Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève (Geneva Museum of Ethnography), Geneva

Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève (Geneva Museum of Ethnography), Geneva

The Geneva Museum of Ethnography, established on September 25, 1901, owes its origin to Professor Eugène Pittard (1867-1962), who was the first to hold the Anthropology Chair at the University of Geneva. Initially, it was located in the Mon Repos villa. Pittard gathered both public and private collections, incorporating items from the Archaeology Museum, Musée Ariana, the Evangelical Missionary Society Museum, and weapons from the Geneva History Museum.

In 1939, the museum moved to the then-unused buildings of the Mail primary school on Boulevard Carl Vogt and opened there on July 12, 1941. It shared this space with the University's Anthropology Department until 1967. The museum expanded in 1949 and later, in 1975, the city acquired the Lombard villa in Chêne-Bougeries, transforming it into the Conches annex.

The museum's novel pagoda-style building opened on October 31, 2014. Designed by Graber Pulver Architekten AG and ACAU, in collaboration with Weber + Brönnimann EG, it features underground galleries and an auditorium. The ground floor hosts a cafeteria, a shop, and the ticket office, overlooking the garden. The upper floor includes workshops for restoration and cultural programs, along with the Marie Madeleine Lancoux Library, which even has a space for global music listening. The original building, now renovated, accommodates offices and ethnomusicology workshops. The museum complex, which includes the old museum, the new Geneva Museum of Ethnography, and a primary school, surrounds a small, tree-filled square.

The museum is listed on the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance.

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Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève (Geneva Museum of Ethnography) on Map

Sight Name: Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève (Geneva Museum of Ethnography)
Sight Location: Geneva, Switzerland (See walking tours in Geneva)
Sight Type: Museum/Gallery

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