On the road towards its one hundred year anniversary...

With its centenary fast approaching, 12th October 2010, the Palace brings to its guests events transpired within its walls that have made history. The ‘Espacio Palace' 100th Anniversary demonstrates unforgettable memories, images and documents that form part of the hotel's, as well as Spain's history.

With its countless deeds, innumerable characters, endless amounts of guests and unspeakable events that have been passed on to history, "the Palace is more than just a hotel" - a phrase that repeats itself all over the world when this grandiose house comes up in conversation.

After much work and investigation, exploring the basements of the Palace and the memories of many visitors, we present this historical space of our hotel.

Please, enter the Palace, go up the stairs of the main hall, continue round and look left, walk a few steps and submerge yourself for a few minutes in the history of this hotel in this little corner located in one of the most passed by spaces in the Palace.

Original documents, artefacts from its inauguration year, 1912, and, as if it were a movie, the projection of numerous images played out in the hotel, from the very first stone of this building, to the most well-known faces and their signatures. These are documents that will help the visitor, for a few minutes, to "walk through" the grandiose history of the Hotel Palace Madrid.

Neither a war, nor a soon-to-be completed century have been able to jade the oldest documents of a hotel that boasts one of the most profound histories of Spain, and many other parts of the world. It hasn't been easy to recover the records of the first employees and guests that walk the passages of the hotel, the first electrician, the first client, the glasses raised by King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenia beneath the leaded glass dome at the opening, the first photo, the first stone...

More than 100 books of guest registries, numbered one by one since the inauguration in 12th October 1912, will be permanently exhibited in the Palace. The ledgers, books from reception, employee control, records of the Casa Cuna, where the children of the employees were taken care of while their mothers carried out cleaning duties and attended guests, the first telephone handset, period chandeliers, age-old memories fastidiously safeguarded by the hotel's own employees from throughout the century, names and surnames such as Picasso and Sorolla written by the hands of receptionists, next to which are registered the 7 or 8 pesetas they paid to sleep one night in the hotel, images and original documents that attest an endless historical wealth.

The most emblematic artefacts of silver, porcelain and glass are exhibited in this new space of the Palace, where each detail of the dinner service crockery and decorative elements of the era will be able to be appreciated.

"Search for memories" campaign

As stated by the General Manager of the Westin Palace Hotel, Marc Lannoy: "In 1999, under the direction of Alicia Romay, Director of Public Relations in this our house, this adventure was begun, searching for each piece, caring for every artefact like jewels, that today we can show to the public. In a small cellar transformed into a treasury, she kept and looked after each object for years. I have wanted to create this space in the Palace to share with our guests, and without doubt our employees as well, all of whom form part of this house and of whom many have lived a large part of their lives in this hotel; important moments within these walls."

In conjunction a campaign has been launched that searches for memories. We would like that our clients, current and ex-employees of the hotel contribute the own recollections, memories, images and artefacts that remind them of times gone by at The Palace Hotel.

To date we have received many wonderful surprises from people all over Spain who have extracted grandparent's wedding menus, photos and other objects from the memory chest.

The Palace has always been a part of Madrid and Spain, and it is our wish that it continues to be so by inviting you to lend us or donate your own memories, in whatever form they may take, so that we may showcase them alongside our current collection.

For more information:
Paloma Garcia Media / r.r.p.p. The Westin Palace Madrid
paloma.garcia @ westin.com
Plaza de las Cortes, 7 - 28014 Madrid, Spain
913607428 / 618170280