take the city by scaling its walls at night. The emblem for this celebration is a cooking pot, in memory of a woman citizen who played her part in the battle by pouring a pot of boiling vegetable soup onto the head of one of the attackers. Had it not been for the citizens’ victory, Geneva would be part of France today.
