Our collections

Whether romantic and gentle or eerie and dark, night has been a source of inspiration for musicians of all eras. Its music is composed to express feelings, and comes in infinite forms. The serene night is expressed in musical forms such as the Serenade, the Berceuse and, above all, the Nocturne. The first piece of […]

The oldest manuscript in the library is a parchment fragment dating from around 830.

Exhibitions and research projects in Paris and Geneva, fine books, literary texts: RUINES are in the spotlight at the Bibliothèque cantonale universitaire de Lausanne, site Unithèque. Following the random declination of this post dedicated to RUINES, let’s begin our odyssey with a few literary memories… Literature Joachim Du Bellay Joachim Du Bellay (1522-1560) brought back […]

Fifty years ago, in 1971, Swiss women gained the right to vote and stand for election at federal level. The same issue, put out to consultation a few years earlier in 1959, was rejected by 66.9% and accepted by just three cantons. While women’s suffrage was achieved in most European countries at the same time, […]

Jean-Claude Hesselbarth, Le Jardin de Lily, 2006, private collection

A practice that became famous in the aristocratic salons of the 18th and 19th centuries was the musical joust, a kind of contest, a challenge of virtuosity between two musicians. Each artist showed off his or her talent as a composer and, above all, as an improviser. Beethoven, being a genius improviser, took part in […]