The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire (''Museum of Art and History'') is the largest art museum in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

The building

The museum is located in Les Tranchées, in the city centre, on the site of the former

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

ring. It was built by the architect Marc Camoletti between 1903 and 1910, and financed by a bequest from the banker Charles Galland (1816–1901).Présentation des Musées d'art et d'histoire
History and outline of the museum, State of Geneva, 20 September 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2010. The building is square, with 60 m (200 ft) sides surrounding an inner courtyard. It has four storeys, with roof lanterns on the top floor, and a total exhibition space of 7,000 m² (75,000 square feet). The façade is decorated with sculptures by Paul Amlehn: an

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

of the arts, depicting painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture, is mounted on the triangular gable above the entrance, and two more allegories, of archaeology and applied art, can be seen in the left- and right-hand corners of the building respectively. The upper

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

includes the names of Genevan artists: Dassier, Baud-Bovy, Saint-Ours, Agasse, Töpffer,

Liotard Liotard is a surname, and may refer to: *Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789), Swiss-French painter *Kartika Liotard (born 1971,died 2020), Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament *Thérèse Liotard Thérèse Liotard (born 6 May ...

, Calame, Diday, Menn, Petitot, Arlaud and Pradier.

The museum

The museum as an institution dates back to 1826 and the ''Musée des Beaux-Arts'', which opened in what is now the ''

Musée Rath The Musée Rath is an art museum in Geneva, used exclusively for temporary exhibitions. Its building is the oldest purpose-built art museum in Switzerland, and the original home of Geneva's Musée d'Art et d'Histoire. It is located on Place Neu ...

''. The ''Musée Académique'', whose exhibits covered natural history and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, had also been recently founded (in 1818). The ''Musée des Beaux-Arts'' was acquired by the city of Geneva in 1851, which also received the State of Geneva's weapons collection and historical artefacts in 1870. In the second half of the 19th century these various collections were enlarged through donations, making new exhibition rooms necessary. In 1897 the ''Société Auxiliaire du Musée de Genève'' was founded with the aim of creating a new museum. In 1900 the city of Geneva held an architecture competition to design a new building. The ''Musée d’Art et d’Histoire'' was finally built from 1903 to 1910 thanks to the bequest from Charles Galland. However, parts of the collection soon had to be sent out to new museums due to a lack of space. The ''Musée d’Art et d’Histoire'' heads the association for all art and historical museums in the city of Geneva, the ''Musées d'Art et d'Histoire''. The other museums in this group are the ''Cabinet des Estampes'' (

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture ...

), the ''

Musée Ariana The Musée Ariana, also known as the Musée suisse de la céramique et du verre (''Swiss Museum of Ceramics and Glass''), is a museum in Geneva, Switzerland. It is devoted to ceramic and glass artwork, and contains around 20,000 objects from the ...

'' (

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

), the ''

'' (special exhibitions), the ''Maison Tavel'' (history of Geneva), and the ''Musée de l'Horlogerie et de l'Émaillerie'' (

timepiece A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

s and enamels). The group also includes an

art restoration The conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property (tangible cultural heritage), including artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include prev ...

studio, research laboratories, and an art and archaeology library with 400,000 books.

Collections

The fine art section has paintings from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, with works by the Italian, Dutch, French, English, Genevan and Swiss Schools. The best-known painting is '' The Miraculous Draught of Fishes'' (1444) by

Konrad Witz Konrad Witz (1400/1410 probably in Rottweil, Germany – winter 1445/spring 1446 in Basel, in current day Switzerland) was a German painter, active mainly in Basel. His 1444 panel '' The Miraculous Draft of Fishes'' (a portion of a lost altarp ...

, contained in Witz's '' St. Peter Altarpiece''. Other major artists include

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

, Cézanne, Modigliani, and the sculptor

Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

. The museum also has numerous works by

Jean-Étienne Liotard Jean-Étienne Liotard (; 22 December 1702 – 12 June 1789) was a Swiss painter, art connoisseur and dealer. He is best known for his portraits in pastel, and for the works from his stay in Turkey. A Huguenot of French origin and citizen of the ...

Ferdinand Hodler Ferdinand Hodler (March 14, 1853 – May 19, 1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of ...

Félix Vallotton Félix Édouard Vallotton (; December 28, 1865December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as . He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portra ...

Edmond Jean de Pury Baron Edmond Jean de Pury (6 March 1845 – 7 November 1911) was a Swiss painter and engraver. Biography De Pury was born on 6 March 1845 in Neuchâtel. He was a member of a Prussian noble family and was a nephew of James-Ferdinand de Pury. H ...

, and

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...

.Musée d'Art et d'Histoire

Rough Guides Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on custome ...

. Une exposition d'art comme cri d'alerte
Abigail Zoppetti,

Swiss Broadcasting Corporation The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (german: Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft; french: Société suisse de radiodiffusion et télévision; it, Società svizzera di radiotelevisione; rm, Societad Svizra da Radio e Televisiun; SRG ...

, 16 January 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2010. The collection of works by the Genevan Neoclassical painter

Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours (4 April 1752 – 6 April 1809) was a Swiss painter from Geneva. As well as relatively informal portraits, he specialized in ambitious history paintings of subjects from ancient, especially classical, history. Thes ...

(d. 1809) is much the best of any museum. The

applied art The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing."Applied art" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''. Online edition. Oxford Univers ...

section has collections of

Byzantine art Byzantine art comprises the body of Christian Greek artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome and lasted ...

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

s, weapons from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, silverware and tinware, musical instruments and textiles. The complete interior furnishing and wood panelling from several rooms of the Lower Castle

Zizers Zizers ( rm, Zezras) is a municipality in the Landquart Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria-Hungary died in Zizers. History Zizers is first mentioned in 824 as ''Zizuris''. Geography Zizers has ...

(late 17th century) have been built into the museum. The archaeology section displays findings from European prehistory, ancient Egypt (with a

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

from the 9th century BC), the

Kerma Kerma was the capital city of the Kerma culture, which was located in present-day Sudan at least 5,500 years ago. Kerma is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia. It has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, i ...

culture of Sudan, the Near East, ancient Greece, and Roman and pre-Roman Italy, as well as a

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

cabinet.

Notes

External links

Home page
(partly available in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Musee d'Art et d'Histoire (Geneva) 1826 establishments in Switzerland History museums in Switzerland Art museums and galleries in Switzerland Art museums established in 1826 Museums in Geneva Order of Arts and Letters of Spain recipients