The Museum of Ethnography of Neuchâtel.
Keystone / Jean-Christophe Bott
Neuchâtel has taken several measures for health promotion. One of them is rather original: museum ordinances, prescribed by general practitioners. The city of Neuchâtel has been testing this pilot project since January.
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15 avril 2025 – 11:00
At the Caisse du Musée d’Ethnography in Neuchâtel, as a ticket, some visitors have been presenting a medical prescription since January. The museum prescription is a medical prescription which allows you to visit a museum for free. This device is put in place to promote the physical and mental well-being of patients. “When you are sick, you go out a little less often. So there are moments of resources where nature is enough, but also moments when we want to continue to cultivate. And that makes a crazy good, finally, “says in the 19:30 of March 30 Claudia, a patient in remission benefiting from a museum order.
This is new in the canton of Neuchâtel and allows patients to visit one of the four museums in the city for free. The authorities have already made a hundred orders available. “It shows people that there are not only drugs and that we can consider health in another point of view,” said Doctore Elisabeth Flammer, general practitioner.
>> Read also: In Neuchâtel, doctors will be able to prescribe visits to the museum to their patientsExternal link
A program that has existed since 2019 in Geneva
In Geneva, integrating art and culture into the patient care program is an approach that has existed since 2019. “It’s a good time to stimulate your creativity, to discover yourself as a person, to discover others, and also to see that one can think about his life differently”, specifies Dr. Frédéric Sittarame, associated doctor in cardiology with HUG. The Ariana Museum, the Geneva Museum of Ethnography, the Geneva Art and History Museum and Arthug participate in this pilot project.
>> Read also: When art and medicine go hand in handExternal link
The approach aims to offer a moment of cultural well-being, to get patients out of isolation or restrictions linked to the disease. In Neuchâtel, 10,000 francs were invested by the canton in the pilot project. Subsequently, the State will invest 200,000 francs per year. A balance sheet will be drawn at the end of 2026.
