Historical automata as the origin of digitization. André Ginesta presents his most beautiful pieces at the local museum in Meilen.

"Dancing dolls and singing birds" André Ginesta has put his heart and soul into the real estate world for over 50 years. He has been successfully managing the Ginesta company forover 40 years. What many people don't know: Besides real estate, André Ginesta has a few more passions. One of them is collecting historical automata. From November 12 to December 11, 2022, André and Evelyne Ginesta's extensive collection will be on display in the "Dancing Dolls and Singing Birds" exhibition at the Meilen Local Museum. Visitors can admire these historical marvels of technology and human ingenuity on a guided tour.

Date

17.11.2022

Author

gin001-s

The Persians, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all 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.

In this colorful, fascinating and not always silent exhibition, visitors can discover preserved examples of European automata from the 14th century onwards. The special focus is on exhibits that were produced from around 1800 for the entertainment of the upper classes. For example, barrel organs equipped with dancing dolls, other doll automata of all kinds and various singing, mechanical birds, some of which can hardly be distinguished from living birds in terms of their singing and movement.

In addition, a very rare specialty will be presented, which was discovered in the extensive doll automaton collection of Annette Beyer from Zurich: A writing automaton that masters the entire ABC and still works today. A milestone in automation, which incidentally 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 to all the royal houses. Today they can be seen in the “Musée d’Art et d’Histoire” in Neuchâtel. Together with the even more perfect automaton by Maillardet, they are the only known automatons of this type that still work today. This fascinating find and much more will soon be on exclusive display in Meilen for a short time only.

As all the exhibits will be put into operation for a really worthwhile visit, the exhibition can only be visited as part of the free guided tours that take place every half hour. André Ginesta will personally lead some of these tours and will provide entertainment and amusement with amusing anecdotes and great expertise. You can register here.

All information can be found at www.ortsmuseum-meilen.ch.

Download the exhibition brochure here: download__58__download