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

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

The building

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

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

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 lantern A roof lantern is a Daylighting (architecture), daylighting architectural element. Architectural lanterns are part of a larger roof and provide natural light into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an architectural skylight stru ...

s 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 List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

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 classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

includes the names of Genevan artists: Dassier, Baud-Bovy, Saint-Ours, Agasse, Töpffer, Liotard, 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 Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (Geneva), Geneva's Musée d'Art et d'H ...

''. The ''Musée Académique'', whose exhibits covered

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, 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 the data, as in design and manufa ...

), 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 (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

), the ''

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

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

s and enamels). The group also includes an

art restoration 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 preve ...

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

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

, 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 u ...

. The museum also has numerous works by

Jean-Étienne Liotard Jean-Étienne Liotard () or Giovanni Stefano Liotard (22 December 1702 – 12 June 1789) was a Genevan painter, pastellist, printmaker, art theorist and art dealer. Born in the Republic of Geneva as the son of exiled French Huguenots, he spent mo ...

, Ferdinand Hodler,

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, and

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French Landscape art, landscape and Portraitist, portrait painter as well as a printmaking, printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in ...

.Musée d'Art et d'Histoire

Rough Guides Rough Guides is a travel company that offers tailor-made trips planned and arranged by local travel experts based in destinations around the world. Originally established as a guidebook publisher in 1982, Rough Guides expanded into customized t ...

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

Swiss Broadcasting Corporation The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (; ; ; ; SRG SSR) is the Swiss public broadcasting association, founded in 1931, the holding company of 24 radio and television channels. Headquartered in Bern, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation is a non-pro ...

, 16 January 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2010. The collection of works by the Genevan Neoclassical painter Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours (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 Univ ...

section has collections of

Byzantine art Byzantine art comprises the body of 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, decline of western Rome and ...

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

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 () is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Landquart Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. History Zizers is first mentioned in 824 as ''Zizuris''. Of note, Zita of Bourbon-Parma, l ...

(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 Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...

from the 9th century BC), the

Kerma Kerma was the capital city of the Kerma culture, which was founded in present-day Sudan before 3500 BC. Kerma is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia. It has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, including t ...

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 inclu ...

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 and galleries established in 1826 Museums in Geneva Order of Arts and Letters of Spain recipients 19th-century architecture in Switzerland