| Museum Henry Dunant | |
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The Museum Henry Dunant in the health resort of Heiden (Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland) is dedicated to the life and work of Henry Dunant (1828–1910), the initiator of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and co-founder of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The multilingual and inclusive museum is located in the former Heiden District Hospital, where Henry Dunant lived as a pensioner for the last 18 years until his death in 1910. In the museum’s “Present Wing” current humanitarian issues are addressed in order to discuss Dunant’s timeless values in the here and now.
Dunant’s legacy from his room in the district hospital in Heiden
A forerunner of the museum was in the Heiden Museum, where an armchair from Henry Dunant’s room in the district hospital, his cane and some documents were on display. When the hospital moved into a new building, a Dunant memorial was set up in the former X-ray room on the ground floor in 1969 with writings and letters, photographs and books.[1] In 1998 the entire house was extensively renovated, the museum was expanded to four rooms and redesigned.
In 2019, with the election of the two museum directors Kaba Rössler and Nadine Schneider, a fundamental redesign and professionalization of the museum began. In 2021 and 2022 they played temporarily under the name Dunant-Plaza the ground floor rooms of the former Hotel Krone with exhibitions and artistic interventions.[2] In 2024, the completely redesigned Henry Dunant Museum reopened. The curators Rössler and Schneider, together with the studio Andrea Gassner and Dominique Frey, have created a thematically focused tour. Dunant’s humanitarian values are continued to the present day and reflected in contemporary contributions. As the first exhibition venue in Switzerland, the Henry Dunant Museum is planning, in addition to daytime operations, a 24-hour self-check-in zone in which guests from all over the world can independently experience part of the museum around the clock, in keeping with the museum’s motto : Humanity never sleeps.
The three-story building with a round-arched central portal in the classicist style was probably built between 1829 and 1838 as a factory owner’s house according to plans by master builder Johann Konrad Bischofberger.[3] In the years 1873–1874, the St. Gallen architect Emil Kessler converted the semi-detached house into a hospital. The Vorderländisches District Hospital was the first in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Hermann Altherr (1848–1927) worked as a doctor – it was he who took Dunant in as a pensioner and also looked after him medically.[4] After the new regional hospital was built, the district hospital was a nursing home for chronically ill patients from 1969 to 1993. It has been called the Dunant House since 1998; practices and offices are located on the two floors above the museum. The Heiden hospital site was abandoned at the end of 2021. In 2022–2023, the GSI St. Gallen architectural firm extensively redesigned the museum rooms on the ground floor of the Dunant House. A new, coherent structure was created with breakthroughs and openings.
The museum’s collection includes objects and documents by and about Henry Dunant. The objects and archives are complemented by contemporary short films that deal with Dunant’s humanitarian values and are made on behalf of the museum.
The history of the creation of the Red Cross
The museum is the only one in the world dedicated to the life and work of Henry Dunant. The core exhibition is organized thematically. A spatial object illustrates the respective topic and gives the exhibition rooms their own atmosphere. The first room is dedicated to the history of the creation of the Red Cross: from the memories of Solferino to the founding of aid societies for the care of the wounded, the later International Committee of the Red Cross, to the signing of the Geneva Conventions. The focus is on the seven principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntariness, unity and universality.
The opening to the second room focuses on a dark chapter: Dunant’s colonial dealings as a young man in Algeria led to bankruptcy and thus his exclusion from Geneva society and the ICRC. The unsettled life that followed is reflected in his preoccupation with ideas such as the development and settlement of Palestine, with prophetic maps and with the marketing of the pyrophone, a novel instrument at the time.
The final room addresses the 18 years in which Henry Dunant lived in Heiden and wrote against the war. On display are personal items such as his red velvet armchair or his French-German dictionary, as well as key documents on the “rediscovery” of the Red Cross founder, the certificate for the Nobel Peace Prize from 1901 and the first edition of the book The history of the creation of the Red Cross (1897) by Henry Dunant’s long-time Stuttgart friend Rudolf Müller. One of Dunant’s correspondents was the peace activist Bertha von Suttner (1843–1914). She and other contemporaries have their say in staged film portraits. The personalities interpreted by actors tell of encounters with Henry Dunant, based on traditional memories.
Portrait film by Anka Schmid (2024) on the modern Dunants from Alarmphone
The temporary exhibitions in the contemporary wing of the museum bring Dunant’s humanitarian works into the here and now. Visitors encounter changing artistic positions on timeless topics such as human dignity and empathy, peace, freedom of belief, human rights and international humanitarian law. The short films under the motto Humanity now! were produced specifically for the museum. The broad spectrum ranges from the orange pickers in southern Italy to the modern Dunants, from the “Alarm Phone” for refugees in distress to the peace workshop with young people. The range of films is continually being expanded.
