Collecting in the heart of the Alps. History Museum of Valais, Sion (extrait) by Somogy éditions d'Art

HISTORY MUSEUM OF VALAIS, SION

COLLECTING IN THE HEART OF THE ALPS

This book was published under the direction of the History Museum of Valais and Somogy Art publishers. Graphic Design: Éric Blanchard Production: Michel Brousset, Béatrice Bourgerie Proofreading: Sandra Freland Editorial Coordination: Emmanuelle Levesque Editorial support: Ingrid Beytrison Comina Translations: Ingrid Beytrison Comina (GermanFrench), Fabienne Defayes (German-French), Thomas Antonietti (French-German), Sophie Broccard (French-German), Jean-Marie Clarke (French-English), Karo Mazurie (French-English) Documentation: Sophie Broccard, Fabienne Defayes, Arnaud Meilland, Bernadette Loretan Gatti, Muriel Pozzi-Escot Graphic conception of the catalogue photographs: Jean-Yves Glassey

ISBN 978-2-7572-0456-6 Legal Registration of Copyright: mai 2013 Printed in Italy Photoengraving: Quat’Coul (Paris, France)

HISTORY MUSEUM OF VALAIS, SION

COLLECTING IN THE HEART OF THE ALPS Published under the direction of Patrick Elsig and Marie Claude Morand

LIST OF AUTHORS

Thomas Antonietti (1954), ethnologist, graduate of the universities of Fribourg and Zurich, curator of the Department of Contemporary History at the History Museum of Valais, Sion, since 1986, curator at the Lötschental Museum.

Mireille David Elbiali (1956), archaeologist, Ph.D., special field prehistoric archaeology, University of Geneva (1998), research (Swiss National Fund and other organizations) and teaching assistant (University of Basel).

Gervaise Pignat (1956), archaeologist, degree in prehistoric archaeology, University of Geneva (1980), archaeologist at the Section Archéologie cantonale de l’Etat de Vaud (Département des Infrastructures) since 1985.

Marie Besse (1964), archaeologist, palaeontologist, Ph.D., University of Geneva (2001), professor of prehistoric archaeology at the University of Geneva since 2005

Patrick Elsig (1964), historian of monuments, arts degree, University of Lausanne (1990), director of the History Museum of Valais, Sion, since 2005.

Martine Piguet (1971), archaeologist specialized in prehistory, M.A. in prehistoric archaeology, University of Geneva (1995), scientific assistant at the University of Geneva, since 1996.

Ingrid Beytrison Comina (1976), historian of art, arts degree, University of Lausanne (2005), independent art historian. Dirk Breiding, assistant curator at the Department of Arms and Armour, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Sophie Broccard (1970), arts degree in classical archaeology and ancient history, University of Lausanne (1996), responsible for inventory of the Department of Prehistory and Antiquity, History Museum of Valais, Sion, since 1998. Gaëtan Cassina (1942), art historian, Ph. D., University of Fribourg (1981), author of «Monuments d’art et d’histoire» for the Central Valais since 1976, honorary professor at the University of Lausanne. Louis Chaix (1939), archaeozoologist, Ph.D., University of Geneva (1976), honorary curator of the Department of Archaeozoology at the Museum of Geneva, former associate professor at the Department of Anthropology and Ecology at the University of Geneva. Corinne Charles, art historian, Ph.D., University of Geneva (1994), independent scholar, former teaching assistant at the University of Neuchâtel, specialized in furniture. Pierre Crotti (1956), archaeologist specialized in prehistory, science degree, University of Geneva (1980), curator, Musée cantonal d’Archéologie et d’Histoire, Lausanne, since 1990. Philippe Curdy (1953), graduated from the EPFLausanne (1976), science degree in prehistoric archaeology, University of Geneva (1982), curator of the Department Prehistory and Antiquity, History Museum of Valais, Sion, since 1998 (former Archaeology Museum).

Jocelyne Desideri (1971), paleoanthropologist, Ph.D., University of Geneva (2007), postdoctorate, University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA, 2008, 2009), postdoctorate at the University of Geneva, since 2010 Dione Flühler-Kreis (1941), art historian, Ph.D., University of Zurich (1978), curator for ancient sculpture and painting, director of the Documentation Centre at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich (until 2007). Robin Furestier (1974), archaeologist specialized in prehistory, Ph.D., University of Provence (2005), archaeologist, research associate at Oxford Archaeology, Montpellier, since 2008. Anne Geiser (1952), historian and archaeologist, Ph.D., University of Lausanne (2004), director of the Cantonal Numismatics Museum, Lausanne, professor at the Department of Letters, Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity Sciences, University of Lausanne. Laurent Golay (1964), art historian, arts degree, University of Lausanne (1990), director of the Musée historique of Lausanne since 2003. Camille Jaquier (1984), B.A. in art history, University of Neuchâtel (2008). Marie Claude Morand (1950), art historian (University of Lausanne and Fondazione Roberto Longhi, Florence), director of the Valais Cantonal Museums since 1984 and of the History Museum from 1991 to 2005, teaching assistant in museology at the University of Neuchâtel since 2008. Olivier Paccolat (1959), archaeologist specialized in the Roman provinces, arts degree, University of Lausanne (1987), director of the archaeology agency TERA Sàrl in Sion and part-time assistant for the cantonal archaeological services. Lionel Pernet (1978), Ph.D. in archaeology, Universities of Lausanne and Paris I (2009), director of the Musée archéologique de Lattes (Hérault, France), since 2009.

