27 – 29 August

Tour of Swiss Humanity

Organized by the Swiss Refugee Council (OSAR), this traveling project creates a giant book as a meeting space between people who have experienced exile and those who have not. It presents testimonies, images and videos that reveal personal journeys and highlight how solidarity shapes life in Switzerland. The accompanying public programme examines themes of asylum, integration and belonging through exhibitions, music, workshops and culinary events, and invites open exchange to deepen understanding and collective responsibility.

In French.

Place du Molard

Photo Credit: OSAR

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Photo Credit: OSAR

4 May – 28 August

History of the Salève Cable Car

Lectures & Workshops

Téléphérique Salève

This guided tour explores the history and engineering of the Salève cable car, a landmark linking Geneva to the mountains. It examines early ascents, its inauguration and the technical challenges of construction and operation. Visiting the upper station reveals Maurice Braillard’s modernist concrete design and the structural solutions behind the installation. The session blends heritage, technology and architecture to explain how the cable car became an iconic cross-border monument.

In French.

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28 January – 23 December

Our Biodiversity: Memory game

Lectures & Workshops

Jardin botanique

This interactive memory challenge invites participants to test their memory while exploring practical ways to preserve biodiversity based on Geneva’s municipal strategy. Players match “before-and-after” images that illustrate individual and institutional actions, and each correct pair reveals concise information explaining the measure. The activity examines themes such as habitat restoration, species-friendly practices, urban greening and policy responses, helping participants understand the impact and rationale behind everyday and organisational conservation choices.

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28 January – 23 December

Create Your Own Rousseau-Style Herbarium

Lectures & Workshops

Jardin botanique

This workshop explores the traditional process of assembling a herbarium specimen, inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s collections. Participants learn scientific techniques for pressing and mounting dried plants on old paper, practice botanical labelling and nomenclature, and select specimens to create a personal herbarium sheet. The session examines preservation methods, identification principles and the historical context of Rousseau’s approach, combining practical skills with scientific insight to produce a lasting botanical object.

In French.

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22 – 26 August

The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: Between Faith, Politics and Violence

Lectures & Workshops

Musée de la Réforme

This guided tour examines the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, exploring its causes — religious tensions, political manipulation and collective fears — and the immediate dynamics that transformed an attempted assassination into widespread violence. It investigates how the massacre affected relations between Catholics and Protestants, its spread beyond Paris, and its symbolic resonance within the Reformation. The narrative situates the events in broader social and political contexts, revealing the mechanisms that turned political rivalry into mass sectarian bloodshed.

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Wednesday 26 August, 18:00

Unlike Flowers

Lectures & Workshops

Jardin botanique

Francesco Pennacchio, photographer and author of Unlike Flowers, speaks with Fred Stauffer, Curator at the Geneva Botanic Garden, and Danaé Panchaud, Director of the Centre de la photographie Genève, about archives and memory.

The session examines how family photographs, field herbarium specimens and layered photographic reconstructions function as repositories of life, methods for processing grief, and instruments of scientific understanding. Pennacchio discusses retracing his mother’s routes and superimposing archival images with new photographs to reconstruct shared memories and reveal the epistemic value of archives.

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Thursday 27 August, 18:00

Meeting: Elisa Shua Dusapin & Anne-Sophie Subilia

Lectures & Workshops

Librairie du Boulevard

Join us for an evening with authors Elisa Shua Dusapin and Anne-Sophie Subilia to celebrate the publication of their latest novels with Editions Zoé. In “Sauf la frontière”, Elisa Shua Dusapin reflects on a journey to southern Lebanon on 7 October 2023, and her subsequent return to the Middle East, exploring borders, intuition, and conflict. In Glissando, Anne-Sophie Subilia portrays the life of Béa, overwhelmed after the birth of her second child, in a moving and poetic exploration of motherhood, family, and wonder.

The discussion will be moderated by Chloé Brendlé and followed by a reception.

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Tour of Swiss Humanity