Hotel Bellevue in Buitenzorg (nowadays: Bogor) was a household name, both in the Indies and beyond. While ‘the first Hotel of Buitenzorg’ was apparently not to everyone’s taste, according to the popular Indies newspaper De Locomotief, ‘the swanky Bellevue’ soon became a favourite stop with wealthy guests. Offering overheated city dwellers a chance to cool off at the weekend, it was also an ideal location for sick people, given the wholesome, rainy climate with its fresh air. One of the hotel’s attractions advertised in almost every tourist guide to Java was the spectacular panorama of the Cisadane river and Mount Salak volcano, made famous through the innumerable drawings or photographs made of it. Even Queen Wilhelmina allegedly had a painting of the panorama.
Some servants in the grounds of Hotel Bellevue in Buitenzorg, around 1900. [KITLV 91831]