Jean-Claude Praz (1948), biologist, natural science degree, University of Lausanne (1973), director of the Nature Museum of Valais, Sion, since 1990. Sophie Providoli (1980), art historian, arts degree, University of Fribourg (2008), scientific assistant at the History Museum of Valais, Sion. Pascal Ruedin (1963), art historian, arts degree, University of Lausanne (1991), Ph. D., University of Neuchâtel (2004), director of the Art Museum of Valais, Sion, since 1998. Sabine Sille (1951), art historian (Ph. D.) law degree, textile restorer, universities of Fribourg and Bern (1991), History Museum, Basel since 1990. Jean Steinauer (1946), journalist, historian, author and editor of over thirty books, specialized in the military emigration of the Swiss between the 17th and 19th centuries. Romaine Syburra-Bertelletto (1969), art historian, arts degree, University of Lausanne (1997), curator of the Ancien Régime Department at the History Museum of Valais, Sion, since 2005. Eric Thirault (1971), palaeontologist, Ph.D. (2001), associate member of the Mixed Research Unit «Traces» no. 5608 at the National Centre of Scientific Research, operations manager at the SARL Paléotime since 2008. Claude Veuillet (1955), curator-restorer SCR, research in and experimental study of wood technologies, independent workshop, since 1979. Franziska Werlen, latinist, responsible for inventory at the Castle of Spiez and the Sensler Museum, scientific assistant at the Murten and Lötschental museums. François Wiblé (1950), Roman archaeologist, arts degree, University of Geneva (1974), Ph.D., University of Grenoble (2008), director of the excavations at Martigny since 1974, cantonal archaeologist since 1987.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

6 A Museum to explore every facet of the Valais 20 The permanent exhibition: the tip of the iceberg 26 List of the exhibitions and publications of the Museum, from 1986 to 2012 28 The display, inaugurated in 2008 CATALOGUE

38 Prehistory and Antiquity 100 Medieval History 162 Modern History 212 Contemporary History ANNEXES

257 Topographic Map 258 Notes 259 Bibliography 264 Photographic Credits

A MUSEUM TO EXPLORE EVERY FACET OF THE VALAIS

Fig. 1: View of the historic centre of Sion with the hills of Valeria and Tourbillon. The Castle of Valeria (right) is the home of the History Museum of Valais.

A MUSEUM TO EXPLORE EVERY FACET OF THE VALAIS

Fig. 2: The steppe-like vegetation and outcrops on the hill of Valeria.

he visitor reaches the History Museum of Valais after a demanding but rewarding climb. Set in the spectacular surroundings of the medieval castle of Valeria, with its landscaped park and magnificent views of the Rhone Plain, this national monument overlooking the city of Sion is the ubiquitous icon of the capital of the Valais (fig. 3). It is also the largest of the three cantonal museums created by the

State of the Valais and supervised by the Direction Générale des Musées, which is subordinated to the Service de la Culture. Together with the Nature Museum (1829) and the Art

Museum (1947), the History Museum of Valais (1883) collects, preserves, studies and provides access to the heritage of a region that was shaped both by a grandiose natural environment and its millennia-year-old vocation as major route of passage through the Alps. The trappings may be medieval, but the museography is contemporary and shows the results of a patient process of reflection accompanying twenty years of restoration work and refurbishing of the buildings that house the museum. Collections rich in archaeological, ethnological and historical objects, numismatics, art – fine and applied – were drawn upon to create a permanent exhibition that was inaugurated in 2008 and distributed over three groups of buildings connected by terraces and gardens (fig. 2). In all, there are some thirty rooms with a surface area of 2,000 square meters, as well as a garden of native plants and a medieval church that is famous for its murals and 15th-century painted organ – the oldest one still in use. The whole presents a history of Valais society in relation to itself, its territory, and the world, from the first traces of human occupation fifty thousand years ago to the visions of the Valais of the future. The thousand objects chosen from among the tens of thousands in the collections provides useful material not only to understand the Valais of today but also to consider the challenges to be met, which involve every aspect of the Valais, from the richness of its landscape to its cultural, technical, social, political, and artistic development. Thanks to its multidisciplinarity and chronological range, the History Museum of Valais crystallizes and presents a major survey of cultural history that fits well into the approach developed by the Art Museum1 and the Nature Museum. Like these two museums, and often in partnership with the one or the other, the History Museum organizes temporary exhibitions at the Exhibition Centre housed in the Ancien Pénitencier (“Old Penitentiary”; fig. 4). This facility, which is still being improved after going into operation in 2001, is used by all three museums for temporary exhibitions, thus avoiding the risks that would arise if the “permanent” collections were repeatedly dismantled and re-installed. The History Museum of Valais shares other centralized services of the Direction des Musées Cantonaux, in particular the central administrative management, the logistics service, the educational services, and the centre for conservation and processing of the collections (CCTC). Opened in 2005 and spread over three sites in Sion (to minimize hazards), the CCTC has a complete processing chain for objects (from their cleaning to their placement on the shelf), conditioning workshops, laboratories for preparation, inventory rooms and workspace for scholars (fig. 5). Using the

A MUSEUM TO EXPLORE EVERY FACET OF THE VALAIS

Fig. 3: The Castle of Valeria offers unique views of the Rhone Valley.

same sharing model as the Exhibition Centre, the CCTC ensures the preservation and maintenance of the complete collections of the three museums according to materials (wood, metal, textile, organic matter, etc.). The whole is managed by computer with a bar code identification system. This concentration permits the optimal use of the facilities and floor space, while it reinforces the feeling of participating in the common efforts of the cantonal museums to promote the culture and heritage of the Valais. Given the size of its collections, the History Museum of Valais is the main user of the CCTC. The main emphasis of its conservation policy is prevention: adequate conditioning, climate control, handling and display procedures, establish diagnoses of the collections. Restoration campaigns are undertaken as needed (fig.6). The demands of safeguarding objects often lead to major operations, as in the case of our collection of historic flags endangered by fungus, which required the technical collaboration of specialists at the Basel History Museum in 2004-2005, or of the ongoing conservation of the bronze objects found at the Fig. 4: Exhibition centre of the Ancien Pénitencier.

Celtic site of Sion-Don Bosco. The need to study certain key collections in detail can lead to restoration campaigns lasting many years. The study and restoration of our collection of medieval furniture begun jointly in 1991 permitted the publication of a reference book, while the restoration of the eighteen monumental canvases dating from the late 18th-century that decorated the drawing room of the De Courten manor in Sierre, launched in 1987 in connection with the exhibition 1788–1988: Sion la part du feu, urbanisme et société en Valais après le grand incendie (“1788–1988: Town-planning and Society in the Valais after the Great Fire of Sion”), is still in progress (see notice 65).

