The Grand Hotel Giessbach has been hosting Switzerland's elite for over a century and is said to be haunted by the ghost of Horace Edouard Davinet, the architect behind it all.
Above the glacial waters of Lake Brienz, the Grand Hotel Giessbach is a Swiss symbol of timeless elegance. Built in 1874, the hotel has a grand façade and stunning views of cascading waterfalls that attract royalty, artists and weary travelers alike.
Horace Edouard Davinet, a notable 19th-century architect, put his whole soul into creating the Giessbach hotel at the request of the Hauser family of hoteliers from Wädenswil in the canton of Zurich, who wanted to expand the existing guesthouse there. One of his crowning achievements was the Grand Hotel Giessbach, a luxurious Belle Epoque hotel with stuccoed ballrooms and lounges designed to harmonize with the surrounding Alpine wilderness. But behind the Belle Époque's charm lies a ghostly secret – the restless spirit of the man who designed it.
Spirit of the Architect
Horace Edouard Davinet was a French-Swiss architect. He was born in 1839. He studied, worked and lived in Bern, where he designed buildings for the Swiss elite. Before his death in 1922, he designed several hotels, including the original Rigi Kulm Hotel on the top of Mount Rigi in Switzerland. Although this Grand Hotel Giessbach is only connected with the design of the hotel, this is where it is said to be haunted.
Two world wars and economic crises with their devastating consequences for the Swiss hotel industry, combined with a different understanding of tourism, led to the fading of Giessbach's splendor and splendor. After many years of decline, the Grand Hotel Giessbach closed its doors in 1979, only to reopen amidst a plague of rumors.
And although Davinet died long ago, it seems his devotion to this building has bound him to its halls. As hotel director Mark von Weissenfluh says: “We are deeply convinced that our hotel is, above all, a house of good spirits.”
The haunting of the Grand Hotel Giessbach
For decades, staff and guests alike have whispered about the eerie happenings at the Grand Hotel Giessbach, especially during the serene, snow-covered winter months when the rooms lie empty and the wind howls across the valley. Footsteps echo in deserted hallways, doors open for no reason, and in some parts of the hotel the air becomes inexplicably frosty – especially near the grand staircase, considered Davinet's favorite feature.
He is said to have gently touched the shoulders of two employees during his nightly celebrations, but there have been no malicious or negative stories from guests or staff about encounters with the house spirit.
The most disturbing encounters, however, involve a gigantic, formal portrait of Davinet that hangs in the hotel's main lobby. Many claim to have seen the eyes in the painting following them as they pass, while others report a dim, ghostly figure resembling the architect himself, standing still at the top of the stairs and disappearing the moment someone meets his eye.
While skeptics dismiss the senior hotel's creaking and overactive imagination, many believe that the ghost of Horace Edouard Davinet still walks the halls of the Grand Hotel Giessbach, always vigilant, ensuring that his masterpiece stands proudly against the passage of time and that no one forgets the man who invented it.
For those brave enough to linger on a serene winter night, keep an ear open for ghostly footsteps – and if you pass by the portrait in the main hall, you might catch a glint of movement in the architect's unblinking eyes.
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The Architect's Ghost: Hauntings at the Grand Hotel Giessbach
The Grand Hotel Giessbach has been hosting Switzerland's elite for over a century and is said to be haunted by the ghost of Horace Edouard Davinet, the architect behind it all.
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Edouard Edouard Davinet – Wikipedia
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