Lauréat - Iconic Asset
Le Dôme Bar, InterContinental Lyon – Hôtel Dieu, IHG
Campaign - InterContinental Lyon – Hôtel Dieu, home of a unique and mesmerizing bar: Le Dôme
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InterContinental Lyon - Hôtel Dieu a treasured icon, home of Le Dôme bar the most jaw-dropping bar you've ever had the pleasure to sip a cocktail in.
InterContinental Lyon - Hôtel Dieu opened in June 2019 in the heart of the most magnificent historical monument in Lyon: the Grand Hôtel-Dieu. A former hospital that operated for eight hundred years until its closure in 2010: one in every three of the inhabitants of Lyon was born there. This superb edifice, with its 360-metre facade overlooking the Rhône and the breath-taking Soufflot dome towering 32-metre high, has been the subject of the greatest ever private renovation of a classified site in France, lasting from 2013 until 2019.
One of the grandest expressions of the project’s scale is its Grand Dôme, which stands 105 ft. high and was designed by Jacques-Germain Soufflot, architect of the Pantheon in Paris. Originally housing a chapel, it now hosts Le Dôme Bar. Nuel called the bar “exceptional and unique… All the furniture and rugs have been especially designed for this area. This place is so out of the ordinary for a hotel that it was necessary to create unique elements in symbiosis with this space.”
Le Dôme Bar is the most breath-taking features of the property, a bar, truly, like no other in the world. It is a space where hotel guests and locals can come together under for all-day long drinks and light bites; this may be the most jaw-dropping bar you've ever had the pleasure of sipping a cocktail in.
The bar made of backlit alabaster, rises majestically in all its glory beneath the vault. The benches and tables serve to emphasise the unique historical architecture while highlighting the new more modern identity, greatly boosted by paintings by Manuela Paul-Cavallier. Her use of gold leaf in her paintings is both traditional and sophisticated. The perfect choice of fabrics interweaves luxury and simplicity with a mix of delicate Verel de Belval Lyon, Hermès silks contrasting with other plainer textiles.
Large screens completing the elegant decor have heating as acoustic functions. They serve to avoid echoes and reverberations in this awesomely-sized space. Fitting a sound system in the great dome was a real challenge. Speakers would have generated a sound that was too directional, with echoes, plus it would be impossible to insert them in the walls of a dome classified as a historic monument! The pioneering technology here is based on the transduction of sound, allowing the material to become the vector for the vibrations.
The Dôme is a real hub and constitutes a space where the people of the city and international visitors meet and interact. The drinks menu offers a range of revolutionary beverages, blending strong local influence with international creativity. Truly traditional regional products are part and parcel of the signature cocktails and so the Dôme Bar customises the famous pink praline, a traditional Lyon confectionery, combining it with vodka, pink champagne and lemon. The "Kiwi Chartreuse Tarragone" blends together legendary yellow and green Chartreuse with kiwi for a cocktail with a kick.
Those with more sophisticated tastes are also catered for with a superb range of drinks that includes spirits from all over the world. From England to the United States to Japan, South America and Europe, the vast selection of gin, tequila, vodka, rum, whiskey and bourbon offer a voyage around the world in 80 glasses. This great mix of local and international is very much present in the dishes created by young chef Mathieu Charrois, whose menu happily places side by side a traditional Lyonnaise dish and a Tahitian Poke, Cervelle de Canuts and club sandwiches.
The concept of the Grand Dôme allows visitors not staying at the hotel to stroll around uninhibited, yet still manages to respect the wonderful heritage of the building through a modern style befitting its new function. Since the hotel’s grand opening in June, over 75,000 guests have visited the bar to experience the extraordinary Dôme and enjoy signature cocktail or a coffee with friends, and 5,000 visitors on the Journée du Patrimoine alone. As well as being praised and loved by locals, who have been inspired to rediscover this important piece of their history, Le Dôme Bar has also been described by Vivre Lyon as one of the best bars in Lyon, with the hotel receiving outstanding reviews from national and international media such as Forbes, Condé Nast Traveler and NouvelObs amongst many others.
And the management team is not standing still. An exclusive tea time is being developed by the head pastry chef, featuring a stunning pastry cart designed by local artists. Other elements being developed include: live music on weekends, seasonal signature cocktails and food, and wine tasting for private groups. With such a successful launch and innovative features being developed, the team is confident that Le Dôme Bar will meet its own targets to become: one of the world’s Top 10 bars, a bar loved by locals, and ‘the place to visit’ for lovers of heritage buildings.