A Legacy of Indignation The History Museum of Valais was created at the end of the 19th century as a “National Museum of the Valais.”2 Interest in the constitution and preservation of the national heritage Fig. 5: Centre for the conservation and handling of the collections: this is the section specialized in antique chests.

had been sparked by the creation of the Musée des Monuments Français in Paris in 1795. However, the development of the latter was hampered by political turbulence, and so the actual impetus for the creation of historical museums in Switzerland came instead from the founding of major institutions of nationalist inspiration in Germany, such as the Germanisches Museum (1852) in Nuremberg. In the vanguard3 was the History Museum of Valais, which was the positive result of the indignation over the loss, or even “plundering” of the artistic, historical, and ethnographic heritage of the Valais. Resourceful antique dealers and agents rivalled one another in ingenuity in the Alpine regions to supply a market that had been considerably stimulated by the developments in travel and tourism, not to mention the competition between the Swiss history museums then in full growth. Driven by the new concern to safeguard the heritage, an effort was made from the start to

Fig. 6: Restoration of a Celtic scabbard found at Bramois in 2004: the restoration is entrusted to external specialists.

provide as broad a material base as possible. In 1879, a call was issued to the population and to all the municipalities in the Valais to solicit donations and draw attention to the issue of the preservation of the heritage. The commission created to establish the new museum

A MUSEUM TO EXPLORE EVERY FACET OF THE VALAIS

Fig. 7: The Hall of the Nine Valiant Knights, around 1900.

Fig. 8 : The room devoted to the Montheys, created in 1963 after several gifts from this patrician family.

proceeded with the merging of the existing public core collections: the arms and amour of the cantonal arsenal supplemented the antiquities, coins and historical pieces that the Jesuit and physics professor Etienne Elaerts (1795–1853) had begun adding to his natural history cabinet in 1829.4 At the same time, the Sion Cathedral Chapter, owner of the castle and fortified church of Valeria, agreed to deposit part of its renowned “medieval treasure” (liturgical chests, statues, weapons, precious metalwork) and allow part of the castle to be used for their display. In 1883, the first presentation of the historic collections of the canton was held in the largest and most beautiful hall of Valeria Castle – the Salle des Neuf-Preux – in a lavish and epic staging (fig. 7). In 1900, the first catalogue of the museum collections could boast a thousand objects5 that already reflected the multidisciplinary character of the holdings, to which had been added the numismatic collection, which had existed since 1893 as a separate institution under the name Médaillier Cantonal. The occupancy of the burg-castle by the museum saved it from becoming a ruin: it had been abandoned by the canons at the end of the 18th century and was used only by the diocesan seminary between 1817 and 1874, ensuring a minimum of upkeep. The partnership built around the Valeria Castle between the Cathedral Chapter and the State of the Valais was made official in 1891. In exchange for the usufruct of the Chapter collections and almost all the buildings for the new museum, the state agreed to restore the complex and contribute largely to its financing. Soon after (1896), the federal government classified the buildings as historical monuments and the site was listed in the Swiss inventory of protected natural heritage. At the turn of the 20th century began a long restoration campaign under the supervision of the Federal Commission of Swiss Historical Monuments. Unlike its Swiss and foreign counterparts, and at a time when the first museographic principles were being elaborated internationally, the History Museum of Valais did not dispose of a building designed specifi-

cally for its activities. This constraint was to act both as an Achilles’ heel and as a stimulus which continue to contribute to the museum’s uniqueness. The expansion of the museum in the castle followed the restoration work and successively led to the occupation in 1904, 1910 and 1919 of three of the four buildings. Hampered by a drastic cost-cutting policy during the first half of the 20th century,6 the museum struggled along and the collections grew on a sporadic basis, with as guiding principle only a presumed affiliation to the heritage of the Valais and the need to save as many pieces as possible. To the donations and deposits – including those of the Société d’Histoire du Valais Romand (furniture, weapons, ironwork, woodwork, engravings) and the Stockalper de la Tour family (weapons, silver, precious-metalwork) – a series of 17th and 18th-century portraits from aristocratic families was added in the 1950s (fig. 8). Finally, in January 1944 a department of Cantonal Museums was created and Albert de Wolff (1916–1978) appointed as its first director. As a painter and drawing teacher, he had been Fig. 9: The Hall of the Nine Valiant Knights in Albert de Wolff’s scenography, 1963.

chosen primarily to set up the new Museum of Fine Arts (1947), but he was also interested in history and able to acquire important pieces (the sword of the Regalia, the great reliquary of Bourg-Saint-Pierre, a Renaissance cabinet by the cabinetmaker Mayer) (see notices 43, 30, 59), as well as to resume the restoration of the remaining fourth building, which had remained empty. De Wolff steered away from the encyclopaedic approach of his predecessors and separated the various disciplines through a re–organization in 1963. He transferred the historical collections (in particular Medieval and Ancien Régime) to the west wing, renovated the installation of the archaeological collections in the central building and devoted the newlyrestored east wing to regional ethnography. Taking his cue from recent changes in art museums, he opted for a non-chronological presentation according to discipline, materials and subjects, picking out the most “artistic” pieces according to a refined aesthetic (fig. 9, 10, 11).

Fig. 10: Example of a thematic presentation by de Wolff combining works of art and ethnographic artifacts.

The following decades saw the progressive growth of the ethnographic collections, at the same time as major donations of historical pieces (portraits of officers from the De Courten Regiment in the service of France, military equipment from the 17th and 18th centuries, a gold chain given by the King of France to Gaspard Jodoc Stockalper) and the departure of two disciplines. In December 1968, the State Council decided to create a military museum in the castle of Saint-Maurice to document the military history of the Valais from 1815 on, which led to the removal of the corresponding collections (fig. 12). During the same period, a major donation made in 1970 (antique ceramics and glass from the Mediterranean Basin) and the discovery in 1961 of a Neolithic cult site of international significance in the Petit-Chasseur district of Sion led to the creation of a sixth museum: the Cantonal Museum of Archaeology, which was inaugurated in 1976, emptying the central building at Valeria of its archaeological collections (fig. 13). No reorganization of the general presentation was considered as a result of these two transfers.

Fig. 11: An aestheticizing presentation of the archaeological collections by de Wolff.

After the untimely death of Albert de Wolff, the ethnologist Rose-Claire Schüle was appointed at the head of the cantonal museums in 1979. Faced with the task of dealing with a delicate

A MUSEUM TO EXPLORE EVERY FACET OF THE VALAIS

interim, she courageously undertook the verification of the collections, their inventory and the implementation of a programme for the new expansion of the art museum. The creation of an inventory card catalogue modelled on that of the Swiss National Museum represented a qualitative leap and permitted a better evaluation of the collections assembled to date.

