Geneva
Geneva (pronunciation //;
French:
Genève //,
German: //,
Italian:
Ginevra) is the second most populous city in
Switzerland (after
Zürich), and is the most populous city of
Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). It is situated where
Lake Geneva (
French Lac Léman) flows into the
Rhône River, and is the capital of the
Canton of Geneva. The population within the city limits is 185,526 (
2004) and that of the
metropolitan area â€" which extends into
France and
Vaud â€" is about 450,000. Geneva is widely regarded as a
global city, mainly due to the presence of numerous
international organisations, including the European headquarters of the
United Nations.
See
Names of European cities in different languages for a list of the name of this city in other languages.
|
Rue de la Croix-d'Or, one of the main streets of Geneva, part of les Rues Basses |
Geneva was the name of a settlement of the
Celtic people of the
Allobroges. The name of
Genava (or
Genua) in Latin appeared for the first time in the writings of
Julius Caesar in
De Bello Gallico, his comments on the
Gallic Wars. Its name may be identical in origin to the name of the
Ligurian city of
Genua (modern
Genoa), meaning "knee"; that is, "angle", referring to its geographical position; though more likely is based on the root gen- 'birth' (Genawa is at the birth of the river from the womb of the lake; perhaps the name in full means 'birth-water'). After the Roman conquest it became part of the
Provincia Romana (
Gallia Narbonensis). In
58 BC, at Geneva, Caesar hemmed in the
Helvetii on their westward march. In the
9th century it became the capital of
Burgundy. Though Geneva was contested among Burgundians and Franks and the Holy Roman Emperors, in practice it was ruled by its bishops, until the
Reformation, when Geneva became a
republic.
|
St. Pierre's Cathedral in Geneva's Old Town |
Due to the work of
reformers such as
John Calvin, Geneva was sometimes dubbed
the Protestant Rome. In the
16th century Geneva was the center of
Calvinism; the
St. Pierre Cathedral in what is now called the Old Town was John Calvin's own church. During the time when England was ruled by Queen Mary I, who persecuted Protestants, a number of Protestant scholars fled to Geneva. Among these scholars was William Whittingham who supervised the translation of the
Geneva Bible in collaboration with Miles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman, Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson, and William Cole.
One of the most important events in Geneva's history is
l'Escalade (literally: "the scaling of the wall"). For the people of Geneva, l'Escalade is the symbol of their independence. It marked the final attempt in a series of assaults mounted throughout the 16th century by
Savoy, which wanted to annex Geneva as its capital north of the Alps. This last assault happened on the night of 11-12 December
1602 and is celebrated yearly in the Old Town with numerous demonstrations and a parade of horses, cannons and armed men in period costumes.
Geneva, or officially the
Canton & Republic of Geneva, became a canton of Switzerland in
1815. The first of the
Geneva Conventions was signed in
1864, to protect the sick and wounded in war time.
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Satellite photo of the Geneva region. The Jura mountains can be seen at the top, and the Alps at the bottom. |
Geneva is located at 46°12 North, 6°09' East, at the south-western end of
Lake Geneva, where the lake flows into the
Rhône River. It is surrounded by two mountain chains, the
Alps and the
Jura.
The city of Geneva has an area of 15.86 km², while the area of the
Canton of Geneva is 282 km², including the two small enclaves of
Céligny in
Vaud. The part of the Lake that is attached to Geneva has an area of 38 km² and is sometimes referred to as
Petit lac (
small lake). The Canton has only a 4.5 km border with the rest of Switzerland; out of a total of 107.5 km of borders, the remaining 103 are shared with
France, with the to the North and the
Département de la Haute-Savoie to the South.
The altitude of Geneva is 373.6 m, and corresponds to the altitude of the largest of the
Pierres du Niton, two large rocks emerging from the lake which date from the last ice age. This rock was chosen by General
Guillaume Henri Dufour as the reference point for all surveying in Switzerland [
1].
The second main river of Geneva is the
Arve River which flows into the
Rhône River just west of the city centre.
As of
2004, the population of the Commune (city) of Geneva was 185,526, while 438,500 people lived in the Canton of Geneva; around 700,000 people live in the Geneva urban community, which extends into Vaud Canton and neighboring France.
The population of the Canton is split between 145,200 people originally from Geneva (33.1%), 123,400 Swiss from other cantons (28.2%) and 169,000 foreigners (38.7%), from 180 different countries. Including people holding
dual citizenship, 54.4% of people living in Geneva hold a foreign passport.[
2][
3]
While Geneva is usually considered as a
Protestant city, there are now more
Roman Catholics (39.5%) than Protestants (17.4%) living in the Canton. 22% of the inhabitants indicate that they are not part of any religion, the rest being shared between
Islam (4.4%),
Judaism (1.1%), other religions and people who did not respond.[
4] (2000 figures.)
