Musée d'art et d'histoire (Geneva)
 Main facade of the Musée d'art et d'histoire |
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| Data | |
|---|---|
| place |
Geneva 
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| architect | Marc Camoletti |
| opening | 1910 |
| management | |
| Website | |
The Musée d'art et d'histoire is the largest art museum in Geneva and one of the most important in Switzerland.
building
The museum is located in the Tranchées district, on the former fortification ring east of the old town. The building was built by the architect Marc Camoletti from 1903 to 1910. The construction was financed with a legacy from the banker Charles Galland (1816-1901). It has a square floor plan with a side length of 60 m around an inner courtyard. On four floors with skylight halls on the top floor it offers 7000 m² of exhibition space.
The main facade is decorated with sculptures by Paul Amlehn . In front of the triangular gable above the entrance there is an allegory of the arts with painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture. On the left corner of the building is an allegory of archeology, on the right corner an allegory of arts and crafts. In the upper frieze are the names of Geneva artists: Dassier , Baud-Bovy , Saint-Ours , Agasse , Töpffer , Liotard , Calame , Diday , Menn , Petitot , Arlaud and Pradier .
museum
The museum as an institution goes back to the Musée des Beaux-Arts , which opened in 1826 in what is now the Musée Rath . A few years earlier, the Musée Académique was founded in 1818 , which had natural history exhibits as well as archaeological objects. The Musée des Beaux-Arts became the property of the city of Geneva in 1851. In 1870, the Geneva state also received the weapons collection and historical objects.
These various collections were enlarged through donations in the second half of the 19th century, so that new exhibition rooms became necessary. In 1897 the Société auxiliaire du Musée de Genève was founded, which actively campaigned for a new museum. In 1900, the city of Geneva organized an architectural competition for a new building, which Marc Camoletti won. From 1903 to 1910, thanks to the legacy of Charles Galland, the Musée d'art et d'histoire was built. However, due to a lack of space, parts of the collections soon had to be relocated to new museums.
The Musée d'art et d'histoire heads the association of art and history museums in the city of Geneva, the Musée s d'art et d'histoire . In addition to the Musée d'art et d'histoire, this also includes the Cabinet des Estampes (graphic cabinet), the Musée Ariana (ceramics and glass), the Musée Rath (special exhibitions), the Maison Tavel (history of the city of Geneva) and the Musée de l'horlogerie et de l'émaillerie (clock and enamel museum). There is also a restoration studio, research laboratories and an art and archeology library with 400,000 books.
Collections
The archeology department shows finds from European prehistory, from ancient Egypt , from the Kerma culture (Sudan), from the Middle East, from ancient Greece, from Italy before Rome and from the Roman Empire, as well as a numismatic cabinet.
The Department of Applied Arts has collections of Byzantine art, icons, weapons from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, silver and pewter items, musical instruments, and textiles. The entire interior and wooden wall paneling of several rooms of the Lower Castle of Zizers (end of the 17th century) were installed in the museum.
The Fine Arts Department exhibits paintings from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, with works from Italian, Dutch, French, English, Geneva and Swiss schools. The most famous of these is the left wing of the main altar of St. Peter's Cathedral in Geneva with the miraculous fish haul , which was painted by Konrad Witz in 1444 . The museum houses numerous works by Jean-Étienne Liotard , Ferdinand Hodler , Félix Vallotton and Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot .
Web links
- Official website of the museum (French, partly German and English)
- Description of the museum (PDF; 390 kB) on the website of the city of Geneva (French)
- Musée d'art et d'histoire (Geneva) on the ETHorama platform
Individual evidence
- ^ The "Musée d'art et d'histoire" in Geneva . built by Marc Camoletti, architect in Geneva. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 58 , no. 19 , November 4, 1911, doi : 10.5169 / seals-82685 .