Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (Geneva)

The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire (Museum of Art and History) is the largest art museum in Geneva, Switzerland.

The museum is located in Les Tranchées, in the city centre, on the site of the former fortification ring. It was built by the architect Marc Camoletti between 1903 and 1910, and financed by a bequest from the banker Charles Galland (1816–1901). The building is square, with 60 m (200 ft) sides surrounding an inner courtyard. It has four storeys, with roof lanterns on the top floor, and a total exhibition space of 7,000 m² (75,000 square feet).

The façade is decorated with sculptures by Paul Amlehn: an allegory of the arts, depicting painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture, is mounted on the triangular gable above the entrance, and two more allegories, of archaeology and applied art, can be seen in the left- and right-hand corners of the building respectively. The upper frieze includes the names of Genevan artists: Dassier, Baud-Bovy, Saint-Ours, Agasse, Töpffer, Liotard, Calame, Diday, Menn, Petitot, Arlaud and Pradier.

The museum as an institution dates back to 1826 and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, which opened in what is now the Musée Rath. The Musée Académique, whose exhibits covered natural history and archaeology, had also been recently founded (in 1818). The Musée des Beaux-Arts was acquired by the city of Geneva in 1851, which also received the State of Geneva's weapons collection and historical artefacts in 1870.

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