Described as expensive, boring and lacking the advantages of a large capital city when the League of Nations was set up in 1920, Geneva nonetheless had a lot to offer. to meet the demands of international diplomacy. These include grand hotels, parks and gardens. They provide the setting for diplomatic banquets and more informal receptions, such as dinners and cocktail parties. These are all places where socialites and diplomats rub shoulders. These spaces stage and shape representations of a certain “international culture”.