From Catholicism to the Reformation
The oldest public building in Geneva is the Saint-Pierre cathedral, which dates from the Gothic period for its oldest parts. However, its history goes back to the 4th century. The age of this building means that it retains many traces of successive architectural styles. This disparate aspect is visible in the chromatic and stylistic variations of the different facades and parts of the cathedral: from the aged green bronze of its spire to its white stone tower, or the cameo of gray of the ashlars of the nave. The cathedral alone reflects the architectural complexity of the city, as well as the intertwining of styles and periods that it has been subject to. An archaeological site can even be visited in its basement, with remains that date back to the third century BC. The construction of the current building began in 1160, but its medieval facade was replaced by a neoclassical one, with its columns and triangular frontispiece, in the mid-18th century. After a thousand years dedicated to Catholic worship, with the advent of the Reformation, in the middle of the 16th century, Protestant austerity being now de rigueur, the cathedral was emptied of its ornaments and its polychrome decorations were covered. All that remained of its Catholic style were its stained glass windows, its altarpiece and some of the furniture that would have been too costly to replace.
The Chapel of the Maccabees remains a beautiful example of flamboyant Gothic. With the Reformation, it was also transformed into the Academy's classroom. The northern part of the building now houses the International Museum of the Reformation, and there is also a monument where the reformer Calvin (1509-1564) gave his lectures. The cathedral dominates the old Geneva from all its height, and offers from the top of its tower a panorama not to be missed on the city and the lake. You will first have to climb the 157 steps to the top, and if you are lucky enough to get there on a sunny day, you will be able to see the Mont Blanc.
Town halls began to develop in Europe in the 14th century, and Geneva was no exception. The building's square tower, which dates from 1555, is a typical example of the French Renaissance. The development of thecity hall continued until the 18th century, when it reached its maximum size and majesty. Behind St. Peter's Cathedral is the oldest square in the city: the Bourg de Four. Its history dates back to Roman times. Its facades offer several examples of 16th century architecture as well as a few rich 17th and 18th century buildings, but the most noteworthy is the courthouse, a former general hospice and a representative example of the Baroque style. It is classified as a cultural asset of national importance, the equivalent of a French historical monument. The cathedral can be reached from the Bourg de Four via a passageway known as the Degrés de Poule, which winds its way between and under the buildings.
City of lakeside and bourgeoisie
A land of lakes and mountains, Switzerland has been characterized since the Middle Ages by the evolution of wooden, half-timbered and then timber-framed dwellings, with their woodwork visible on the facades. Until the 14th century, all civil buildings were built in this style, while stone was reserved for religious buildings. However, in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, ashlar was de rigueur for most buildings, including secular houses. Private homes in Geneva, for example, were mainly built of ashlar and reserved for dignitaries and wealthy merchants. The Maison Tavel is a striking example of Gothic architecture applied to private homes. Built in the 13th century, its two turrets (only one of which has survived) give it the appearance of a fortified house. Acquired by the town in 1923, it has now been transformed into a museum of urban history, giving visitors a glimpse of life in the French-speaking part of Switzerland through its typical interior.
The town offers an idyllic setting on the shores of Lake Geneva, dominated to the south by the Mont Blanc massif. Guillaume-Henri Dufour (1787-1875) is part of Geneva's pantheon. Trained at Polytechnique Paris, this civil engineering specialist advocated improved urban planning around the tip of Lake Geneva, on either side of which the city spreads out, just a stone's throw from the course of the Rhône. The development of Geneva's quays, as we know them today, is the fruit of his plan. These pedestrian zones around a pleasant stretch of water give the city its character. Dufour's contribution to pedestrian-friendly urban planning can also be seen in the Pont des Bergues (1834), which can still be used today and crosses the Rhône for 220 m, linking the city to Ile Rousseau via a footbridge.
With its new facilities, the city was poised to welcome the coveted European aristocracy and bourgeoisie. The Grand Théâtre, designed by Jacques-Élisée Goss (1839-1921), opened in 1879. Modelled on the Opéra Garnier in Paris, it is the largest theatrical structure in French-speaking Switzerland. Its tripartite Second Empire façade is adorned with four allegorical sculptures: Tragedy, Dance, Music and Comedy. Goss is also the architect of the Palais Wilson, which has been the headquarters of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights since 1998. This luxury hotel is built in the style that was the height of splendor at the time: the French neo-Renaissance canon, with two wings with mansard roofs on either side of a central body topped by a turret. The vast interiors were richly decorated, sometimes to excess. Lacking funds, trompe l'oeil plaster was used instead of marble or wood. The backfilling required to build such an imposing structure also overtaxed the budget. Ruined, Charles-Frédéric Aldinger, one of the two promoters, defended himself out of spite. The eccentric hotel went bankrupt two years later. In the late 1910s, renovation work led by Marc Camoletti (1857-1940) and his son Jean (1891-1972), who had designed Geneva's Museum of Art and History and the Hôtel des Postes, included the installation of an elevator, a luxury feature for the time. They moved the noble rooms to the top floor and replaced the mansards with large loggias behind glass roofs offering magnificent views of Mont Blanc. Still under construction at the time, the hotel was bought by the League of Nations in 1919. The architects were forced to convert the rooms into offices and meeting rooms. Now renovated, the palace is only open to visitors once a year, during the Open House, but its façade can be admired during a stroll along Quai Wilson, before continuing on to the Perle du Lac. The Museum of Art and History was inaugurated in 1910. Like many of Geneva's buildings, it is inspired by Paris, and modelled on the Petit Palais. Overlooking the southern part of the city center, it now adjoins the renowned Haute École d'art et de design. Take advantage of the Promenade de l'Observatoire just outside the museum to admire the breathtaking view over the landscape and the historic center below.
