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Genève
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Geneva,
Genève in French, a city at the end of the lake Geneva
(Lac Léman in French and Genfersee in German) is an international
city of parks. Thirty-eight percent of the population of Geneva
are foreigners. It is in the most beautiful of locations, centered
around the point where the River Rhône flows out of Lake
Geneva flanked on one side by the Jura ridges and on the other
by the first peaks of the Savoy Alps.
In 1815,
the canton joined the Swiss Confederation. The neoclassical transformation
of this small city (25,000 inhabitants at the dawn of the 19th
century) went hand in hand with the modernization of the hotel
trade.
Over
the centuries, Geneva had been the place of welcome and of liberty,
strongly cosmopolitan. It has been the refugee for many people
of renown such as John Calvin, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Henry
Dunant. Geneva is not just an ancient city between water and
greenery, it is also a university town, with museums, libraries
and many sports facilities. In Geneva are some of the world’s
most expensive shops and most exquisite restaurants.
The spiritual
father of the city is the Reformer Jean (or John) Calvin, the
inspiration behind Puritanism and Presbyterianism, who turned
Geneva into what was dubbed a “Protestant Rome” in
the sixteenth century.
At the
heart of the city is the huge Cathédrale St-Pierre, and
packed in all around are an array of top-class museums, including
the giant Musée d’Art et d’Histoire.
Geneva
is home to dozens of international organizations. Two of them
– the United Nations’European headquarters and the
International Committee of the Red Cross, the latter with an
award-winning museum – allow visitors a glimpse of the unseen
lifeblood of the city, the diplomatic and administrative confidence
that have made Geneva world capital of bureaucracy. |
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In front
of the Monument de Brunswick, located at the Quai du Mont Blanc,
by the Bay of Geneva.
The duch
of Brunswick took refugee in Paris and later in Geneva, where
he spent the last 3 years of his life. After his death, he left
his fortune to the government of Geneva, but in charge, he demanded
that a mausoleum was constructed at an important site of the
city, by the best artists of the time (19th century). |
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The Jet
d'Eau, seen from Quai du mont Blanc, next to the Rue des Alpes,
near the Brunswick Monument.
The height
of the jet is an incredible 140m, with 500 litres of water forced
out of the nozzle every second at about 200kph. Each drop takes
sixteen seconds to complete the round-trip from nozzle to lake
and, on windy days, the plume can rapidly drench the surroundings. |
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