To mark the 20th anniversary of Switzerland’s UN membership, Geneva’s 1:25 scale “Palais des Nations” was unveiled at Swissminiatur.
The model, measuring 23.34 square meters faithfully reproduces the palace’s main body, a monumental work completed in 1936 to house The League of Nations. . It took more than 4000 hours of work to build the miniature, and a helicopter was needed to place it inside the park.
The unveiling of the miniature was held in presence of the President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis, United Nations Director-General in Geneva Tatiana Valovaya, local authorities and ambassadors accredited to Switzerland.
The “Palais des Nations” stands on the right bank of Lake Geneva, in the middle of Ariana Park. The building complex, which is currently being completely renovated to ensure modern working conditions and increase its energy efficiency, hosts high-level international meetings as, for example, those of the UN Human Rights Council.
Geneva is one of the world’s leading centers of global cooperation. Its international vocation was born in 1863 with the establishment of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). A miniature of the ICRC’s historic headquarters has been in Swissminiatur since 1993.
The city on Lake Geneva is home to several other international bodies such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Health Organization (WHO) or the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), to name a few. Each year, more than 200,000 delegates and about 4,700 heads of state and government, ministers and high dignitaries travel to Geneva to discuss issues such as resolving armed conflicts, managing pandemics, combating climate change or promoting human rights.
Facts and figures on Geneva’s international commitment:
