INTERACTIVE
Its name says it all. Musee du Leman is all about the Lac Leman, or Lake Geneva if you please (although translating it to Geneva Museum does not work, right?).
In the beautiful rooms of this Museum, you can learn about the history of the lake, the history of sailing on the Leman waters, the geology of the area, the creatures living in the lake, and much more!
Musee du Leman is interactive in the most pleasant way – not so much using screens and fancy tech but in a hands-on way. There are things you can touch, manipulate, or go into. For example, there is a replica of the submarine that once operated on the lake. Yes! There was a submarine, and people could get on it to see the depth of the lake. How I wish it was still possible!
mesoscaphe AKA SUBMARINE
Let’s talk about it for a bit. Long story short, Auguste Piccard had the idea to put “a mesoscaphe” (a fancy name for the submarine that does not go super deep) on the lake. His son, Jacques Piccard, built it for the 1964 national expo in Lausanne. Due to some complications, the submarine (well, a “mesoscaphe”) started operating 2 months after the expo. It dived over 1000 times and carried over 33000 people to the bottom of the lake. The renovated original is currently in the fabulous Transport Museum in Luzern (it’s the best place ever!), but Musee du Leman has a whole section on it too.
AND MORE!
Fish, of course, and all about fishing on the lake. And about the ships. And the tsunami. Oh, yes, that one. There once was a tsunami on our beloved lake, and there will surely be another – we just don’t know when.
Check out the temporary exhibitions, workshops, birthday parties, and school holiday camps (dates for canton Vaud).
ARRIVE IN STYLE
To make it more fun you can get there by taking one of the ships going from Geneva to Nyon! Or combine it with an exploration of Nyon and a picnic.