Maison Tavel

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Maison Tavel

The Maison Tavel is a Geneva museum and the oldest existing residential building in the city. It is part of the Musées d'Art et d'Histoire and shows exhibits on the history of the city of Geneva. The building, which dates from the 14th century, is an example of civil architecture from the Middle Ages in Switzerland. It is located at 6 rue du Puits-Saint-Pierre , in the heart of Geneva's old town.

history

In 1334 a large fire destroyed part of the city including the house of the Tavel, a local noble family. Shortly afterwards they built the current building, at the same time as a city palace and permanent house with two small corner towers. In the 17th century the Calandrini, a wealthy family of merchants, bought the house, renovated it, demolished one of the turrets and broke through the walls for new windows.

The Maison Tavel was listed as a historical monument in 1923. Forty years later, bought by the city of Geneva, the now dilapidated building was renovated by the architect Antoine Galeras from 1970 to 1986. Since then it has been used as a museum for the city's history.

building

Maison Tavel door

In the garden one found a cistern from the 17th century with a diameter of 7 m, as well as tower-like Romanesque foundation walls from the 11th century, which extend to a depth of 10 m. At the bottom of the building there are monumental cellar vaults over two floors that date from the 13th century, before the fire of 1334. Ten Gothic stone sculptures with faces from the years 1334–1337 adorn the outer facade. It is painted dark gray facing the street to reflect the state of the 17th century.

Exhibits

literature

Web links

Commons : Maison Tavel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 46 ° 12 '4.6 "  N , 6 ° 8' 49.3"  E ; CH1903:  five hundred thousand three hundred and six  /  117469