Around the Palais des Nations, Geneva

The Château de Penthes, houses the Musée des Régiments Suisses au Services Etranger (Museum of Swiss Regiments in Foreign Service). Documents, books, medals, weapons, uniforms and flags tell the political and military history the Swiss foreign regiments from to 15th to 20th C.

The only Swiss museum devoted entirely to ceramics, this collection of over 16,000 objects illustrates seven centuries of ceramics in Switzerland, Europe and the East. The Ariana Museum also has examples of 20th C work.

To the southeast of Ariana, lying between the Route de Lausanne and the Geneva-Lausanne railroad line and between the Avenue de la Paix to the south and the Chemin de l'Impératrice to the north lies the Jardin Botanique, a botanic garden established in 1902, with greenhouses (exotic plants, etc.), a fine Alpine garden, a small animal enclosure (fallow deer, llamas, peacocks, cranes, parakeets) and a refreshment pavilion (summer only).

On the east side of the Route de Lausanne is Geneva's Conservatoire Botanique, with an excellent specialized library and famous herbaria (in the garden pavilion), new greenhouses and an aviary.

From Geneva's Place des Nations the broad Avenue de la Paix extends north in a wide curve, passing the Ariana on the right and the Soviet embassy on the left. Opposite the west entrance to the Palais des Nations is the attractive villa, Vieux-Bois, which houses the Geneva Hotel School restaurant.

The International Red Cross, founded in 1864 on the initiative of Henri Dunant (1828-1910) and managed exclusively by Swiss citizens, is dedicated to pursuing humanitarian aims on the international level (e.g. by the register of prisoners of war and missing persons which it has maintained since 1916). The various national organizations (Red Cross, Red Crescent, Red Lion, Red Sun) belong to the League of Red Cross societies, which is based in Geneva. The Musée de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant Rouge, opened in November 1988, has information on the history of the organization.Photos, films, and documents are presented through audio-visual displays andcomputer terminals. You will be plunged into the thick of current action and receive latest news from the field.

On the south side of Geneva's Route de Ferney, which leads uphill from the Place des Nations, can be seen the Hôtel Continental (1964) with its 15-story tower and beyond it the elegant Parc de Budé residential quarter.

A little way along Geneva's old road to Ferney is the Centre Ecumenique (Ecumenical Centre), Headquarters of the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the Reformed World Federation and other non-Catholic associations. The World Council of Churches, first discussed at the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference in 1910 and founded in its present form at Amsterdam in 1948, is composed of more than 220 Protestant, Orthodox, Old Catholic and Anglican churches and maintains contacts with other Christian denominations, (in particular with the Roman Catholic Church; Papal visits 1969 by Pope Paul VI, 1984 by John-Paul II).

Northwest of the Ecumenical Center (1km/0.5mi from the Palais des Nations) is the headquarters of the World Health Organization (Organization Mondiale de la Santé; WHO/OMS:1962-66, by J. Tschumi, P. Bonnard, H. Curchid and P. Cotty), also known as the Palais de la Santé.The World Health Organization, founded in 1948, succeeded the International Office of Public Health, established in Paris in 1907. It is concerned with health care on an international basis, epidemic control, the training of doctors and other health care personnel, etc., and is active in the field of medical research. Its Geneva headquarters and its six regional offices in Copenhagen, Alexandria, Brazzaville, Manila, New Delhi and Washington have a total staff of almost 5,000. The main building, a rectangular eight-story block 150 m/492ft long built of prefabricated elements, rests on 22 concrete piles and contains 550 rooms. In front of it is a lower structure containing the main assembly hall, surrounded by gardens. The building contains many works of art and other features presented by member nations, notably a large wall decoration (7 sq.m/23sq. ft) presented by Brazil.

In Geneva to the south of the World Health Organization, on a previously undeveloped site at Le Grand Morillon, rises the new headquarters of the International Labor Office (Bureau International du Travail ILO/BIT: 1969-73) Designed by Beaudouin, Camenzind and Nervi, this has an 11-story main building 190 m/623ft long and 60 m/197ft high on a biconcave ground plan borne on two supporting blocks (in the north one various services, in the south one conference rooms and the library). The outer walls (4,000 windows) are of aluminum and glass, on a framework of steel and concrete. The building has some 2,500 telephone extensions, facilities for simultaneous interpretation, 23 passenger and seven goods elevators, a system for the transmission of documents within the office and a four-story underground garage for 1,450 cars.

The U.N. Philatelic Museum displays stamps and philatelic documents from 1919 to the present day.Stamp catalogs and magazines are installed for visitors. A 10 minute audio visual program shows the United Nations history through its stamps.

A collection remembering Henry Dunant (1828-1910), philanthropist and writer and the pioneers of the Red Cross.