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GENEVA |
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The Puritanism of GENEVA (Genève in French) is inextricably linked
with the city's struggle for independence. Long ruled by the dukes of
Savoy, who regarded the local bishopric as their private property,
sixteenth-century Genevans saw the Reformation in neighbouring
Switzerland as a useful aid in their struggle to rid themselves of
Savoyard influence. By the time the city's independence was won in 1602,
its religious zeal had painted it as the "Protestant Rome". What
continues to be known today as the Republic and Canton of Geneva
remained outside the Swiss Confederation until 1815 (the Catholic
cantons opposed its entry), and acquired a reputation for joylessness
which it still struggles to shake off. Today, it's a working city that
remains sharply focused on its prominent role in international diplomacy
and big business. Time and effort are needed to penetrate the facade of
money and power.
The City
Genevans orientate their city around the Rhône, which flows from the
lake west into France. The Rive Gauche , on the south bank, takes in a
grid of waterfront streets which comprise the main shopping and business
districts and the adjacent high ground of the Old Town. Behind the grand
hotels lining the northern Rive Droite waterfront is the main station
and the cosmopolitan Les Pâquis district, filled with cheap restaurants.
Further north are the offices of the dozens of international
organizations headquartered in Geneva, including the UN.
On the Rive Gauche, beyond the ornamental flowerbeds of the Jardin
Anglais , erupts the roaring 140-metre-high plume of Geneva's trademark
Jet d'Eau . Immediately beside Pont du Mont-Blanc, Île de Rousseau bears
a seated statue of the eighteenth-century Genevan philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Three blocks downriver, the Pont de l'Île boasts
a thirteenth-century tower, from where Rue de la Monnaie leads up to the
main thoroughfare of the Old Town, the cobbled, steeply ascending Grande
Rue . Here, among the secondhand bookshops and galleries, you'll find
the atmospheric seventeenth-century Hôtel de Ville and the arcaded
armoury , backed by a lovely terrace with the longest wooden bench in
the world (126m). A few steps north is Maison Tavel , 6 Rue Puits-St-Pierre
(Tues-Sun 10am-5pm; free; mah.ville-ge.ch ), an old patrician house
containing the town museum and an impressive model of Geneva circa 1850.
A block away is the huge late-Romanesque Cathedral (Mon-Sat
9/10am-5/7pm, Sun 11am-5/7pm), with an incongruous eighteenth-century
portal and a plain, soaring interior. The frescoes of the internal
Chapelle des Maccabées, with their intricate floral patterns and lute-strumming
angels, are modern versions of the faded fifteenth-century originals now
in Geneva's main museum. Round the corner is the hub of the Old Town,
Place du Bourg-de-Four , a picturesque split-level square perched on the
hillside and ringed by cafés. Alleys wind down from here to the
university park and its austere Wall of the Reformation (1909-17)
alongside busy Place Neuve.
A few metres east of the Old Town is the gigantic Musée d'Art et
d'Histoire , 2 Rue Charles Galland (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm; free; mah.ville-ge.ch
). Upstairs are three stunning sculptures - a graceful Venus and Adonis
by Canova and two powerful pieces by Rodin. The fine-art collection is
crowned by Konrad Witz's famous altarpiece, made for the cathedral in
1444, showing Christ and the fishermen transposed onto Lake Geneva.
Other highlights are by local artist Félix Vallotton; Cézanne, Renoir
and Modigliani; and some striking blue Swiss landscapes by Bern-born
Symbolist Ferdinand Hodler. The basement holds the massive archeological
collection, including Egyptian mummies and Greek and Roman statuary.
Nearby is the astonishing Collections Baur , 8 Rue Munier-Romilly (Tues-Sun
2-6pm; Sfr5), the country's premier collection of East Asian art,
featuring luminescent yellow Yongzhang ceramics and spectacular
porcelain and jade. Make time for MAMCO , a top-quality museum of modern
and contemporary art housed in an old factory west of the Old Town at 10
Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers (Tues noon-9pm, Wed-Sun noon-6pm; Sfr9; mamco-ge.tripod.com
).
About 1km north of the station, opposite the UN complex on Avenue de la
Paix, is the thought-provoking Musée International de la Croix-Rouge
(Red Cross Museum; Mon & Wed-Sun 10am-5pm; Sfr10; www.micr.ch ; bus #8
or #F to Appia), which documents the origins, growth and achievements of
the organization without resorting to self-congratulation. Carefully
chosen audiovisual material combines with quietly dramatic exhibits -
such as the 34 footprints in a tiny cell-space where a Red Cross
delegate found 17 people crammed together - to leave a powerful
impression.
Twenty minutes south of the centre by tram #12 lies the late-Baroque
suburb of CAROUGE , built by the king of Sardinia in the eighteenth
century as a separate town. Its low Italianate houses and leafy lanes
are now largely occupied by fashion designers and small galleries, and
the area's reputation as an outpost of tolerance and hedonism beyond
Geneva's jurisdiction lives on in its numerous cafés and music bars.
Carouge hosts a colourful market on Wednesdays and Saturdays; the flea
market at Plainpalais, near Geneva's Old Town, is also worth a browse.
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