New start Dunant Museum in Heiden AR renovated for 2.4 million francs
The Henry Dunant Museum in Heiden has been renovated at a cost of 2.4 million Swiss francs. The completely redesigned exhibition on the life of the initiator of the Red Cross and winner of the first Nobel Peace Prize is "fatally gaining in importance in the shadow of the current world situation", according to a statement from the museum.
26.07.2024, 07:00
SDA
Failed as a businessman, celebrated as a humanitarian: Henry Dunant spent the last 18 years of his life until 1910 as a pensioner in the former district hospital in Heiden.
On August 10 - three years after its temporary closure - a completely revamped exhibition on the life of the visionary, who formulated rules to alleviate the consequences of war, opens on the first floor of this building.
Exhibition also sheds light on the darker side
Visitors approach Dunant in Heiden from different perspectives. The museum not only shows the winner of the first Nobel Peace Prize, co-founder of today's International Committee of the Red Cross and pioneer of the Geneva Conventions.
The exhibition "Henry is back!" also sheds light on Dunant's colonial activities in Algeria, settlement plans for Palestine and his failed career as a Geneva businessman, which led him to Heiden, impoverished and outcast.
In the end, he rarely left his rented room there. He rarely received visitors, but wrote countless letters. Nevertheless, he also left his mark on the village in Appenzell Ausserrhoden. In one of the four themed rooms, actors perform life-size texts on screen that contemporary witnesses wrote about their personal encounters with Henry Dunant in Heiden.
Anything but straightforward
"Henry Dunant's life is characterized by aberrations, breaks and crises; his career was anything but straightforward," Nadine Schneider told the Keystone-SDA news agency. Together with Kaba Rössler, she designed a multimedia and expandable exhibition world with depth.
The two directors of the museum, which is supported by the Red Cross of Appenzell, researched Dunant's life and also sought funding for a contemporary exhibition. They were also the first museum in Europe to develop an area that can be visited around the clock via self-check-in.
A bridge to the present
The Henry Dunant Museum ultimately focuses on questions of war or peace, solidarity and humanity and moves into the present day.
Contributions by filmmakers from all over the world project Dunant's humanitarian values onto the present day. For example, they shed light on "modern slavery" in Calabria's orange plantations or ask school classes what it takes to achieve peace.
"Visitors should take away emotions and reflect on the exhibition," said Kaba Rössler. Dunant's discourse on humanity should be continued.