The Museum Today: A Contemporary Museography for a Reconsidered Historical Mission My nomination as art historian and museologist at the head of the cantonal museums in 1984 coincided with the preliminary negotiations to renew the agreement between the Cathedral Chapter and the State of the Valais. A new restoration of the museum was on the order of the day. This was the perfect opportunity to rethink the museum, and in particular its role as “national museum of the Valais” in light of the challenges raised by a multicultural Valais society and the developments of the museum’s function. This marked the beginning of a vast cultural project in which the elaboration of the future museum could draw on new research, publication and exhibition programmes7 aimed at elucidating and developing a critical perspective on the history of the Valais. Elaborated by the Sion agency Cagna and its partners, in close collaboration with the experts Fig. 12: A room of the new cantonal military museum inaugurated in 1974.

involved in the restoration process and the museum team under the direction of the author, the present museography is a result of the stimulating confrontation of the project with the many constraints linked to the museum’s mission and imposed by the site. There was no lack of challenges: a complete overhaul of the museum’s interior design and tours, adaptation of the technical infrastructure and museographic equipment to the special climatic conditions of the castle, the installation of a cafeteria and sanitary facilities at the heart of the site, respect of the dual reading of the monument and its collections, access to the basilica and hill, the need to explain the Valais of today in light of its heritage and to do justice to the strong points of the collections. By weaving together the chronological and thematic threads according to period, then selecting objects expressing the special relationship that the Valais maintained with the rest of the world thanks to its strategic position as an Alpine passage, and finally, in choosing those objects that help us understand why the Valais of today is what it is, we endeavoured to present a comprehensive and general historical survey that would be understandable to all visitors and of interest for today. The central building serves as pivot for the site as a whole and provides access to the museum, spreading out in two side wings – the typical arrangement for museums in the 19th century – while at the same time adapting to the steep slopes and the particularities of a museum made up of different parts and separated by outdoor spaces. The reorganization made it possible to connect the new cafeteria, with its separate entrance, to the rest of the site and to integrate in the near future other buildings that will soon be restored and used for museological purposes. Moreover, since the territory is a key factor in understanding the cultural history of the Valais, the landscape itself has become a museographic topic, such that

Fig. 13:Â Room of the anthropomorphic steles in the Cantonal Museum of Archaeology, 1976.

A MUSEUM TO EXPLORE EVERY FACET OF THE VALAIS

the visitor who has made the climb to Valeria and seen with his own eyes the amazing presence of this landscape will be able to find it again all along his journey into the history of the Valais. It begins with a “time machine” which, thanks to a 3D film, turns the clock in Sion back 50,000 years, peeling off the present and intervening layers of time, the better to prepare the visitor for the chronological reconstruction that we invite him to follow. It ends with a hypothetical projection of the possible future of the Valais, from today until the year 2150. The choice of the landscape as a guiding thread also dictated the decision to leave as much natural light in the rooms as possible, so that the visitor will be able to see both the historical period that he is visiting and, with a simple glance out of the window, a view of the Valais of today. This vast undertaking which has kept us busy for twenty years, from 1987 to 2008, would not have been possible without the technical and scientific support of a team that gradually came together and today is in a position to respond to the needs of the museum in its present form. Nor would it have been possible without a reformulation of our acquisitions policy.

Collecting Well and Networking With its three thrusts, our current acquisitions policy is shaped by the concern to combine the responsibility of preserving the heritage and the necessity of focusing on specific fields in order to personalize and identify the institution in a Switzerland in which over a thousand museums have to share the interest of citizens and visitors. However, the History Museum’s responsibility does not stop with these two objectives. As general reference platform for the Valais, it maintains an active relationship not only with the two other cantonal museums (Art and Nature) but also with some seventy institutions of a more local character spread throughout the region. Accordingly, the implications of what it considers necessary to acquire in terms of historical interest to the canton are more vast and in an active dialogue with other partners. The first thrust involves reinforcing the existing strong points. With the museums in Zurich, Basel, Bern, and Fribourg, the History Museum of Valais is at the forefront in Switzerland in terms of the national medieval heritage (in particular arms, furniture, and sculpture). Thus it is only natural that we seek to complete our collections by acquiring objects such as a 13thcentury chest that is typologically very close to the famous chests of the church of Valeria (in 1999), a door from a house in Sion dating from the beginning of the 16th century (in 2000), or a 14th-century Virgin and Child from the Upper Valais (in 2009). The same goes for the mercenary service and its repercussions on art. The involvement during four centuries of the major aristocratic families of the Valais in the service of European courts – especially that of France – together with the displacement of thousands of soldiers from the Valais generated a vast store of historical objects directly and indirectly related to the military campaigns. Many of these objects (military equipment, portraits, medals, documents, furniture) had already found their way into our collections, especially since the days of Albert de Wolff. Our

present prospecting efforts are aimed at enriching the even more promising area of artistic commissions in the Valais influenced by the cosmopolitan taste acquired abroad. Starting with some isolated pieces in our collections, our second thrust aims at creating a specific field of prospection, acquisition and study of modern and contemporary objects. The recent modernization of the Valais, being exemplary of the changes that affected the alpine regions from the end of the 18th century until today, shares our prospecting efforts with the parallel development of the tourist industry and its folklorizing effects on the representation of Valais society. Technical equipment and images linked with the rapid expansion of the road and railway systems (the Simplon and Lötschberg tunnels, the Simplon Road, the Rhone Highway), the harnessing of hydroelectric energy (dams), the establishment of the chemical industry and the mechanization of agriculture (see notice 86) are now displayed side by side with the objects used by travellers, portraits, hotel registers, tourist advertising of all kinds, the marketing of the mountain – especially the Matterhorn – as well as the objects that attest to the transition from agricultural activities to recreational activities, like the selective breeding of Herens cow for fights, the transformation of irrigation canals into hiking trails and of course the exploitation of the white gold of the ski trails (see notice 94). The third and last thrust is to give the collection as a whole a greater coherence by searching for objects that create links between the various scientific disciplines. A major step in this direction was made recently by the creation of the new museum landscape in the Valais.8 The return of the archaeological, military history and numismatic collection to their original home restores to the History Museum of Valais its original pluridisciplinarity and, while permitting a more organic reading of the cultural heritage, it endows the museum with a further strong point: the prehistoric and Neolithic collections, in particular those involving the cult site of the Petit-Chasseur. Since this last addition comes nowhere near to exhausting the wealth of this prehistoric site of international significance, we hope to be able to create in the coming years in conjunction with the City of Sion a site for archaeological interpretation to give it the public attention it deserves.

