"Dancing dolls and singing birds"
André Ginesta, successful in Ginesta management for over 50 years, has a few more passions besides real estate. One of them is collecting historical automata. From 12 November to 11 December 2022, the extensive collection of André and Evelyne Ginesta will be presented in the exhibition "Dancing Dolls and Singing Birds" at the Meilen Local Museum. Guided tours are available to admire these historical marvels of technology and human inventiveness.
The Persians, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans already built automata. They were often used to prove and explain scientific findings. They were also a means of impressing the population. However, only writings and drawings remain of these works from ancient times, as they were not made with durable materials.
Thus, in the colourful, fascinating and not always noiseless exhibition, mainly preserved contemporary witnesses of European automata from the 14th century onwards can be discovered. The special focus is on exhibits that were made from about 1800 onwards for the entertainment of the better circles. For example, barrel organs equipped with dancing dolls, other doll automata of all kinds and a wide variety of singing, mechanical birds, some of which can hardly be distinguished from living birds in terms of song and movement.
In addition, a very rare speciality is presented, which was discovered in the extensive doll automaton collection of Annette Beyer from Zurich: A writing automaton that masters the whole ABC and still works today. A milestone of automation, which, by the way, was developed in Switzerland.In 1775, the watchmaker Jaques-Droz from La Chaux-de-Fonds succeeded in building a writing and a drawing automaton. This was a world sensation, which he was allowed to show at all the royal houses. Today these are in the "Musée d'Art et d'Histoire" in Neuchâtel. Together with Maillardet's even more perfect automaton, they were the only known automatons of this kind still working today. Until this find of special fascination, which will soon be exhibited exclusively and only for a short time in Meilen.
Since all the exhibits are put into operation for a truly rewarding visit, the exhibition can only be visited during the free guided tours that take place every half hour. André Ginesta will personally conduct some of these tours and will provide entertainment and amusement with amusing anecdotes and great expertise. Sign up here.
You can find all the information on www.ortsmuseum-meilen.ch.
Download the exhibition prospectus here:
