Essential Geneva

Panoramic tour of Geneva

Historical visit of the old town

Geneva is mentioned in the De Bello gallico as the Roman town visited by Julius Cesar in 58 B.C. In the Middle Ages a bishop-prince presides over its political destiny and its international trade fairs. During the sixteenth century, Calvin transforms it into an Republic “humiliated under God”. It is recognized as a major intellectual centre in the Age of Enlightenment. It welcomes the first Peace Movement in the nineteenth century. The International Red Cross is simultaneously founded by a group of its citizens in 1863. The League of Nations chose it for its headquarters at the end of World War I. Remnants of all these periods are shown during a pleasant walk in the Old Town.

The international district, the UN building with its special agencies and other international organizations

To accommodate the delegations meeting during the sessions of the League of Nations after First World War and those of the European seat of the United Nations with its thousands of diplomats after World War II, the Canton authorities provided facilities to the west of the city around the park of the Ariana. Before its integration into the city, this hill had been used as a resort as early as the end of the seventeenth century when rich families spent a few weeks there in their summer houses. Old properties have been restored and new office buildings have been erected on former farm-land of this now densely populated suburb. The tour intends to show the radical transformation of this area during the past century and the main international organizations.

Calvin and the protestant Reformation

Henry Dunant and the Red Cross