2009-04-08 15:52:58 - Coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the original opening of the hotel, the Gran Meliá Colón reopens a beloved property of Seville's old quarter and considered part of the city's architectural heritage.

The hotel is a landmark of Seville's historic quarter and well known as the favoured resort of Seville's bullfighters, tradition, history and culture. Gran Meliá Colon opens its doors after a complete renovation which incorporates its bullfighting connexion amid a timeless avant-garde flair.

The Gran Meliá Colón is keen to maintain its reputation for the very best in Andalusian and Mediterranean food. The new "Burladero, Tapas & Tintos by Dani Garcia" will celebrate this 50th anniversary offering a reinterpretation of the Andalusian tapa, keeping all the taste and tradition of tapeo but in a unique presentation. Dani Garcia, winner of two Michelin stars and famed for his creative blend of traditional taste and ultra-modern presentation, has designed a menu which highlights

the Spanish cuisine deeply rooted in Andalusian tradition.

The experience is completed by a range of gastronomic delights that is second to none, including the la carte restaurant called Majestic, an international selection of cocktails at the El Tendido bar in the lobby, and a cigar bar called Tauromaquia.

As well, guests are invited to wind down and enjoy the hotel's "Wellness Spa" to cleanse the body, relax the mind and purify the soul. It comes complete with sauna, Turkish bath, a Fitness Centre and a solarium, plus a myriad of massage facilities and a hydro-massage pool with magnificent views of the city.

The Location
The Gran Meliá Colón is a hotel in the heart of Seville, capital of the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. Seville is a city that attracts visitors year after year as it is the quintessentially Spanish city in the eyes of most people around the world. While it is not the country's political capital, Seville retains a special place in the hearts of all Spaniards and, indeed, Spanish speakers throughout the world as home to a significant part of Spanish culture.

The hotel is located within a short walk of the Cathedral, the Castle, the Tower of Gold and, naturally, the renowned bullring, the 'Real Maestranza'. It is also close to Sierpes and Tetuán streets, known for being one of the main shopping and commercial quarters of Seville, where guests will have a wealth of opportunity to experience the true atmosphere of the city.

On a logistics point, Seville is easier to get. The local airport is no more than twenty minutes' drive from the centre and the city is also served by the high-speed train which covers the 500 kilometres from Madrid, Spain's main hub airport, in two and a half hours.

Seville and the History of Gran Meliá Colón
Though Philip II cited the capital of Spain in Madrid back in the sixteenth century, Seville, with its outlet to the Atlantic via the Guadalquivir, remained the cultural and commercial centre of the Spanish empire for a very long time afterwards. This explains why so much of the present city is historic. In fact, the old part of Seville is the largest in the world: three kilometres long and two kilometres wide, no fewer than 335 hectares. In the city's Museum of Fine Arts, the second-largest art gallery in Spain after the Prado, there are a number of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century masterpieces in which you can still recognise the lay buildings in the background.

Given this history it is not surprising that Seville is making a name for itself as a centre of, among other things, design; a pre-industrial city transmuted into a post-industrial powerhouse. And this is precisely where the Hotel Colón and Gran Meliá enter the scene. But, first, let us look at the history of the hotel, which has played a small but significant part in the history of the city over the last eighty years.

Work began on the hotel, originally called the 'Majestic' in honour of the reigning monarch Alfonso XIII, in 1927. The architect was José Miguel de la Cuadra Salcedo, Marquis of Castillejas. De la Cuadra was a prominent figure in architectural circles in his day and a number of his buildings are still standing, notably the Avenida cinema in Madrid, now a commercial centre.

The hotel was constructed in time for the Seville Expo of 1929. The initiative came from Ángel Sanz Vinagera, owner of most of the properties on that street.

The first design element relating to the hotel is not, in fact, visible. It is the steel skeleton around which the hotel was built, the first of its kind in Spain. The façade, very visible, is neo-classical, with neo-Baroque details. Another interesting fact is that it was the first hotel in Seville to provide en-suite bathrooms.

In 1931 the caterer Timoteo de Torres Martín was contracted to operate the hotel's main restaurant. He obviously did well, because his successors subsequently bought the property rights. The man who signed the contract was Pedro de Torres, then just 22 years of age. Pedro went on to become one of Spain's leading hoteliers.

In the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to1939 part of the hotel was requisitioned to quarter Italian troops, fighting in support of General Franco. The rest of the building was allocated to refugees, including a number of well-known artists, fleeing from central Spain, then controlled by the Republic.

In the post-war period of economic hardship, the hotel offered its guests the celebrated plato único or one-course menu imposed on all hostelry establishments at that time. On the first and fifteenth day of each month guests were given just one course but were required to pay for a full meal. The difference in price was commandeered by the government to alleviate its straitened financial position.

In 1950 the hotel underwent its first renovation. The name 'Hotel Majestic' was changed to Hotel Colón, in consonance with the anti-royalist sentiment after the Civil War. To avoid losing total custom, the main bar adopted the Majestic title. It was inaugurated by one of Spain's foremost barmen, Perico Chicote, who created a cocktail to mark the occasion.

