Fondation Martin Bodmer
Route Martin Bodmer 19-21
1223 Cologny
http://www.fondationbodmer.ch info@fondationbodmer.ch 022 707 44 33 19 Route Martin Bodmer Bus A direction Gy - arrêt Cologny Temple Bus 33 direction Chevrier - arrêt Croisée de Cologny
Open hours
Tuesday - Sunday from 14:00 to 18:00
Entree prices
15 CHF | Normal |
10 CHF | Étudiants, AVS, Chômage, Abonnés du Théâtre de Carouge |
0 CHF | -18 ans, étudiants du Canton de Genève, Amis, Geneva pass, carte Raiffeisen, PMS, AMS, DIP Genevois, presse, ICOM, Résidents colognotes |
Fondation Martin Bodmer
Cologny
Created in 1971, the Foundation is a library and museum which houses and exhibits some of the greatest literary texts from around the world and throughout human history.This unique placebears witness to human thought, from the dawn of writing through to the modern day-which is why it is consideredone of the most beautiful private collections in the world.
The Martin BodmerFoundation is home to around 150,000 documents in almost 120 different languages. There are hundreds of papyruses, medieval manuscripts from both east and west, thousands of signedpages and rare engravings. The collection includes one of only48 copies of the Gutenberg Bibleleft in the world;the oldest complete version of one of the Gospels (Saint John); first editions by Shakespeare, Molière, Lope de Vega; Flavius Josephus’ manuscripts; Egyptian Books of the Dead; Luther’s theses; and documents signed by Mozart, Beethoven, Napoleon and Borges. Since 2015, the so-called “Biblioteca Bodmeriana”has been registered with the UNESCO Memory of the World programme, an initiative to protect the world’s documentary heritage.
The main aim of the Foundation is to reflect “the adventure of the human spirit”by continuing the work of its creator, collectorMartin Bodmer (1899-1971), who committed himself to setting up a “library of world literature” (Weltliteratur). The Foundation achieves this by invitingits visitors toasettingwhich defies comparison, overlookingLake Geneva and the city of Geneva from the hillside of Cologny, and intoits modern underground museum designed by the great Swiss architect,Mario Botta.
On top of a permanent collection made up of veritable literary jewels that have left their markon both literature and human history, the Martin Bodmer Foundation also organises temporary exhibitions on topics such as science, the arts, history andliterature. As part of its work, the Foundation has collaborated with internationally renowned cultural institutions such as the National Library of France, the BML (Biblioteca MediceaLaurenziana) library in Florence, the British Library in London, and the Morgan Library and Museum in New York.
The Martin Bodmer Foundation takes part in various projects to digitalise documents so that they can be put online. On the one hand, this process better preserves the documents, as having digital versions avoids handling of the originals. On the other hand, it also guarantees better cultural dissemination, as the digital versions can be consulted online from anywhere in the world. The Foundation also serves as a research hub, welcominginternational researchers toconsult the Foundation’s documents,and in doing sofacilitating access to material which would otherwise be difficult to view.