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One of Paris' most iconic, celebrity-hosting hotels just reopened after a €200 million revival — take a look

The renovation features interior designs by iconic Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld.

The Jardin d'Hiver is quite grand.

Two French Kings, a revolution, a war and countless celebrities.

These are all things that Paris' historic Hôtel de Crillon has withstood over the past 259 years.

Now, in 2017, the hotel is more glamorous than ever as it reopens on Wednesday after a four-year renovation.

A newly-fledged member of the luxury Rosewood Hotels & Resorts group, Hôtel de Crillon has undergone €200 million (£175 million) of cosmetic surgery over a period of four years.

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"Hôtel de Crillon has always been known for its hosts who nurture warm and genuine relationships with guests, suppliers, and each other," said Marc Raffray, managing director of Hôtel de Crillon.

"This is what allows all our associates to offer the best of French hospitality, the best lifestyle from a country where it has been cultivated and maintained for centuries."

Hôtel de Crillon is where Marie-Antoinette took music lessons. It is where the first French-American treaty was signed in 1778. It has been a home from home for some of the world's most famous thinkers, writers, painters, entertainers, and singers — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charlie Chaplin and Madonna to name but a few.

Scroll down to see what a stay in the Crillon will entail today, almost 260 years from the hotel was built.

Bienvenue à l'Hôtel de Crillon. The sprawling residence occupies a corner of the Place de la Concorde, a literal stone's throw from the Champs-Élysées.

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The palace was commissioned in 1758 by King Louis XV who hired 'the' architect of the time, Ange-Jacques Gabriel. Twenty years later, it was purchased by the Duke of Crillon who gave the building its name.

Source: Rosewood Hotels.

During the French Revolution, the palace was confiscated from the Duke. King Louis XVI was later hanged outside the building's doors.

BBC

In March 1909, the palace finally opened as a hotel.

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Source: Rosewood Hotels.

In the years since, Hôtel de Crillon has been visited by countless celebrities and world leaders including Madonna, Taylor Swift, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Legendary American composer Leonard Bernstein was one such celebrity fan of the hotel. His omnipresence within the hotel earned the Bernstein a suite in his name. Here it is.

“What a pleasure being once again on my terrace over Place de la Concorde," the musician once wrote in the hotel guest book. What a terrace it is.

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Source: New York Times.

By 2013, though, the hotel was in dire need of a makeover. According to Marc Raffray, the hotel’s managing director, guests were using fans and leaving windows open in the summer as there was no air-conditioning.

Source: New York Times.

Surprisingly for a hotel of the Crillon's status, there wasn't even a pool. That's been rectified now after a four-year refit. The glass ceiling looks up into the hotel garden...

Source: New York Times.

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...where there are 35 varieties of plants and trees.

Source: New York Times.

The hotel's redesign is intended to make the residence airier, managing director Raffray told the New York Times: "I wanted to lighten up the hotel but make sure it still had soul."

Source: New York Times.

According to the president of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, Radha Arora, the renovations are designed to make the Crillon more welcoming. "Today, it’s still very much a luxury hotel, but it’s meant to impart the sense of being at the beautiful chateau of a good friend who happens to live in the center of Paris," he said.

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Karl Lagerfeld is among the designers that helped revitalise the hotel. Below is the Choupette room, featuring one of Lagerfeld's personally shot photos.

Source: Vogue.

Bespoke design does not come cheap, though, rooms at the Crillon start at €1,200...

Source: New York Times.

...while other more statelier spaces can cost up to €9,000 a night.

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Source: Rosewood Hotels.

There's an elephant in the room: It happens to be a Baccarat crystal one, designed in 1878.

The Hôtel de Crillon is also the traditional host of the Bal des débutantes — a star-studded fashion event launched in the 1990s.

Source: Le Bal.

Debutantes are introduced to high society with a formal dance with their fathers. Here's Sylvester Stallone and daughter Sophia Rose leading the way in 2012. In 2005, le Bal was named one of the world's hottest parties by Forbes.

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Sources: Le Bal, Forbes.

The hotel is ideal for such flamboyant events. "I like the idea of a slightly theatrical arrival," Chahan Minassian, one of the interior designers, told Vogue.

Source: Vogue.

"To me, the Hotel Crillon is the embassy of Paris. When you cross the Place de la Concorde, there is no mistaking where you are," Minassian said.

Source: Vogue.

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Maybe it's the two-tonne marble bathtub...

...or the baldachin beds...

But it's clear the grand hotel has retained the sentiment best summed up by French Caribbean musician Henri Salvador: "Paris is Champagne, Champagne is France and France is my heart so Hôtel de Crillon is my heart."

Source: New York Times.

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