‘Helvètes migrants’ – Temporary exhibition

Helvetii Migrants is the result of a project led by photographer Yves André based on the abortive migration of the Helvetii in 58 BC. This episode was recounted by Julius Caesar in his Gallic War, and brought the Swiss Plateau and its occupants of the time into the history books. The project involved photographically documenting the landscapes, preserved or otherwise, encountered by the Helvetians along the route they took between the Avenches region and southern Burgundy, as well as those of Saintonge in south-western France, a kind of “dream Helvetia” and the initial destination of their migration.

The exhibition offers food for thought on the meaning of population movements and migrations, through the landscapes crossed by the Helvetians, who, dissatisfied with their cramped territory and convinced of their superiority, attempted to leave it en masse for the Atlantic seaboard of the continent.