MUSÉE
HISTORIQUE DE VEVEY
Chateau of Keys and the Wine Brotherhood
The Vevey
History Museum was first established in 1897 in a late 16th Century
chateau
on the shore of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) called La Belle
Maison. The mansion was built on the grounds of a former fortress of
the Bernese who occupied the town and its surrounding wine growing region
of the Pays de Vaud. The mansion was owned by the de Tavel family who
sold it in 1734 to the overlords from Bern who moved their headquarters
from the aging medieval Chillon Castle (see Chateau Chillon) they had
occupied for 200 years. But the Bernese only lasted until the Vaudoise
Revolution in 1798. Since that time the house was converted into a hotel
until refurbished by the Winegrower’s Brotherhood to house the
city’s history collection.
The
Vevey History Museum is perhaps best known for its collection of antique
forged iron work locks and keys unique to Switzerland and the
art collection of the Vevey based landscape artist F.A. L. Dumoulin who
while residing in the West Indies depicted the naval battles between
the French and English during the later days of the American Revolution.
Household furnishings, decorations, arms, flags and art from the 17th
to early 20th Century fill out the historical collection, including a
complete drawing room as it would have been in the 1700s. Some rather
curious art nouveau advertising posters offer a look back to the days
of turn-of-the-century Swiss Riviera past of the Vaud lake region
The Winegrowers’ Brotherhood
(Confrérie des Vignerons)
is not a gang of roving vineyard extortionists, but a society of the
families who have been making wine on the slopes above of Lake Geneva
for almost 500 years (see Lavaux Wine Vineyard Touring). Every 25 years
the winegrowers hold the famous huge celebration of their heritage, the
Wine Growers’ Festival of Vevey. The festival takes place every
quarter of a century in a grand stadium
built for the purpose on the
otherwise open market square of Vevey, the Place du Marche (the next
festival is in 2024). In a separate section dedicated to the brotherhood,
the museum presents a fascinating array of the colorful costumes of the
various member groups, their symbolic flags, the special staffs with
carved character figures, engravings of period processions, photographs
of past festivals and models of the festival stadiums, illustrating this
tradition unique to Vevey and the Vaud.
Visiting the Vevey Historique Museum
The
museum is open from 11am to 5pm from April to October and 2pm to 5pm
November
to March. Admission is free. The museum chateau through a gate on
a small street, the Rue du Chateau, between
lakeshore promenade Quay Perdonnet
and the Rue de Lac next to the Hotel des Trois Couronnes, east from the
Place du Marche. The history museum is near the Food Museum (see Alimentarium)
and the Camera Museum (see Swiss
Camera Museum) for an easy stroll. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Musee Historique
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SEE
ALSO:
CHATEAU DE VILLA WINE MUSEUM & TRAIL -SIERRE
FONDATION DE L’HERMITAGE - LAUSANNE
