PRANGINS.- What do Voltaire, Jacques Necker, Joseph Bonaparte and Katharine McCormick have in common? All these personalities have lived or stayed at the Château de Prangins. The Portrait Gallery, a new permanent exhibition at the Château de Prangins - Swiss National Museum, resurrects these voices from the past in the large corridor on the first floor by giving them substance in an interactive and immersive exhibition that began June 16, 2023.

"Good morning. Did you recognize me? When in doubt, let me introduce myself: François-Marie Arouet! Better known as Voltaire, writer and philosopher. Come over to the window, please, or sit on that comfy chair! I'll tell you what I'm doing at the Château de Prangins! Coming out of an armchair, a telephone or a door in the long gallery of the chateau, suddenly a voice emerges. This voice is that of a personality who lived more or less long at the Château de Prangins. Life course, anecdotes... all you have to do is sit down, open a drawer or a shutter to listen and let yourself be immersed in the past.

The Portrait Gallery is an interactive, immersive exhibition where we pick up history from the 18th century to the present day, according to our curiosity and encounters. Certainly in the manner of those who, in the past, came to stretch their legs in this vast space. “Historically, in a castle, the gallery was used to connect different wings, explains Helen Bieri Thomson, director of the museum and curator of this exhibition. It was a place of passage but it was also a space where, in the bad season when we couldn't go out, we came to pace, to exercise. And as it was an essential place, we also hung important paintings there, often family portraits.

The Galerie des portraits uses all these codes. On the walls, paintings and facing them, black furniture, almost unreal, ghostly. This is where we meet Voltaire, grumpy, complaining of the cold. We discover Katharine McCormick, philanthropic biologist and her fight for women, in particular the right to dispose of their bodies, by actively financing research on the contraceptive pill. Behind a door, we hear Joseph Bonaparte whispering, ready to flee the castle. Jacques Necker, finance minister of Louis XVI, is also present. His bust and one of his clothes complete the picture. A little further, William Beckford, the richest young man in England at the end of the 18th, recounts his escapades. Bernie Cornfeld, last owner of the premises a few months before his resounding bankruptcy, also gives himself up. A child's voice near the theatre? Yes, it is that of young Charles-Jules Guiguer, the last Baron Guiguer de Prangins. We also discover the Moravian Institute, when the castle was a boarding school for young boys until we get to the present day and learn how this castle became the Swiss National Museum.

Prangins Castle
Portrait Gallery
June 16, 2023 - permanent exhibition