The Rough Guide to Switzerland by Rough Guides

Author:Rough Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241314807
Publisher: Rough Guides Ltd

Fondation Pierre Gianadda

59 Rue de Forum • Daily 9am–7pm • Fr.20; concert tickets roughly Fr.50–200 • gianadda.ch

The main reason for coming to Martigny is to visit the galleries of the Fondation Pierre Gianadda, well signposted about 700m south of Place Centrale, close to Bourg station on the Martigny–Le Châble rail line and advertised all over town. Established in 1978 by a local philanthropist, Léonard Gianadda, and named after his brother, the complex takes in several exhibition spaces within a single museum, the principal focus being the changing series of top-flight art exhibitions staged in the main gallery area: recent major shows have focused on such names as Chagall, Picasso and Rodin. The upper level of the gallery is given over to the Musée Gallo-Romain, an interesting collection of statues, coins, pottery and jewellery garnered from digs around Martigny. Prime exhibit, which serves as the Foundation’s mascot, is the bronze head of a bull, dating from the first or second century AD.

The two other permanent collections are the somewhat incongruous Musée de l’Auto, displaying fifty-odd vintage cars including a Model T Ford (1912) and dashing Lagonda (1936), in a subterranean space accessed from the main gallery; and the Parc des Sculptures, an open area of green overlooked by Martigny’s wooded slopes, which is dotted with works by – among many others – Rodin, Moore and Miró. Here too are Brancusi’s celebrated Le Grand Coq (1949), a striking zigzag of gleaming metal, and the Cour Chagall, devoted to a monumental mosaic by the artist (1964). The sculptures are displayed amid the Roman ruins that the whole complex is built around, while behind the garden café is another space for temporary exhibitions, the Vieil Arsenal.

The Fondation Pierre Gianadda also plays host to Martigny’s major cultural event – the prestigious cycle of around fifteen classical music concerts spread across the year. They give a unique opportunity to see stellar names at close quarters in the intimate gallery space: the Italian opera singer and recitalist Cecilia Bartoli is a regular performer. Tickets are very limited.

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