Page 378 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

THE BEAU-RIVAGE PALACE work shows: history, personal histories do not comprise solely
THROUGH ITS ARCHIVES …
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SAFEGUARDING THE FUTURE
Bertrand MÜLLER
I think that the concept of archives does not look to the past, seem to be haunted by those long-dead aristocrats who used to
contrary to what one might be inclined to believe. Memory is about idle away their days there, outside time and sheltered from the
the future, and, for archives, it is always the future perfect that, in some sound and the fury of the world. Magical, fairy-tale places, luxury
way, determines its meaning and its existence. It is always in that hotels have enchanted and inspired a number of artists, at the
temporality that archives are formed. Beau-Rivage and elsewhere. If we were to write the book of
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François derrida Switzerland’s ‘places of memory’, these great ocean liners marooned
Le futur antérieur de l’archive 2 in the modern world would feature in it, peaceful monuments
dotted around the luxury holiday map which have shaped rural
Does this then mean that memory is not just a mass of hazy and urban landscapes, determined the position of roads leading
recollections, but is, in fact, a project? This paradoxical question towards them, and conquered improbable locations thanks to the
highlights one of memory’s main functions, which is to weave toil and sweat of anonymous labourers who have never rested
the thread of time into an intelligible notion of time spanning within their walls.
a before, a now and an after. And so memory does not weave But far from the ideal impressions that they themselves have
together recollections of the past, but a past reconstructed in helped to create, luxury hotels also lead us to less enchanted shores,
the present, which we need in order to escape it, to project to the sometimes mysterious depths of their archives. Memory,
ourselves into the future while trying to make sense of the archives… Paul Ricoeur made the connection between them in
turmoil of the present. Doubtless for many memory is, if not his recent book Memory, History, Forgetting where the philosopher
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a quest, then at least nostalgia for bygone days, an evocation of attempts to revive the link between memory, the place of
a time which distance, or hindsight often make us idealise as memory and the archive that is its material trace, all of which are
‘better’ and lost for ever. Luxury hotels belong in this imaginary open to historical investigation. This solid, obvious connection,
universe that is constantly being reconstructed to ward off the this almost tautological, redundant articulation of memory,
anguish of disappearance and loss. While today they attract the archive and history is not self-evident, however, and is certainly
new middle classes on hurried business trips, their lounges still not without ambiguity. As the diversity of this commemorative
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it is also a complex and demanding enterprise bringing together
archive documents, although they are fuelled by them, while
a great number of people, all fulfilling different functions within
memory can do without them altogether. If archives are needed it. In the archives, these numerous roles, sometimes invisible
to give historians, for whom the past is also an invention, a new but always necessary for the establishment’s smooth running
impetus and to ensure a range of different approaches, they are
and the guests’ comfort, are reduced to abstract figures: income,
also a limitation, and it is useful to remember that they cannot expenditure, additions and subtractions of profits, budgets, and
be reduced to and are not essentially designed for historical dividend calculations for the benefit of the board of directors
exploration. They are the product of a double, even triple practice: representing the shareholders. The Beau-Rivage Palace is a
they are primarily the material evidence of the bureaucratic company governed by company law and, as such, it produces the
activities and records associated with management. As a result, requisite accounting documents for its management and control,
what we find in the archives of a grand hotel like Beau-Rivage even though this is not mandatory in Switzerland.
are the numerous, and rather monotonous, traces that it would These chronicles testify to a more mundane activity, belied
be an exaggeration to describe as ‘accounts’: the pages of the hotel by the serene luxury of the decor, drapes and velvets, and the
registers are filled with long lists of names of guests who come dazzling glitter of imposing chandeliers that greet visitors. More
sometimes accompanied by a spouse, a swarm of children and a specifically, the archive reminds those who venture into it that
cohort of anonymous domestic staff. Even more daunting are the luxury is first and foremost an industry, which employs workers,
accounting ledgers filled with figures. The outstanding collection mobilises large amounts of capital and demands heavy investments,
of Beau-Rivage’s archive documents is an unwitting testimony but which also generates wealth, primarily for the benefit of the
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to the history of registering, keeping accounts, calculating and shareholders.
classification. These registers are striking in both their form The hotel is also a place of memory because it is a building:
and their substance: produced for – and in the image of – the built, fitted out and constantly undergoing alterations. At best, its
hotel, they are often voluminous, encased in discreet bindings archive conserves the traces of this sometimes chaotic history of
or identified by simple labels and even, in some cases, hinged; it bricks and mortar, but it also reveals the gaps and the losses. Works
requires a physical effort to consult them; they must be handled and alterations not only erase the earlier architectural substance,
both firmly and gently. All types of handwriting can be found they can also result in the damaging, loss or even destruction of
within their pages – generous, cramped, economic or verbose – archives. Were it not for the saving act, the inspired gesture of the
the calligraphic expression of the archive’s diverse nature. ‘Beau-Rivage guardian angel’, the hotel’s archival heritage would
Managing a hotel is not just a question of welcoming, have come very close to being ‘tossed into the skip’ when the
accommodating, catering and entertaining, it also means writing attics – where some of the old documents were stored – had to
and calculating. Accounts, analyses, operating accounts, ledgers, be cleared for the hotel’s roof to be renovated.
journals, balance sheets, mortgage contracts, day books, reports No history is possible without archives, which implies that
and minutes of meetings – economic activity dictates the nature, without the above-mentioned sources, this book would not
the contours and the contents of the archives. exist. They allow the historian to check, compare and complete
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The lists and figures reflect an aspect of hotel activity that is the information that memory or repetition may have distorted.
primarily economic and commercial. A luxury hotel is in every They form the ‘documentary proof’; they are the ‘place’ where the
sense a business. The showpiece of the leisure and tourist industries, historian’s words can connect with the past, and find in it, if not
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