- Grand Hotel Europe
[
thumb|250px|The_hotel_is_situated_at_the_intersection_of_
Nevsky Prospekt and Mikhailovskaya Street.] Grand Hotel Europe ( _ru. Гранд Отель Европа; known as "Hotel Evropeiskaya" until 1991) vies withCorinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel andHotel Astoria for the title of the most luxurious five-starhotel inSaint Petersburg ,Russia . One of great hotels of the 19th-centuryEurope , it opened its doors to the public onJanuary 28 ,1875 , replacing an earlier inn situated on the same site. Its marble-and-gilt interiors, sweeping staircases and elegant furniture attracted crowds of well-to-do visitors, includingIvan Turgenev ,Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky ,Claude Debussy ,H.G. Wells ,Igor Stravinsky ,Gustav V of Sweden ,Elton John ,Jacques Chirac , to name only a few notables who lodged there. In the 1910s, the hotel was remodelled in theArt Nouveau style to designs byFyodor Lidval andLeon Benois . The latest major renovation was carried on between 1989 and 1991.The hotel was featured in the 1995
James Bond movie , "GoldenEye ". However, none of the movie was shot at the hotel, the exterior used was actually the Langham Hotel in London, while the interiors were sets.References
*Bogdanov I.A. "Гранд-отель Европа в Санкт-Петербурге". SPb, 1999.
External links
* [http://www.grandhoteleurope.com Official website of the Grand Hotel Europe]
* [http://www.destinationrussia.com Book St. Petersburg Hotels at destinationRussia.com]
* [http://enlight.ru/camera/251/index_e.html Interiors of the hotel]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.