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Streets in the Old Town of Geneva |
Geneva is the seat of many
international organisations, including the European headquarters of the
United Nations and several other international bodies, such as the
World Health Organization, the
International Labour Organization, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the
World Intellectual Property Organization, the
International Telecommunication Union, the
World Meteorological Organization, the
World Trade Organization and the
Inter-Parliamentary Union. Geneva also hosts the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or
CERN, the
International Organization for Standardization, the
International Baccalaureate program, the
World Council of Churches, the
World Wide Web Virtual Library, the
World Economic Forum, the
International Committee of the Red Cross and the
International AIDS Society.
Geneva was the seat of the
League of Nations between
1919 and the league's dissolution in
1946. It was first housed in the
Palais Wilson, and then in the
Palais des Nations, which now hosts the
United Nations.
Geneva's economy is mainly services oriented. The city has an important and old
finance sector, which is specialized in
private banking (managing assets of about 1 trillion
USD) and financing of
international trade. It is also an important centre of
commodity trade.
Geneva is the international headquarter of companies like
Serono,
STMicroelectronics,
Société Générale de Surveillance,
Mediterranean Shipping Company and
SITA. Many other multinational companies like
Procter & Gamble,
DuPont,
INVISTA,
Hewlett-Packard,
JT International (JTI),
Electronic Arts and
Sun Microsystems have their European headquarters in the city too.
There is a long tradition of
Watchmaking (
Rolex,
Patek Philippe,
Baume et Mercier,
Franck Muller). Two major international producers of
flavours and
fragrances,
Firmenich and
Givaudan, have their headquarters and main production facilities in Geneva.
Many people also work in the numerous offices of international organizations located in Geneva (about 24000 in 2001).
Transportation
The city is served by the
Geneva Cointrin International Airport. It is connected to both the Swiss railway network
SBB-CFF-FFS, and the
French SNCF network, including direct connections to
Paris,
Marseille and
Montpellier by
TGV. Geneva is also connected to the motorway systems of both Switzerland (
A1 motorway) and France.
Public transport by
bus,
trolleybus or
tram is provided by
Transports Publics Genevois (TPG). In addition to an extensive coverage of the city centre, the network covers most of the municipalities of the Canton, with a few lines extending into France. Public transport by
boat is provided by the
Mouettes Genevoises, who link the two banks of the Lake within the city, and by the Compagnie générale de navigation (CGN) who serve more distant destinations such as Nyon, Yvoire, Thonon, Evian and Lausanne.
Trains operated by
SBB-CFF-FFS connect the airport to the main station of
Cornavin in a mere 6 minutes, and carry on to towns such as Nyon, Lausanne, Montreux, Neuchâtel, Berne, Sion, Sierre, etc. Regional train services are being increasingly developped, towards Coppet and Bellegarde. At the city limits, two new stations have been created since 2002: Genève-Sécheron (close to the UN and the Botanical Gardens) and Lancy-Pont-Rouge.
In 2005, work started on the CEVA (Cornavin - Eaux-Vives - Annemasse) project, first planned in
1884, which will connect Cornavin with the Cantonal hospital, the Eaux-Vives station and
Annemasse, in France. The link between the main station and the
classification yard of La Praille already exists; from there, the line will go mostly underground to the Hospital and the Eaux-Vives, where it will link up to the existing line to France. Support for this project was obtained from all parties in the local parliament. [
5]
Utilities
Water,
natural gas and
electricity are provided to the municipalities of the Canton of Geneva by the state-owned
Services Industriels de Genève (or SIG). Most of the drinkable water (80%) is extracted from the
lake; the remaining 20% is provided by
groundwater originally formed by infiltration from the
Arve River. 30% of the Canton's needs in electricity are locally produced, mainly by three
hydroelectric dams on the
Rhone River (Seujet, Verbois and Chancy-Pougny). In addition, 13% of the electricity produced in the Canton is made from the heat induced by the burning of waste at the
waste incineration facility of
Les Cheneviers. The remaining needs (57%) are covered by imports from other cantons in Switzerland or other European countries; SIG buys only electricity produced by
renewable methods, and in particular does not use electricity produced using
nuclear reactors or
fossil fuels.Natural gas is available in the City of Geneva, as well as in about two-thirds of the municipalities of the canton, and is imported from western Europe by the Swiss company
Gaznat. SIG also provides telecommunication facilities to carriers, service providers and large enterprises. From 2003 to 2005 "Voisin, voisine" a
Fibre to the Home pilot project with a
Triple play offering was launched to test the end-user market in the Charmilles district.
