26 Jun 2023 - Three decades ago on Olympic Day, the Olympic Museum’s new location on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lausanne, Switzerland, was inaugurated. On 24 June, the museum celebrated its 30th anniversary alongside 3,000 guests, including nine Olympians and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, himself an Olympic gold medallist.
Jean-François Pahud, who worked as the museum’s first curator between 1982 and 2003, fondly remembered its beginnings.
“Before this beautiful museum, there was a provisional museum located in the heart of Lausanne, which for 10 years collected all it could to fill the new museum,” Pahud explained. “To start with, there were no complete collections, whether of torches, medals, etc. It took 10 years of hard work to remedy that. The last item I received before retiring was the running shoes worn by Cathy Freeman when she won the 400 metres at the Olympic Games Sydney 2000.”
Since the building’s opening in 1993, it has grown to house 3,000 m2 of exhibitions, undergone a full renovation in 2013, added the TOM Café – renowned equally for its local cuisine and its stunning views – and welcomed nearly six million visitors.
Highlights of the day included a block party with local entertainment group Radio Kaizman, a photo booth, birthday cupcakes, circus and theatre performances, and a golden piñata broken open by Olympians. Visitors also enjoyed free entry to the museum and special tours of its stored collections, library and archives, discovering a few of the nearly 100,000 items that are not on display in the permanent exhibitions.
In the evening, President Bach celebrated with the community at the TOM Café, where diners were serenaded by the IOC’s own band, The Coubertines. Attendees enjoyed dancing along to popular music from the last 30 years.
What’s next for the museum? In addition to Paris 2024-related projects, “we are planning to renovate the museum in the coming years, and are looking to expand it digitally, among other things with virtual tours and a web platform that will allow us to engage with visitors from all over the world,” said Yasmin Meichtry, Associate Director of the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage.
For more information about the Olympic Museum, please visit olympics.com/museum.