The Scope of the History Museum of Valais A member of the Association of Swiss Museums since the latter’s creation in 1965, the History Museum of Valais has been a part of the International Association for History Museums since 1996 and participates regularly in its congresses. At the beginning of the 1990s, in the context of the Communauté de Travail des Alpes Occidentales, it was able to collaborate with the international exhibition project “Man and the Alps”, (Grenoble, Turin, Sion), hosting it in Sion in 1993. Out of this first international experience grew a closer and more regular relationship with a dozen museums in the regions of the Suisse Romande, Savoy, Grenoble, Val d’Aosta and Piedmont. Many Interreg projects with Italy followed, especially in the field of archaeology, and, since 2002, further research on and attention to Medieval sculpture in the Alps.

A MUSEUM TO EXPLORE EVERY FACET OF THE VALAIS

As a charter member of the RĂŠseau MusĂŠes Valais (2004), which combined scholarly and cultural expertise in an active partnership for the management of the historical holdings of significance to the canton, the History Museum of Valais, with its large reference collections, was well placed to participate not only in research programmes but also in an optimised cantonal acquisitions policy. By signing a joint management agreement with the LĂśtschental Museum for its collection of carnival masks and by renouncing to develop the sector of objects relative to winegrowing and leaving a free hand to the institution specialized in this field, the Valais Wine Museum at Sierre-Salquenen, it helps to create specific and complementary poles of interest in the Valais to replace the unproductive rivalry of institutions devoted to the preservation and promotion of the cantonal heritage. With its pluridisciplinarity, the quality of its collections, the originality of its presentation and its concern to elucidate an entire region and not just objects, as well as its contemporary museography fitted to the constraints of the monumental site, the History Museum of Valais regularly attracts the interest of other institutions. Already at the new opening in 2008 we received several professional delegations from other cantons and abroad who came to see our work and benefit from our experiments. This interest recently took concrete form in a request for expertise and collaboration to create a museum landscape in the autonomous province of the Alto Adige and a cultural reference institution in the Susa Valley in Italy.

Marie Claude Morand Director of the Valais Cantonal Museums Director of the History Museum from 1984 to 2005

Fig. 14: During the Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s night in 2009, the new cafeteria welcomed, from left to right: Patrick Elsig, director of the History Museum, Marie Claude Morand, director of the Valais Cantonal Museums, Jacques Cordonier, chief of the Service de la culture and Esther Waeber-Kalbermatten, member of the State Council of Valais.

THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION – THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

he thousand objects that compose the permanent exhibition of the History Museum at Valeria Castle were selected from among the 50,000 pieces preserved at the museum, not counting the tens of thousands of archaeological artefacts. The objects kept in the reserves provide valuable material for scientific research, an activity in the museum of which the visitor to Valeria sees only the final result.

Until 1984: a Concerted Effort on the Permanent Collection Scientific research played only a subordinate role at the museum’s beginnings. The objects on display illustrated history with a capital H; such and such a portrait commemorated a bishop or cardinal of major political stature, a Savoy flag told of a victory by the Episcopal troops whose memory had been kept alive by oral tradition, a medieval sculpture demonstrated the importance of the Catholic religion in this region and the renewed interest in Gothic Art. The object was a pretext to tell a story; it was not studied for its own sake. Given that, the creation of reference collections in the reserves for the sake of research and temporary exhibitions did not constitute a priority. The nomination of Albert de Wolff as chief director of the cantonal museums in 1944 marked a turning point in the museological approach, but its implementation was hampered by a sore lack of means, especially regarding scientific personnel. The new director concentrated his efforts mainly on renewing the presentation of the permanent collections, with a special priority on the opening of the new Museum of Fine Arts in 1947. This was followed in the 60s and 70s by the inauguration of the east building of the History Museum at Valeria, then by the openings of the Exhibition Centre at the Grange-à-l’Evêque, the Museum of Archaeology and the Military Museum. Many temporary exhibitions were held, but most were devoted to artistic creation and to the fine arts.9 History was featured only from time to time and usually in connection with a special occasion: for example, the exhibition “Heraldry of the Valais” (1-30 June, 1958) on the occasion of the visit of the Société Suisse d’Héraldique10 to the Valais, or “Art in the Valais”

(13 June-4 October, 1964), held at the Manoir de Martigny at the request of the State Council for the inauguration of the Great St. Bernard Tunnel.11 In spite of his many administrative duties, organizing exhibitions, making loans to partner institutions and public bodies, acting as consultant to regional museums and giving lectures,

Albert de Wolff managed to find time to devote himself to historical studies in the areas that interested him the most, delegating other tasks, such as the management of the archaeological collections, to commissioned curators. For example, he drew the attention of international scholars to the famous Romanesque liturgical chests deposited by the Sion Cathedral Chapter12 and presented historic pieces from the Valais that had found their way into major museums abroad.13 The purchase of a stained-glass window was an occasion for a detailed study of the object,14 a publication in homage to the archaeologist Louis Blondel provided an opportunity to display the mitre of Josse de Silenen, which is the property of the Diocese of Sion.15 We could also cite many examples in the field of heraldry so dear to Albert de Wolff, but these were always monographic. Only one publication attempted a more general approach in a special field, that of portraiture in the Valais, which was published in 1957 and owed a great deal to Albert de Wolff.16 Another general study on which Wolff worked – the inventory of the artistic and historical monuments of the Valais –was unfortunately never finished. Appointed secretary of the commission entrusted with this project in 1944, Albert de Wolff soon had to admit that it was still at an “embryonic” stage, even though he published many Fig. 15: The exhibition “Naître en Valais” in 1996.

articles on the historical monuments of Sion and commissioned many photographs and floorplans of the city’s historical buildings.

