Tintin Forums

I've heard that this really exists, that Hergé based what we see in The Calculus Affair on his studies of the real thing.

Has anyone been there/seen it for real (on the inside or out)? What's it like? How like the hotel in the book is it?

Thanks all!

Yes it is real, they even renumbered the rooms so the one Tintin stayed in actually exists (as fans ask for that room). There is a statue or bust in the lobby apparently.

But I have never been there

Rik

I was planning on going there in the near future just for the hell of it.

Here's one of many links to it.

I've seen it, but only in as much as it's right opposite the Cornavin station when you come out – I was on my way to get a bus, so I didn't have time to look in. It was before the restoration took place, but the front doors were recognizable.

jockosjungle:
There is a statue or bust in the lobby apparently.
I think it might only have been one of the cut-out advertising figures that book-shops get, but perhaps they have upgraded...

The last time I went to Geneva, several years ago, as I left Cornavin station, facing the lake and the Mont-Blanc, I turned right and just over the street I saw the Hôtel Cornavin, with a life size statue of Tintin and Snowy in the lobby, just next to the entrance.
I've heard the hotel has been restored since.
Can someone check what is its real name by now?
Thanks a lot!

Wow! I wasn't aware of a lot of this at all. Thanks for that everyone! Your link was particularly interesting, Ranko.

I've been to both Switzerland and France, but never Geneva. If I ever do I'll be sure to pop in to compare things and to have a look for the Tintin bust!

I used to live in Geneva, and lived about a 3-minute walk from the Hôtel Cornavin.

I can confirm that, indeed, it is still called that (it is right next to the Cornavin train station), and has a large statuette of Tintin and Snowy in the window, right beside the revolving door so intricately reproduced in the Calculus Affair.

That said, the inside of the train station, in 2001 (when I lived there) didn't really look like the scene of the Haddock-Bordurian scuffle. There's not really a waiting area with benches as depicted in the story...
As European train stations go, Cornavin is by far one of the least majestic I've seen. :)

I didn't know that there was a real Hotel Cornavin! I thought that the most important Tintin stuff is found in Belgium.

I didn't know that there was a real Hotel Cornavin! I thought that the most important Tintin stuff is found in Belgium.

Strangely, Hergé seems to be much more preoccupied with physical reality when taking Tintin out of his homeland to Switzerland than when he's back around Brussels...
The depictions of Geneva and Nyon are very accurate (for instance, I've ridden alongside the road where Tintin's taxi gets run into the lake... the train goes just beside it), including both the Hôtel Cornavin and Cointrin Airport.

Yet in Brussels, Hergé avoids drawing conspicuous Belgian giveaways, probably because the stories had already been internationalized to such an extent that he had to avoid alienating non-Belgian fans, particularly the English readers who were under the understanding that the stories were taking place in England!

Yes, they fly a Sabena plane at one point, but where is the quintessential Brussels icon, the Manneken Pis? Waffles? Museums? Even the Belgian royal palace gets transferred to Klow in the series!

Sorry, this is probably material for a separate topic, but The Calculus Affair really shows how much Hergé felt freer to depict reality when he took Tintin out of his usual stomping ground.

Perhaps Calculus Affair and other later books were more accurate because by this time Hergé had become more meticulous in the way he produced his books?
In earlier stories (where we see much more of Tintin in Belgium, or at least I think it is), Hergé didn't go to anything like as much trouble to ensure how accurate his drawings were. I think that you're right in what you say about not wanting to 'offend' non-Belgian readers though, Jyrki. It's probably a combination of these things.