EXHIBITIONS

The Bodmer Foundation’s rare books are yours for the taking.

Organized around five themes – content, size, exhibition, restoration and material – this tour invites you to follow the destiny of exceptional books, from their restoration in the intimacy of the workshop to their public magnificence in the museum’s showcases.Writers, restorers, researchers and passionate bibliophiles are, for photographer Naomi Wenger, the focal points for getting to the heart of books, from their materials to the mystery that surrounds them,

This exhibition takes us back over two hundred years, to the fascinating context of the great scientific expeditions of the late ^18th and early ^19th centuries.

This is the story of an adventure between a Spanish doctor, Martin de Sessé y Lacasta (1751-1808 ), and a Mexican botanist, José Mariano Mociño (1757-1820).

It’s also the story of Geneva botanist Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle (1778-1841), who taught in Montpellier and later founded the Geneva Botanical Garden.

Last but not least, it’s the story of the tremendous enthusiasm of dozens of ” ladies of Geneva “, copying hundreds of these drawings in April 1817.

A drop of water from Lake Geneva magnified under the microscope reveals life intense, and often incredibly beautiful! Diatoms are found here, tiny, unicellular algae with astonishing shapes that live suspended in water. Present in all aquatic environments, they live either in colonies or in isolation. Lake Geneva counts over 500 different species. So, when you “drink the cup inadvertently during a swim, it may be “a whole world swallowed!

The mountains, a laboratory for Geneva’s scientists.

At the end of the 18th century, a handful of Genevan scientists and naturalists
discover the peaks surrounding Geneva.
An exploration that leads to a high point:
Horace-Bénédict de Saussure’s ascent of Mont-Blanc in August 1787.
A feat that will be widely echoed across Europe
which will generate unprecedented interest in the Chamonix valley.

Geneva’s Museum of the History of Science has in its collections objects and documents that bear witness to the sometimes unusual scientific experiments and projects that took place on Lake Geneva.

A 16th-century engineer from Geneva invents marvelous machines and hopes to sell his project to the King of France. He commissioned some magnificent plates to form the basis of this exhibition. You’ll discover astonishing systems for pulling boats out of the water, carrying passengers in comfort, taming the wind and even … raking wide.

Many people perished on Lake Geneva. Don’t be fooled by its appearance: the lake can be unpredictable. A dozen or so main winds blow across the lake, making it resemble a small inland sea: Bise, Bise Noire, Vent, Joran, Vaudaire, Maurabia, Bornan, Malan… They sometimes sweep the lake waters into an impetuous whirlpool whose fury capsizes boats. On stormy days, certain waves create oceanic rollers that can reach up to a hundred meters. 6 metres high. In foggy weather, sailors have reported seeing the evanescent silhouette of a phantom steamer disappear into the mist. But it’s not just the weather that’s to blame. The misguidedness of men is at the root of many tragedies.

A journey through the history of the conquistadors, as seen through some of the Martin Bodmer Foundation’s most precious works.

And the opportunity to discover an incredible evangelistic drawing manuscript that takes us almost back to the origins of 9th art.

he incredible cinematic epic of Lake Geneva.

We don’t know it well enough, but a great many films have been set on Lake Geneva, most of them by great directors and no less great actors/actresses.

The Bains des Pâquis, in collaboration with the Musée du Léman, set themselves the pharaonic task of bringing them all together in 5 exhibitions.

The incredible film epic of Lake Geneva.

We don’t know it well enough, but a great many films have been set on Lake Geneva, most of them by great directors and no less great actors/actresses.

The Bains des Pâquis, in collaboration with the Musée du Léman, set themselves the pharaonic task of bringing them all together in 5 exhibitions.