International Geneva: between neoclassicism and modernity
In 1919, Geneva was chosen as the headquarters of the newly formed League of Nations (League) because of Switzerland's historical role in diplomatic relations. The city, which at the time was sorely lacking in facilities to accommodate both the employees of the future institutions and the tourists attracted by this global publicity, prepared for the arrival of office buildings that would gradually replace its charming houses.
The establishment of the institutions is initially envisaged in the northwest of the city center, near the Mont Blanc quay. It is an area that is still poorly defined and these new buildings would make it possible to clean it up. However, the International Labor Office was given the Bloch campaign, near Mon-Repos Park and the Perle du Lac estate. This is how a location outside the city center was finally chosen. The SDN bought all of these lakeside estates in 1926, thinking of establishing its headquarters there - before choosing the Ariana garden, further west, far from the lake but offering an unbeatable panorama.
A competition was launched for the construction of the building that would house the institution, but faced with the difficulty of choosing between nearly four hundred proposals, the architects Carlo Broggi (1881-1968, Italy), Julien Flegenheimer (1880-1938, Switzerland), Camille Lefèvre (1876-1946) and Henri-Paul Nénot (1853-1934, France), as well as Joseph Vago (1910-2002, Hungary) were finally chosen to draw up a common and international project. The first stone of the Palais des Nations was laid in 1929 and the inauguration did not take place until 1937. Standing in the Ariana Park, it is the first building of the park of international institutions that has developed on the shores of Lake Geneva over the last century, and that is commonly called the Garden of Nations. It also created many debates because of its strong neoclassical style, which can be seen on the Centre William Rappard, built according to the plans of a Florentine villa, and which today houses the World Trade Organization.
The many buildings and headquarters in Geneva have in common a policy of not raising the height of the building as required by the city. They are spread out horizontally, forming vast palaces, made of stone (for the oldest) and glass (for the most contemporary). The idea is not to have any new construction compete with the cathedral, whose bell tower dominates the city. Although the buildings are the result of negotiations between different countries, works of compromise, they do not lose interest, and anchor the city in a modern heritage, punctuated by references to classical forms. Despite this, modernism developed in Geneva as elsewhere in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. In the capital, the spearhead of this new genre was Maurice Braillard (1879-1965). It was in Geneva that this architect opened his office in 1907. His realizations including the buildings-squares of Montchoisy (1926-1929), the round house of the district of Saint-Jean (1928), and the garage of Nations (1935-1936), which assert a deeply modern character.
Triumph of modernism
The 1950s and 1960s marked the triumph of modernism in the dispute over the Garden of Nations, embodied by the WHO building designed by the architect Jean Tschumi (1904-1962). He is the father of Bernard Tschumi (born 1944), another famous Swiss architect known for his follies in the Parc de la Villette. The roof of the building, suspended above its vast volume, creates an effect of lightness that gives it all its elegance. The clearing of the first floor by the installation of sloping beams behind which a glass roof unfolds accentuates this feeling. We will also remember the subtle lace effect created by the repetition of the sunshades on the windows, placed in staggered rows and giving rhythm to the facades. But Tschumi's architectural genius is perhaps best embodied in the splendid cantilevered awning that caps the building's entrance with a sober and dynamic visor.
In 1974, the International Labor Organization was inaugurated. Its architects were Eugène Beaudouin (1898-1943, Grand Prix de Rome), Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979) and Alberto Camenzind (1914-2004). If the left bank was obviously dominated by the bell tower of St. Peter's Cathedral, the ILO building had to overlook the right bank and be its modern counterpart. Built on the Morillon hill, seen from the lake, this colossus thus stands out from the city center at a height of 50 m. With its 1,250 offices and 2,000 civil servants, it remained for a time the largest administrative building in Switzerland. Its load-bearing structure made of cruciform columns creates a promenade of honor on both sides of the building, which opens onto the park behind a glass roof. This is what we remember of its architecture, with its façade of 4,500 oval windows, whose monotony is repeated in this way and becomes a real ornament. The ILO is bordered by a large park from which one can admire the building, which clearly refers to the Unesco headquarters in Paris, and its concrete facade responds to the glass facade of the WHO, located not far from it.
The contemporary revival
Switzerland is proud of its world-famous architects, such as Peter Zumthor (b. 1943), Le Corbusier (1887-1965), Bernard Tschumi and, more recently, Herzog & de Meuron (1950). In Geneva, a young, dynamic generation of architects is steadily making the city a benchmark for modern urban planning. The canton's capital is also at the cutting edge of design, with the prestigious HEAD. More and more, the people of Geneva are calling on the talents of architects to develop a quality range of environmentally-friendly planning and construction.
A jewel of engineer Heinz Isler, the Pavillon Sicli, formerly the center of the factory of the same name, is now one of Geneva's architectural and town-planning hubs. It is home to numerous professional associations and federations, as well as the Maison de l'architecture de Genève, which organizes exhibitions there. An emblematic building, its undulating, perforated roof makes it sculptural and a UFO in the middle of Geneva's industrial zone. Its floor plan divides it into two squares, one for operations and the other, smaller, for offices. They are united under a single concrete membrane, held together by seven pillars. This large concrete veil contrasts with the large glass façades above. In the center, a large opening gives the building the final touch to its elegant line. At the junction of the two parts of the factory, a patio planted with conifers is lit by another opening.
The waves of glass and steel at the headquarters of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), designed by Rino Brodbeck (b. 1934) and Jacques Roulet (b. 1945), bear witness to the institutions' penchant for contemporary forms. Group tours are available, including a visit to the rooftop cafeteria, which offers a breathtaking view of Geneva and Lake Geneva.
