Agenda

Who was Charlemagne and what imprint did the great Carolingian king leave on the 8th and 9th centuries? 2014 marks the 1200th anniversary of Charlemagne’s death (*748 – †814), the first European emperor of the Middle Ages. For this occasion the Swiss National Museum is putting on an exhibition that focuses on the era of Charlemagne and his cultural- historical achievements. Numerous splendid exhibits on loan from Switzerland and abroad introduce the viewers to the innovations in art, architecture, education and religion stimulated by Charlemagne. The emphasis of the show is on the Carolingian legacy in Switzerland. Separate theme galleries dealing with Charlemagne as a person, his court, the empire he founded and the monasteries, churches and palace complexes he built, offer a panorama view of the age from around 740 to 900. An epilogue sheds light on the cult and legends around Charlemagne that developed after his death.

This exhibition in Geneva reflects the passion of three generations of collectors of ancient art. Begun by Josef Mueller in the early twentieth century, the collection of antiquities at the Barbier-Mueller Museum was enriched by the acquisitions of his son-in-law Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller and of his grandsons. According to the recollections of Josef Mueller, in 1907 he already possessed Greek or Roman objects in his student residence in Zurich. A 1915 photograph of his sitting room at Solothurn shows a Roman stela next to a Kandinsky painting. When he moved to Paris after World War I, he owned a small set of Tanagra-type statuettes and Etruscan vases.