1984 and After: Clear Lines of Research The Exhibitions (see Annex 1, p. 26) As soon as Marie Claude Morand was appointed head of the cantonal museums, the improved budgetary conditions and the gradual increase in trained personnel made it possible to implement a research and temporary exhibition policy on a larger scale. Each historical exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue that presented the state of research on the topic in question, with contributions by many experts, often from outside the canton, and even from abroad. For Marie Claude Morand, the choice of these survey exhibitions was dictated by the desire to cover the history of the Valais step by step, starting with the first human settlements. Opportunities for collaboration within the framework of the commemoration of historical events also motivated the choice of certain exhibitions, such as “Sion, la part du feu,” organized in 1988 for the bicentennial of the Great Fire in Sion, in partnership with the municipal archives of Sion. During the 1990s, topical exhibitions of less ambitious scope reflected the independence of the various cantonal museums and their growing staffs of qualified curators. In this way, very different archaeological aspects could be presented to the public, such as the contribution of comic books to understanding the remains of our past or rock engravings with analogies to the motifs on our Neolithic steles, etc. One exhibition was devoted to the history of minting coins and others to various ethnological topics: pain, the psychiatric hospital of Malévoz, the Werra family, the work of midwives, etc (fig. 16). In all, nearly thirty exhibitions were organized by the museum in the period between 1984 and 2012. To promote multi-

THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION – THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

disciplinary cooperation, the institutions specialized in history were merged under the joint name of the “History Museum of Valais”: the Military Museum and the Numismatic Cabinet in 2004 and the Archaeological Museum (and its annex, the Gallo-Roman Museum at the Gianadda Foundation in Martigny) in 2006. This synergy made it possible to undertake major projects, such as the permanent exhibition inaugurated at Valeria Castle in 2008.

Publications (see Annex 2, p. 27) Until the end of the 1980s, the museum publications concerned mostly the catalogues of temporary exhibitions, even if articles on specific subjects by staff members occasionally appeared in specialized periodicals.17 Nevertheless, the need for organisations specific to the cantonal museums soon made itself felt. In 1990, the LABREC (laboratory for research in contemporary regional ethnology) was formally constituted. This research facility reinforced the ties between the History Museum and the scholarly community, both academic and independent. For the next twenty years, the LABREC was responsible for the publication of the Cahiers d’ethnologie valaisanne, which first appeared in 1989. After eight volumes dealing with topics as varied as the inequality between men and women, emigration, tourism, and industry, the series was expanded and its name changed to Cahiers du Musée d’histoire in 2009. This new series permitted the publication of articles dealing with all the fields represented by the restructured museum in 2004. Its goal is to publish articles on the history of the Valais for the general public with a special emphasis on materials, in particular as exemplified by the objects in the collections of the History Museum. The three volumes published in 2009 and 2010 cast a new light on the history of the Valais during the Reformation, on Valais citizens in the foreign service, and the furnishings of the Bernardine monastery in Collombey. The large amount of knowledge gained from research accompanying the restoration of Valeria Castle undertaken pursuant to the new agreement between the Sion Cathedral Chapter and the State of the Valais in 1985 called for an organisation of its own. Together, the Service des Bâtiments de l’Etat – responsible for the history of the monuments of the site – and the cantonal museums – responsible for the furniture presented on the site (from which it comes for the most part) – decided to create a new series titled Valère, Art & Histoire (“Valeria, Art & History”). Primarily to support this publication effort, the Association of the Friends of Valeria was founded in 1996. The first two volumes came out in 2000: one devoted to the history of the site in the 19th and 20th centuries and the second to the History Museum’s collection of medieval sculpture. The third volume, published in 2012, collects our knowledge about the medieval furniture from our collections. A guide presenting some 120 representative pieces in the preliminary version of the permanent exhibition at Valeria (2000–2007) was published in 2003.18 The entries provided up-todate information on the pieces in question for the interested public. The present guide, which was published in 2012, contains a selection of a hundred major pieces, mostly on display in

Fig. 16: The exhibition “Un Goût d’Europe”: foreign inspiration in the uniforms of the Valais militia.

the permanent exhibition, as well as some important works from the reserves. Intended for the general public, the entries provide the basic information and are abundantly illustrated.

And in the future… Scientific Research The scholarly basis established over the last few decades will be maintained. Thematic exhibitions (expositions-dossiers) play an important part in drawing attention to specific areas or topics. In 2009, the Archaeological Space at the Grange-à-l’Evêque presented the exhibition “Pierres de mémoire, pierres de pouvoir” (“Stones of Memory, Stones of Power”) in collaboration with the Association Valaisanne d’Archéologie and the Department of Anthro-

THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION – THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

pology and Ecology at the University of Geneva. Starting with the Neolithic steles found at the site of the Petit-Chasseur (Sion), this exhibition described extant and lost megalithic cultures worldwide that erected monuments to commemorate their elites. At the Ancien Pénitencier (Old Penitentiary) and at the Archaeological Space we organized a four-part exhibition titled “A Taste of Europe” (June 2011-February 2012) that showed the cultural relations between the Valais and the rest of the Continent throughout history. Each part dealt with recent research and one of the four sections of the History Museum (Prehistory and Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Ancien Régime, Contemporary History), emphasizing its connection beyond the borders of the canton. However, it is still important to organize major exhibitions providing up-to-date information on a particular topic or chronological period in the history of the Valais. Just as important will be to pursue the relationships patiently established with other history museums in the Western Alps in order to broaden our view and, as needed, to jointly study, publish, and organize exhibitions of greater scope. The existing projects in this direction involve medieval sculpture, but could be expanded further. Series intended to include publications other than exhibition catalogues are already in the works. The Cahiers du Musée d’histoire and Valère, Art & Histoire are now in a position to publish suitable material. The emphasis is on surveys and interdisciplinary approaches, while more detailed studies will be sent to periodicals in the respective fields. One of our coming publications deals with a survey of ethnological research in the Valais. The production, and

especially distribution of publications will be entrusted increasingly to professionals in order to put our publications on the broader market of history books and provide a greater presence in German-speaking countries.

Cultural Promotion Given the great variety of cultural fare today, the History Museum has to provide substance, be geared to different publics and receive adequate promotion. The Valeria site in itself is attractive enough to tourists and strollers, but it takes more information to incite them to take the step of entering the museum, even if it is mentioned in all the tourist brochures on Valeria. We are also working on cooperating with the activities proposed by the Bureau of Tourism in Sion (guided tours, light shows, presentation of birds of prey) in order to share know-how and budgets. The department of educational services of the cantonal museums (Services ĂŠducatifs et MĂŠdiation) is working with us to develop a number of projects intended to increase the attractiveness of the museum for families. Thematic tours have been designed with logbooks that permit children to explore the exhibition in a more focused way. For schools, we have an educational programme that provides teachers with comprehensive materials adapted to the grade levels of their groups. An excavation pit installed in the castle in 2011 permits children to learn more about the work of archaeology by doing it themselves. The increasing number of school groups that come to us demonstrates the educational interest of our institution. Our dream is that all the schoolchildren in the Valais will one day visit the museum that tells the history of their canton.