From the outset the hotel was closely associated to the bullfighting community. In 1960 a tapestry of the legendary bullfighter Paquiro was stolen from the hotel lobby. It was recovered from an auctioneer's in London and returned to the hotel to be housed in a glass case in the Burladero restaurant, where matadores and learned chroniclers met regularly to chew the cud. In 1969 Seville suffered earth tremors and, as a precaution, the hotel was evacuated. Among the evacuees was the world-famous bullfighter Curro Romero, who on that occasion carried himself with exemplary dignity, not running for his life as he was wont to do in the ring.

The bullfighting connexion no doubt explains why Hemingway stayed at the Colón when he returned to Spain after the war. In fact, all the great names of the Spanish bullfighting have visited the hotel, such as Manolete, Curro Jiménez, El Cordobés ... As well, the list is a very long one in terms of celebrities the hotel guest list is an impressive one. It includes the present heir to the throne, the Prince of Asturias; his late grandmother Doña María de las Mercedes, an ardent bullfighting fan; Spain's current prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his two predecessors, José María Aznar and Felipe González (the last mentioned a native of Seville); the actresses Ava Gardner and Catherine Deneuve, the actor Peter O'Toole; Spain's famed soprano singer, Montserrat Caballé and the tenor Plácido Domingo.

The Design
The complete renovation of the Gran Meliá Colón has been leaded by Álvaro Sans, the international architect who has redesigned the hotel combining urban luxury, art and tradition.

The hotel was built in 1929, making this year its 80th anniversary. The building is listed as a monument and part of a style that underwent a major revival in the early part of the 20th century. That's why Sans has kept not only the façade but the central dome that lights the lobby, the floor plan, staircases and, for want of a better word, the feel of the place.

One of the most impressive features of the original building is its large central dome lighting the area adjacent to the lobby. Sans converted the whole area into a display of immaculately designed chairs, tables and chaises longues, arranged in such a way as to remove all the bureaucratic trappings of the usual hotel foyer.

The lobby was opened up to connect directly with all the adjacent spaces: reception, lobby bar, restaurant, Red Level, smoking room, etc., creating a unique ensemble that gives a much more potent sensation of luxury. The central patio was designed to house a massive luminous sculpture that fulfils the twin function of attracting admiring attention while providing rooms with a greater degree of privacy.

A major innovation that pays due tribute to Seville's cultural heritage was to design the doors to the rooms of the hotel as reproductions of portraits, or details of paintings, by the Spanish masters of the 17th century: Zurbarán, Murillo, Velázquez and Juan de Valdés, with El Greco, born 1540, as a key source of their inspiration, and Goya, died 1828, as the man who brought the tradition of the school into the modern age. To stress the relevance of Seville as the artistic capital of Spain throughout the 17th and part of the 18th century, one floor – the fourth – is devoted to works by members of the School of Seville. Goya gets the top floor and one of his best known paintings, the 'Clothed Maja', leads into the Penthouse Master Suite.

By use of careful lighting in the corridors, Álvaro Sans has re-created the atmosphere of an art museum, complete with brief notes on what they are and why they're there, which guests can browse at their leisure as they wend their way to their rooms.

Refined taste and clean lines combine with 21st-century luxury in every service offered at the hotel. Each room is fitted with automatic lighting and curtains, triggered on entrance, while round-the-clock services ensure guests' comfort and relaxation. All the rooms are equipped with the latest technology and all the necessaries for maximum comfort: top-quality bedclothes, blissful pillows, and a range of Clarins products. A media hub is provided in every room; it includes computer and internet connections to check your documents or watch your favourite film on the television. It can also be used to hook up your iPod and even recharge your mobile phone; ideal for business guests.

For a truly personalised service, Gran Melia Colón offers 43 "RedLevel" rooms distributed throughout the hotel. Guests of the Red Level are welcomed by a personal concierge and private butler. Perks for RedLevel guests include VIP treatment when dining at the hotel or at the Wellness Center, in-room Nespresso coffee machines, complimentary aroma-therapy products, free ironing service and access to the RedLevel Living Room, an intimate lounge where you can expect the unexpected. RedLevel guests also have at their disposal a 24-hour business centre service.

To give concrete form to its ambitious plans for the hotel, Sol Meliá commissioned the international Spanish architecture, Álvaro Sans who specialises in hostelry development and in providing the guidelines and basic architectural project design for resorts, hotels and residential urbanisation.

In the course of his long career he has built up a close working relationship with Sol Meliá in numerous projects in different parts of the world, all having a common denominator: his respect for the surroundings and local culture. Winner of innumerable prizes, Sans' designs are universally recognised for the way they build on his ecological awareness to adapt to the location: both to its primary building materials, to ensure they harmonise with the surroundings; and to the local culture, working closely with local artists and borrowing freely from existing architecture to ensure that the new addition complements, not competes with, its neighbouring artefacts.