It was the expected vote to be able to move forward. Thursday evening, during the plenary, the Grand Council granted 5 million francs for the creation of the comic strip museum. This investment credit was adopted by 60 yes, 23 no and four abstentions. Enough to concretely launch the project within the Villa Sarrasin in Grand-Saconnex, with a view to opening at the end of 2027.
Citing Zep, Tirabosco, Exem and even Valentine Pasche, worthy successors of the father of comics, the Genevan Rodolphe Töpffer, the deputy of the Center and majority rapporteur, Jacques Blondin underlined that the idea is to “make Geneva one of the capitals of comics in the same way as Brussels and Angoulême”. Contacted on Friday, the president of the Comic Strip Museum Foundation, Christian Pirker, was delighted with the vote: “A big step has been taken. This is a strong sign of support for the project. We now look forward to continuing our work to bring the future museum to fruition and open it.”
The total cost is estimated at 11.85 million. In addition to the 5 million from the Canton, Grand-Saconnex, owner of the building, will invest 1 million. Private and institutional participations amount to 5.2 million and private individuals will put their hands in their wallets.
As a reminder, the Geneva architectural firm YKRA won the call for tenders for the renovation of the villa in early 2023. With the financing round now complete, the transformation work on the Villa will be able to begin. The goal: to change the villa into a museum by bringing it up to energy standards. But also by providing disabled access, as well as by installing “a new staircase for better fluidity in the visit”, specifies the commission report. The future museum will also have a café and a bookstore. According to the actors in this file, the villa benefits from an infrastructure similar to a comic book; the pieces being the boxes on a page allowing visitors to follow a narrative.
-On the cultural program side, a permanent exhibition could retrace the history of comics, mainly through the original Töpffer archives of the City of Geneva.
Operating costs are estimated at 1.5 million per year. The Canton committed Thursday evening to providing half of it for the first years. “We want the museum to be alive, functioning and quickly manage to cover a good part of its costs, while keeping prices attractive for young people and families,” said Jacques Blondin.
