The Metropol is like a character in itself. While his physical circumstances have been greatly reduced, his emotional world grows by leaps and bounds as his heart becomes increasingly intertwined with the hearts of those closest to him, several of whom he cares very deeply about. Spanning more than three decades from 1922 to 1954, the count’s stay is enriched by the myriad of personalities who ensure that the hotel runs smoothly, and some quintessential life-changing characters who come through the main doors and become an integral part of his existence.Īn aristocrat at heart, Rostov brilliantly turns conversations into erudite discussions by offering his wit, sense of humor, and indomitable spirit to all those he meets. A tall man, he regularly bumps his head when attempting to stand in certain parts of his meager quarters, and he no longer has grand views from the room’s windows.ĭespite what appears to be claustrophobic environs, Rostov makes the most of his situation, approaching each day with optimism and resolving to see the best in everyone. But the house arrest moves him to a small room in a sixth-floor belfry that once housed servants. He occupied a series of rooms as a count accustomed to life’s finer pleasures. What saves him from being sent to Siberia or immediate execution is a poem he wrote years before being judged to have sympathetic leanings to the Bolshevik cause. It’s five years after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. It’s 1922 and Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a Russian nobleman, is sentenced to lifetime imprisonment in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel.
Opulent, lavish, and with an otherworldly ambiance-but what if you couldn’t leave? What if you faced eminent elimination if you left the hotel’s inner sanctum? House Arrest Stomping grounds for the internationally rich and famous and the elite of the city, the Metropol was at the heart of Moscow, situated on Theatre Square and across from the Kremlin. The Metropol was the first hotel in Moscow to have hot water and telephones in the rooms, international cuisine in the restaurants, and an American bar off the lobby.
You could travel from one to the other and feel at home. All of these hotel siblings shared similar characteristics for luxury and service. Opening in 1905, it joined the ranks of other leading grand hotels of its era like the Waldorf Astoria in New York, Claridge’s in London, and the Ritz in Paris. At that point, the Metropol Hotel was nearly celebrating its 100th anniversary. Author Amor Towles visited Moscow in 1998.
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