Patrick Elsig Director of the History Museum of Valais since 2005

ANNEXES

ANNEX 1 : THE EXHIBITIONS OF THE HISTORY MUSEUM, FROM 1986 UNTIL 2012

sous. La monnaie en Valais, Sion 1993 (158 pages ; German version entitled Kopf oder Zahl. Die Geschichte des Geldwesens im Wallis).

1986 « Le Valais avant l’histoire », from 23th Mai 1986 to 6th January 1987, Archaeology Museum/Grange-à-l’Evêque and Vidomnat. Catalogue : Le Valais avant l’histoire, Sion 1986 (379 pages ; German version entitled Das Wallis vor der Geschichte).)

1994 « Valère, 15 siècles d’histoire culturelle », from 23th September 1994 to September 1999, History Museum/Valeria castle. Without catalogue.

1987 « Le général Dufour et Saint-Maurice », from 15th September 1987 to 23rd Mai 1988, Military Museum/castle of Saint-Maurice. Catalogue : Le général Dufour et Saint-Maurice, Lausanne 1987 (Cahier d’archéologie romande, 35) (295 pages). 1988 « 1788-1988. Sion, la part du feu », from 3rd September 1988 to 29th January 1989, at the Majorie and at the Vidomnat (the Valeria castle was under restoration), as well at the church of the Jesuits and at la Grenette. Catalogue co-published with the Archives communales of Sion : 1788-1988, Sion, la part du feu. Urbanisme et société après le grand incendie, Sion 1988 (287 pages). 1991 « Ubi bene ibi patria », from 25th Mai to 3 November 1991, History Museum/Valeria castle. Catalogue : Ubi bene ibi patria, Valais d’émigration, Auswanderungsland Wallis, XVIeXXe siècles, Sion 1991 (Cahiers d’ethnologie valaisanne, 2) (301 pages, a volume containing French or German texts). 1992 « Représentations du sacré : culture savante et culture populaire dans l’art religieux en Valais », from 26th June 1992 to Mai 1994, History Museum/Valeria castle. Without catalogue. 1993 « L’homme et les Alpes », from 18th June to 14th November 1993, Arsenal de Pratifori. Publication co-published under the COTRAO (Communauté de travail des Alpes occidentales) : L’homme et les Alpes, Grenoble 1992. « Les dessous de la monnaie », from 10th September 1993 to April 1994, at la Grange-à-l’Evêque. Publication : Patrick Elsig, Une histoire de petits

1995 « Le soleil des Morts. Archéologie et bande dessinée », from 22nd September 1995 to 8th January 1996, Archaeology Museum / Grange-à-l’Evêque. Catalogue : Alain Gallay (dir.), Dans les Alpes à l’aube du métal, archéologie et bande dessinée, Sion 1995 (216 pages).

Sion 1998 (324 pages ; German version entitled 1798 : Revolution im Wallis). « Vallis Poenina. Le Valais à l’époque romaine », from 28th November 1998 to December 1999, Archaeology Museum /Grange-à-l’Evêque (from 17th Mars to 3rd September 2000 at Musée romain of Lausanne-Vidy). Catalogue : Vallis Poenina. Le Valais à l’époque romaine, Sion 1998 (232 pages ; German version entitled Vallis Poenina. Das Wallis in römischer Zeit). « Contemporains de Gavroche, figures du petit peuple en Suisse vers 1848 », from 1st Mai to 27th September 1998, at the Arsenal de Pratifori. Without catalogue.

1996 « Dix ans d’archéologie en Valais », from 18th October 1996 to 30th Mai 1997, Archaeology Museum /Grange-à-l’Evêque. Without catalogue.

2000 « Trésors en question », from 1st September 2000 to 9th September 2007, History Museum / Valeria castle. Without catalogue.

« Mémoires photographiques […] », from 29th Mars to 2nd June 1996, at Arsenal de Pratifori. Without catalogue.

2001 « (in)fortunes – Les barons de Werra aux XIXe et XXe siècles », from 1st June to 30th September 2001, at the tour des Sorciers. Without catalogue.

« Naître en Valais / sages-femmes, artisanes de vie, hier et aujourd’hui », from 13rd September to 3rd November 1996, at the Tour des Sorciers. Without catalogue. « Voyages exotiques, les étrangers à la découverte du Valais au XIXe siècle », from 30th Mai to 21th July 1996, at the Courten manor, Sierre. Without catalogue. 1997 « Signes dans la roche, gravures rupestres dans l’arc alpin », from 28th June 1997 to 30th August 1998, Archaeology Museum /Grangeà-l’Evêque. Without catalogue. « Paradis artificiels – Cartes postales du Valais pittoresque », from 25th April to 20th July 1997, at the Courten Manor, Sierre. Without catalogue. 1998 « Messieurs du Haut et sujets du Bas. 1798 : la Révolution en Valais », from 29th Mai to 1st November 1998, at the Tour des Sorciers (from 5th December 1998 to 30 Mai 1999 at the Monthey castle). Catalogue : Alexandra Moulin and Thomas Antonietti (dir.), 1798 : La Révolution en Valais,

2002 « Les premiers hommes dans les Alpes », from 24th Mai to December 2002, Ancien Pénitencier (Musée cantonal d’archéologie et d’histoire de Lausanne, Espace Arlaud, from 17th January to 30th Mars 2003) Catalogue : Premiers hommes dans les Alpes, Lausanne-Sion 2002 (204 pages ; German version entitled Die ersten Menschen im Alpenraum). 2003 « Trop de peine – Femmes en prison », from 7th February to 27th April 2003, Ancien Pénitencier (from 8th November 2003 to 17th January 2004 at the Médiathèque-Valais, Brig). Without catalogue. « Malévoz, 100 ans de folie au quotidien », from 17th June to 25th October 2003, at the Monthey castle. Without catalogue. 2004 Participation to the exhibition of the Valais cantonal Museums : « Les Chambres secrètes des Musées I : ces acquisitions qui attendent dans l’ombre », from 1st April to 31th Mai 2004,

Ancien Pénitencier. Without catalogue.

