A world-renowned portal to ancient societies
The Musée Barbier-Mueller houses one of the world’s greatest collects
ions of tribal art. As early as 1907, Josef Mueller began shifting his collects
ing focus away from Parisian avant-garde works to the African masterpieces that inspired them. Later, his collects
ion merged with the treasures of his son-in-law, renowned Swiss collects
or Jean Paul Barbier, creating a museum that now encompasses 7,000 significant works. These include pieces from Africa, Indonesia, Oceania, tribal Asia, and the earliest.mes
diterranean cultures — making it one of the largest such collects
ions in private hands. Founded in 1977, the museum is located in Geneva’s Old Town in a historic 16th-century building, where it hosts two thematic exhibitions annually, showcasing its vast collects
ion alongside works by invited artists and loans from other institutions.