The Pera Palace Hotel is a historic luxury hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. The centrally located hotel was originally built in 1892 for the purpose of hosting the passengers of the Orient Express and is credited with being "the oldest European hotel of Turkey". Agatha Christie stayed at the hotel, perhaps on several occasions while she was passing through Istanbul on her visits to excavations in Iraq with her husband Max Mallowan.[1]
The hotel closed for a major renovation in 2006 and reoopened in 2010, having been restored as a "museum hotel", with furnishings restored to recapture the grandeur of Christie's time. The hotel maintains Room 411 as the "Agatha Christie Suite which is well decorated with Christie memorabilia. The hotel claims that she wrote part of Murder on the Orient Express here, although this fact is not mentioned in either her autobiography or Come, Tell Me How You Live. The hotel does not appear in any of Christie's stories. In Orient Express itself, Poirot and the other passengers of the train stay at the rival Tokatlıyan Hotels.
The Pera Palace Hotel is featured in the Turkish television series Midnight at the Pera Palace. Agatha Christie, portrayed by Claire Louise Frost appears in Episode 1, The Journey.
The Key in Room 411[]
In 1979, Warner Brothers, after the release of their film Agatha wanted to pursue the mystery further and hired a medium Tamara Rand to organize a séance to make contact with Agatha Christie. Rand claimed to have been told by Christie that the mystery of her disappearance was in Room 411 at the Pera Palace hotel. Room 411 was searched and a key was found in the skirting near the door. Rand claimed that Christie had a secret notebook but that she could not find it unless the key was in her hand. Warner Brothers studio executives and Rand arrived at Istanbul for another séance but this was cancelled because the hotel staff had gone on strike. At a subsequent séance in Los Angeles Rand stated that she saw the notebook and that it was in a big box, which the key would open. But the box was never found. A replica of the key plus news cuttings of the events in 1979 are found in the museum at the hotel.[2]
References[]
External links[]
- Showcase: Agatha Christie's Love Affair with Istanbul - 2016 TRT World, Turkish news feature. URL.
- Documentary about the Pera Palace Hotel on Youtube - Agatha Christie is mentioned from time 23' 26" and 34' 02".