The Nagasaki Peace Bell in front of the museum
- Nagasaki Peace Bell: One of five Nagasaki Peace Bells in the world stands in front of the Henry Dunant Museum. The Peace Bell is a copy of the Angelus Bell that remained intact in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945. The museum received the bell in 2010 on the 100th anniversary of Henry Dunant’s death; it is rung on special occasions. The bell is installed between two wave-shaped steel walls, designed by Lucie Schenker.[5][6]
- The cover of the magazine Over land and sea from September 6th, 1895: Henry Dunant lived very withdrawn in Heiden until Georg Baumberger, journalist Eastern Switzerland became aware of the famous guest and had several conversations with him. His report appeared alongside Otto Rietmann’s iconic photos. The magazine featured the “rediscovery” on its front page.
- To discover: In the entrance area of the museum there are two pieces of seating in white and red. They may seem inconspicuous, but whoever lies down will see themselves in the mirror on the ceiling as part of the Red Crescent or the Red Cross, the largest humanitarian organization.
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Foyer with Red Cross seating
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Biography of Henry Dunant: timeline with reading folders
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Dunant in Heiden: Rediscovery, Nobel Prize and contemporary witness videos
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Monument to Henry Dunant in Heiden
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Memorial stone in the Heiden spa park
The museum is barrier-free for people with walking, visual and hearing impairments. The audio guide with additional texts about the exhibition is included in the admission price. The texts are in three languages: German, French and English, with further languages being planned. There is a wide range of guided tours and workshops for groups as well as educational offers for school classes of all ages.
The Henry Dunant Museum is part of the “Appenzeller Peace Stations”. The themed trail from Heiden to Walzenhausen (approx. 3.5 hours) provides information at ten stations about the humanitarian lifework of people from the Appenzeller Vorderland.
The museum is run by the Henry Dunant Museum Association, which commissions a museum management team. The aim of the association is to keep the memory of Henry Dunant and his visions alive. The president is Andreas Ennulat. The association is supported by the Swiss Red Cross Cantonal Association of both Appenzell.
- Henry Dunant: A memory of Solferino. Self-published by the Austrian Red Cross, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-95-008010-4.
- Henry Dunant, Literaturliste
- Eveline Hasler: The time traveler. The Visions of Henry Dunant. Verlag Nagel & Kimche AG, Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-31-200199-4 (hardcover); Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-42-313073-3 (paperback edition).
- Ethel Kocher, Hans Amann: Henry Dunant – His eventful life and his astonishing visions. Self-published by the Henry Dunant Museum, Heiden 2003.
- Franco Giampiccoli: Henry Dunant – The founder of the Red Cross. Aussaat-Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 2009, ISBN 978-3-7615-5722-8.
- Corinne Chaponnière: Henry Dunant. A man’s cross. Edition Labor et Fides, Geneva 2018.
- Elke Endraß: The Benefactor – Why Henry Dunant founded the Red Cross. Wichern-Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-88981-288-9.
- Yvonne Steiner: Henry Dunant. Biography. Appenzeller Verlag, Schwellbrunnn 2010, ISBN 978-3-85882-537-7.
- ↑ Konrad Bänziger: The museum in Heiden. In: Appenzell calendar. Volume 262, 1983, doi:10.5169/seals-376493.
- ↑ David Aragai, Hannes Friedli, Thomas Fuchs, Johannes Huber, Arthur Oehler, Stefan Rothenberger, Stefan Sonderegger: Heathens, history from the beginning to the 21st century. Appenzeller Verlag, Schwellbrunn 2022, ISBN 978-3-85882-854-5, p. 263.
- ↑ Eugen Steinmann: The art monuments of the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Volume 3: The Vorderland district (= The art monuments of Switzerland. Volume 72). Birkhäuser, Basel 1981, ISBN 3-7643-1251-3, pp. 151–218 (Digital copy).
- ↑ David Aragai, Hannes Friedli, Thomas Fuchs, Johannes Huber, Arthur Oehler, Stefan Rothenberger, Stefan Sonderegger: Heathens, history from the beginning to the 21st century. Appenzeller Verlag, Schwellbrunn 2022, ISBN 978-3-85882-854-5, pp. 233–234.
- ↑ Konrad Noll: The Nagasaki Peace Bell of the Henry Dunant Museum von Heiden (AR). In: Campanae Helveticae. Volume 19, 2015, pp. 42–47, doi:10.5169/seals-727345.
- ↑ Peace Stations: Nagasaki Peace Bell. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
Museums in Appenzellerland