ANNEX 2 : THE PUBLICATIONS

2005 « Montagne, je te hais. Montagne, je t’adore », from 12th Mai 2005 to 27th August 2006, Ancien Pénitencier.

Les Cahiers d’ethnologie valaisanne N° 1 THOMAS ANTONIETTI, De l’inégalité. Des relations hommes-femmes dans la société rurale du Valais, Sion, 1989 (86 pages, German version : Ungleiche Beziehungen. Zur Ethnologie der Geschlechterrollen im Wallis).

Catalogue co-published with the Art Museum of Valais: Pascal Ruedin and Marie Claude Morand (dir.), Montagne, je te hais. Montagne, je t’adore. Voyage au cœur des Alpes, du XVIe siècle à nos jours, Sion-Paris 2005 (256 pages). Participation to the exhibition of the Valais cantonal Museums : « Les Chambres secrètes des Musées II : voyages au cœur des réserves», Automn 2005, at the Cantonal Museums reserves. Without catalogue.

N° 3 CORINNE CHARLES and CLAUDE VEUILLET, Coffres et coffrets du Moyen-Âge dans les collections du Musée d’histoire du Valais, Sion, Baden, 2012 (2 volumes, 184 et 244 pages).

N° 3 THOMAS ANTONIETTI and MARIE CLAUDE MORAND (dir.) Mutations touristiques contemporaines. Valais 1950-1990, Sion, 1993 (172 pages, German version: Tourismus und kultureller Wandel. Wallis 1950-1990).

Hors série et coéditions Valais à l’aube de l’humanité, éditions Florilège, Genève, 1999 (120 pages).

N° 4 SUZANNE CHAPPAZ-WIRTHNER and CLAUDIA DUBUIS (dir.), Tribuns et tribunes. Le discours politique en Valais, Sion, 1995 (206 pages).

Catalogue co-published with the Musée cantonal d’Archéologie et d’Histoire of Lausanne and the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire of Geneva: Des Alpes au Léman : images de la préhistoire, Gollion 2006 (359 pages).

N° 6 PIERRE DUBUIS (dir.), La mémoire dans la vie. Usages du souvenir et de la mémoire en Valais (Ier-XXe siècles), Sion, 2001 (158 pages).

2008 Permanent exhibition, History Museum/Valeria castle, since the 12th September 2008. Without catalogue. 2009 « Pierres de mémoire, pierres de pouvoir », from 26th Juny 2009 to 3rd January 2011, Espace d’archéologie / Grange-à-l’Evêque (former Archaelogy Museum). Without catalogue. 2011 « Un Goût d’Europe », from 16th June 2011 to 26th February 2012, Ancien Pénitencier and Espace d’archéologie / Grange-à-l’Evêque. Without catalogue.

N° 2 LAURENT GOLAY, Les sculptures médiévales. La collection du Musée cantonal d’histoire, Sion, Lausanne, 2000 (240 pages).

N° 2 THOMAS ANTONIETTI and MARIE CLAUDE MORAND (red.) Valais d’émigration, Auswanderungsland Wallis, Sion, 1991 (301 pages, a volume with French or German texts).

2006 « Des Alpes au Léman. Images de la préhistoire », from 20th Mai to September 2006 and from 30th January 2007 to 6th January 2008 (after a presentation by the Musée cantonal d’archéologie et d’histoire of Lausanne at the Espace Arlaud), Archaelogy Museum / Grange-à-l’Evêque.

Participation to the exhibition of the Cantonal Museums: « Les Chambres secrètes des Musées III : mystère des œuvres sous la loupe », from 20th October 2006 to 14 January 2007, Ancien Pénitencier. Without catalogue.

Valère art et histoire N° 1 PATRICK ELSIG, Le château de Valère aux XIXe et XXe siècles. De la résidence des chanoines au Musée cantonal d’histoire, Lausanne, 2000 (148 pages).

N° 5 WERNER BELLWALD, Zur Konstruktion von Heimat. Die Entdeckung lokaler « Volkskultur » und ihr Aufstieg in die nationale Symbolkultur. Die Beispiele Hérens und Lötschen (Schweiz), Sion 1997 (382 pages).

N° 7 WERNER BELLWALD and SANDRO GUZZIHEEB, (dir.), Un peuple réfractaire à l’industrie ? Fabriques et ouvriers dans les montagnes valaisannes, Lausanne, 2006 (550 pages, German: Ein Industriefeindliches Volk ? Fabriken und Arbeiter in den Walliser Bergen, Baden, 2006). N° 8 THOMAS ANTONIETTI (dir.), Kein Volk von Hirten. Alpwirtschaft im Wallis, Baden, 2006 (226 pages). Les Cahiers du Musée d’histoire N° 9 GÉRARD DELALOYE, L’évêque, la réforme et les valaisans, XVIe et XVIIe siècles, Sion 2009 (148 pages). N° 10 JEAN STEINAUER ; ROMAINE SYBURRABERTELLETTO, Courir l’Europe. Valaisans au service étranger, 1790-1870, Sion, 2009 (208 pages). N° 11 ROMAINE SYBURRA-BERTELLETTO ; THOMAS ANTONIETTI ; PATRICK ELSIG ; ALAIN GUERRIER, « Bernardine tu seras ! ». Le monastère de Collombey : un patrimoine de 4 siècles, Sion-Baden, 2011 (248 pages).

Valère, 15 siècles d’art et d’histoire en Valais, éditions Florilège, Genève 1999 (144 pages). PATRICK ELSIG and MARIE CLAUDE MORAND, Le château de Valère. Le monument, le musée, Sion, 2000 (annual of Sedunum Nostrum, 12) (114 pages). GÉRARD DELALOYE, Un Léman suisse : la Suisse, le Chablais et la neutralisation de la Savoie, 1476-1932, Yens-sur-Morges, 2002 (134 pages). GÉRARD DELALOYE, Die Schweiz und Savoyen : das Walliser Chablais und die Neutralisierung Savoyens 1476-1932, Baden, 2002 (112 pages). THOMAS ANTONIETTI and WERNER BELLWALD, Vom Ding zum Mensch : Theorie und Praxis volkskundlicher Museumsarbeit : das Beispiel Wallis, Baden, 2002 (336 pages). PHILIPPE CURDY (red.), Valais, images de la préhistoire/Wallis, Bilder aus der Urgeschichte, Sion, 2006 (32 pages).

THE DISPLAY, INAUGURATED IN 2008