Geneva is also home of one of the oldest universities of the world, the
University of Geneva, founded by
John Calvin in
1559, and one of the most prestigious graduate schools of international relations, the
Graduate Institute of International Studies.
It is also home to the oldest international school in the world, the
International School of Geneva, founded in
1924 with the
League of Nations.
Other International schools include Geneva English School and
Institut International de Lancy (founded in 1903).
Landmarks and Sights
Notable sights in Geneva include the
International Museum of the Reformation, the
Flower Clock, the
Art and History Museum, the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum and the
Palais des Nations, the European headquarters of the United Nations.
The city's most visited monument is the
Saint-Pierre Cathedral, located at Cour Saint-Pierre, a noteworthy space of unique spiritual and cultural importance. The Cathedral and towers, which both embody the high point of the Reformed tradition and explores the origins of Christianity in its
archaeological site, is now complemented by the
International Museum of the Reformation, on the ground floor of the Maison Mallet. An underground passage, reopened when the Museum was created, connects the two buildings and a pass is now available for visitors to enjoy all three areas.
The city's most noted landmark is a
fountain: the
Jet d'Eau (
water-jet), situated in Lake Geneva. Its 140-metre-high water column is visible from many parts of the city.
Media
The city's main newspaper is the
Tribune de Genève, a daily newspaper founded on 1 February 1879 by
James T. Bates, with a readership of about 187,000.
Le Courrier, founded in
1868, was originally supported by the
Roman Catholic Church, but has been completely independent since
1996. Mainly focused on Geneva, Le Courrier is trying to expand into other cantons in
Romandy. Both
Le Temps (headquartered in Geneva) and
Le Matin are widely read in Geneva, but both journals actually cover the whole of
Romandy.
Geneva is covered by the different
French language radio networks of the
Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, in particular the
Radio Suisse Romande. While these networks cover the whole of
Romandy, special programs related to Geneva are sometimes broadcast on some of the local frequencies in the case of special events such as elections. Other local station broadcast from the city, including
RadioLac (
FM 91.8 MHz),
Radio Cité (Christian Radio, FM 92.2 MHz),
OneFM (FM 107.0 MHz, also broadcast in
Vaud), and
World Radio Geneva (FM 88.4 MHz), Switzerland's only English-language radio station.
The main television channel covering Geneva is the
Télévision Suisse Romande; while its headquarters are located in Geneva, the programs cover the whole of
Romandy and are not specific to Geneva.
Léman Bleu is a local TV channel, founded in
1996 and distributed by cable.
Theatre
Within this multicultural society, English theatre flourishes, the key groups include Geneva English Drama Society (GEDS),
Geneva Amateur Operatic Society (GAOS), Howard Productions and Simply Theatre.
Sport
The main sport team in Geneva is
Servette FC, a
football club founded in 1890 and named after a borough on the right bank of the Rhône River. Servette was the only club to have remained in the top league in Switzerland since its creation in the 1930s; however, in
2005, management problems caused the bankruptcy of the club's parent company, causing the club to be demoted two divisions (in fact the team was disbanded and attention focused on the under-21 side which was battling two divisions below). In 2006, following its good results, the new Servette FC was promoted into Challenge League (National Division 2).
Geneva also has an
ice hockey club,
Genève-Servette HC, which operates in the Swiss
Nationalliga A.
The
Geneva Marathon is held every year in the city, usually in May.
Since
1818, a particular
chestnut tree is used as the official "herald of the
spring" in Geneva. The
sautier (secretary of the Parliament of the Canton of Geneva) observes the tree and notes the day of arrival of the first bud. While this event has no practical impact, the sautier issues a formal press release and the local newspaper will usually mention the news.In 2006, the first bud appeared on 14 March.
[Official press release (PDF), 14 March 2006. (in French).]*
List of mayors of Geneva*
French language*
Franco-Provençal language* Jean de Senarclens,
"Geneva: Historic Guide", Editions du Tricorne, 1995. ISBN 2829301447
*
Geneva - Welcome to Networld*
Official website of the City of Geneva*
Official website of the Canton of Geneva*
GOL: Online community which makes Geneva life more friendly and fun*
Geneva TourismTribune de Genève:
Daily news from the city*
Switzerland Geneva Photo Album*
Brief history of Geneva*
Geneva information*
Geneva public transport*
Tales of Geneva life (from 1905 till 2005)*
The Official Chestnut tree, on the website of the Canton of Geneva
*
Photography of Geneva*
Geneva Genealogical Society, featuring a genealogical tree of more than 170'000 people (all linked together), a forum, and much more
*
Personal blog including photographs about a budget, short-break vacation to Geneva*
Live webcam of Lake Geneva and Jet d'eau
