Secret Geneva

Christian Vellas has been an editor and reporter for the Tribune newspaper in Geneva for the past 35 years. He has also published more than 20 books, including novels, short stories, the History of Geneva, Switzerland and Lake Geneva's legends, guide books ... He is one of the best experts of the city of Geneva and its canton.

The last pillar of the former domes
Albert Gallatin: a Genevan American who helped the US buy Louisiana from Napoleon
Camillo Cavour, the father of Italian unification, lived in Geneva
The door of the Pictet House
"One of the cruellest abuses of the luxury that devoured us for so long..."
The last fire-pot in Geneva
Mysterious numbers on the Perron steps
The `secret' Monetier passage
The twists and turns of rue des Barrieres
The sculpted bomb behind Magdalene Church
When Geneva was mistaken for Genoa
The remains of Muret passage
The strange destiny of the Lutheran Church
The bust of Rudolph Toepffer
T pffer: source of inspiration for Gustave Dore, Picasso
The mysterious ladies of the Troinex stone
Stele to the glory of the god Mithra
When a banker bought `his' street
Mithraism - a fascinating ancient religion for the initiated
Christmas owes its date of 25 December to the winder solstice and Mithraism
Franz Liszt and Marie d'Agoult's house of love
Sinister Tabazan's shop sign
Rue Chausse-Coq: a reminder of the brothels of yesteryear
The statue of Gundobad at Bourg-de-Four
The banners of the Clementine statue
The cycle of centuries on Bourge-De-Four
When number 1, Grand-rue was number 237
Place de la Taconnerie street sign
The site of the tumultuous love affair between Eugene Sue and Lucien Bonaparte's granddaughter, 30 years his junior
Who was Jean de Brogny?
The bas-relief of the pig keeper
Why is the chapel called the Chapel of the Maccabees?
The enigma of `Apollo's head'
Clement's mark beneath Saint Peter's
The inscription agains the `Roman Antichrist'
Symbols of the cathedral's capitals
the Orpheus Capital in the Cathedral
The much of Orpheus
The misericords of Saint Peter's Cathedral
Peculiar motifs under these canons' seats
The sibyl of Saint Peter's Cathedral stalls
Sibyls: prophets of Christ?
The Romans, interpreters of the Sibylline Books
The bowed head of the prophet Jeremiah
Auguste de Niederhausen, one of Rodin's students
The mysterious heads on the Tavel House
The little-known travels of five Arsenal cannons
The town's hall bench of justice
Jacques Gruet: the author of the oldest Genevan document in patois
The horseman's ramp at the town hall
Inscription at promenade de la Trill
Saint German: Geneva's oldest church paid the tax for the Crusades
Urban fossils at the town hall
The statue of Pictet de Rochemont
The Treille's Bench
Is the world's longest bench in Marseille, France?
The Treille's official chestnut tree
The `crazy chesnut'
The Sautier of the Republic
Where does the word Sautier come from?
The angel of the monument to the Red Cross Centenary
Henry Dunant: initiator, promoter, or founder of the Red Cross?
Old Geneva's underground tunnels
Niches in the facade of the Maison Internationale des etudiants
Juliet Drouet naked
What became of James Pradier
The little secrets if the Reformation Wall
Landowski: the sculptor of the Reformation Wall ... and the Christ of Rio de Janeiro
The only woman
David, Vainqueur de Goliath statue
Sculptors who change their first name
The curious location of the bust of Henry Dunant
The guillotine in Geneva
The naked statue of `Harmony' at Victoria Hall
The grotesque figure of rue de la Corraterie
Theodore de Beze on the Escalade fountain
Why was the Escalade fountain placed so far from the site of the Savoyard attack that was miraculously repelled in 1602?
The forgotten origin of the Rues-Basses lions
A controversial bas-relief at Molard
Where does the word `molard' come from?
The plaque too the creator of Esperanto
Secret gardens of Carouge
Holy Cross Church did a U-turn
An emblematic cinema saved by local willpower
Bio for Biographe, Georges Kemeny's invention
Cemetery of the Kings, Plainpalais
The grave of Griselidis Real, Geneva's most famous prostitute
Masonic top of Georges Favon
The Masonic Blavignac Tower
The Savoyard women of the national monument
Fountain of the Jardin Agnlais
Private boat trip on the `Neptune'
The Pierre du Niton landmark
When Gargantua skipped rocks
The Peacock House and the House of Pan
Pan: a god at the original of the word `panic'
Plaque rejected for Celine's house
The fauns of 33-35 avenue de Miremont
Champel: rue Beau-Sejour was the former site of executions
Frankestein, an occult novel written at Cologny
The mysterious B of Bodmer Museum
Vestiges of the Roman aqueduct serving Geneva
The weasel on the statue of Philibert Berthelier
Marks of Florentine power at Saint Gervais Temple
The red lily, symbol of Florence
Sacred symbolism of the fleur-de-lis
Misericords of Saint Gervais Temple
Saint Gervais Archaeological Site
Plaque of the Genevan heroes
The 14 Savoyards hung and beheaded after the Escalade
The bas-relief of Rue Vallin
Where does the word cabinotier come from?
Au Vieux St-Gervais boutique
The secret passages of Saint Gervais
Rousseau's false birthplace
The revenge of a shunned statue
Room 122 of the Cornavin Hotel
Les Paquis church
The forgotten peregrinations of the former Russian Hotel's sphinxes
Where does the name Cornavin come from?
The bloodstained rose and ribbon of Sissi the empress
The assassin's head preserved in Vienna
The roving statue of the Duke of Brunswick
Hidden symbolism of the Brunswick tomb
The chateau of Dardagny and Le capitaine Fracasse: what is the true decor described by Theophile Gautier?
The reason for the church of Prissy's isolated facade
The last Genevan capotes
The `petrified' in front of Palais Wilson
Palais Wilson: an eventful existence
Mon-Repos villa
The forgotten peregrinations of the pacifist work
The surprising history of the Japanese bell in Ariana gardens
A UN fresco created by a centenarian painter
The thirteen volume of La floor du Mexique
The oldest walnut tree in Switzerland
Chateau de Rouleau excavation site
The legend of the White Lady
The walls of the weaver's farmhouse
House of the heroic Irene Gubier
Three heroes among many others
The last double-decker bench
The mysterious pavilion of Pont-de-Sierne
Israeli cemetery at Veyrier
The exact site of Ferdinand Lasalle's duel
Guerlain's secret garden
Mysteries of orchids
The catholic cross of Sezenove
The Justice Stone
What is the Justice stone?
Boundary markers