Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland

The Musée Rath is an art museum in Geneva, used exclusively for temporary exhibitions. It is the oldest purpose-built art museum in Switzerland.

The museum was built between 1824 and 1826 by the architect Samuel Vaucher on behalf of the Société des arts. It was partly paid for with funds that General Simon Rath (1766–1819) had bequeathed to his sisters, Jeanne-Françoise and Henriette Rath, for such a purpose; the remainder was paid by the state of Geneva. Vaucher designed the building as a temple of the muses, inspired by Ancient Greek temples.

At first the museum was used for both permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as art teaching and as a cultural meeting place. By 1880 it had become too small for its collections. Since the opening of the larger Musée d'Art et d'Histoirein 1910, the Musée Rath has been devoted to temporary exhibitions of Swiss and international art, and archaeology.

References:

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Museums in Switzerland

User Reviews

Tammim Esmailji (10 months ago)
Amazing, I'm a cyclists so the Velo display was heaven on earth.

A K (11 months ago)
Visited during the exposition of short movies. Quite interesting to visit once. The exterior of the building is beautiful.

Karin Sinniger (16 months ago)
I went to see the Ella Maillard exhibition. It was good but only one large room and I was expecting more (they are good at publicity in other Swiss cities and TV, etc). The other two rooms on either side housed other barebones exhibitions. Downstairs they had a cozy area with sofas with Ella Maillard’s travel/adventure books you could browse. The toilets are not well signposted but downstairs. I had to ask how to access them. Staff is friendly. You pay what you like to enter which I found an interesting concept. They have some lockers which will hold small bags. You need a 2 CHF coins to get a key but get it back once the key is in the slot. Musée Rath than is about a 15 minute walk from the Cornavin main train station.

Lisa Chan (2 years ago)
Had a pleasant visit to this museum. Whether or not you choose to go depends very much on whether you're interested in the particular exhibit they have at the time - so do check. It's a pay what you like model. The exhibition space is very small, I only saw 3 rooms when I was there.

Mona B (5 years ago)
Amazing exhibition, Fred Boissonnas

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