Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, Ethnographic museum in Geneva, Switzerland

The Musée d'ethnographie de Genève occupies a pagoda-shaped building opened in 2014, designed by Graber Pulver Architekten, on boulevard Carl-Vogt in Plainpalais. Its galleries and auditorium sit in the basement, the cafeteria, shop and ticket office on the ground floor facing a garden, and the library and restoration workshops upstairs. The old school building and a primary school complete the ensemble around a planted square.

The museum was founded in 1901 and grew from academic activities at Geneva University, particularly through anthropological research. Its establishment marked an important phase for ethnographic studies in Switzerland and made Geneva a center for cultural documentation.

The permanent display shows 1,000 pieces chosen from 74,000 objects. A floating platform at the entrance, echoing Noah's Ark, gathers exotic objects, art valued for its market price, and pieces collected by missionaries and scientists. Nearby, Ange Leccia's video installation uses the sea as a motif. The Africa section includes a political fresco from Ethiopia and a portrait composition by Cameroonian artist Ibrahim Njoya (1890-1960).

The museum stands on boulevard Carl-Vogt in Plainpalais, where the old school building, the 2014 pagoda-shaped extension and a primary school enclose a planted square. The galleries and auditorium are in the basement, while the cafeteria, shop and ticket desk sit on the ground floor facing the garden. The library, named after patron Marie Madeleine Lancoux, is upstairs and holds a listening space for recordings from around the world.

The 2014 building is called a pagoda by its sources, designed by Graber Pulver Architekten AG with ACAU and engineers Weber + Brönnimann. Its three structures — old museum, new building and a primary school — enclose a tree-planted square. The library, named after patron Marie Madeleine Lancoux, has a listening space for music from around the world.