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Môtiers Today
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In about the year 1772 the
little village of Môtiers gained another two residents.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his housekeeper (gouvernante)
and mistress, Thérèse, who were running from authorities
in France. Jean-Jacques had written a book espousing
certain ideas that the French authorities did not find to their liking,
and ordered Jean-Jacques' arrest. A woman offered him a refuge
in Môtiers where she had a small apartment in which
he and Thérèse could live. Môtiers was
then under Prussian rule, and so a safe haven. Jean-Jacques
accepted the invitation, set about changing the accommodations to
his liking, and he and Thérèse moved in. |
| Môtiers was
the kind of place that very much agreed with Jean-Jacques.
The village was quiet, rural and close to mountains, forests and trails
in which he could wander, which he was apt to do. Always the individualist
and not afraid to stand out from the crowd in thought or practice
he adopted the traditional costume of an Armenian, which he wasn't.
In his free time, which he seemed to have plenty of, he spent time
talking with the the villagers, walking the trails in the nearby forests,
making lace, which he gave as little rewards to local women who chose
to breast feed their infants, and continued his writing. The latter
got him into more trouble. Inflamed by the preaching of a local pastor
a group of angry villagers threatened the couple by throwing stones
at their window. Jean-Jacques decided it was time to leave. |
Home of Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, Môtiers, Switzerland.
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Stairway to Home of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Môtiers.
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The village of Môtiers
has changed little from the 1770's. Many of the buildings are still
standing from that period including the building in which Jean-Jacques
and Thérèse lived. The water fountain, a stone's throw from
their front door, still collects water in its basin, the local church
still stands as do small bridges across which Jean-Jacques
and Thérèse would have crossed. The natural area in which
he wandered is still wooded and Môtiers and the surrounding
area is still rural. Môtiers is still a quiet little
village. |
| You can walk the streets
where this 18th century individualist walked, and the trails he wandered
in the hills, and visit the waterfall he could see from the village.
And, you can get an excellent idea of what a village looked like in
the 1700s for the village still looks much the same. |
Bridge Over River,
Môtiers, Switzerland.
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Bust of Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
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Jean-Jacques and
Thérèse's apartment is now a little museum. In the building
next to Rousseau's home and museum is an additional museum
well worth your time. Many museums one might visit in Europe are big
and grand, and house important collections of art and history. This
little museum has important exhibits, also, if only because the museum's
collections are not very well represented elsewhere. Here is an exhibit
dedicated to the absinthe, that liquor, which until very
recently, was outlawed because of its supposed potent effects. Another
of the museum's rooms houses the shop of a horse collar maker. What
was put in those big thick leather horse collars that draft horses
wore, making it easier to pull heavy wagon loads? How were these horse
collars fashioned, and what tools were used to make them? You can
find out here, and you will never look at a horse collar the same
way again. In the old days farmers in these mountains and valleys
would make clocks in the winter months when there was less work to
be done and more free hours. The museum preserves the workbench of
a clockmaker, including his tools, and examples of handmade clocks.
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You can drive to Môtiers
from the town of Neuchâtel
in less than 30 minutes or you can take a train which takes about
35 minutes. The train stops right on the edge of the village. The
village main street, Grand Rue, is only two minutes walk
away, and Rousseau and Thérèse's home is on a side street
just another three minutes down the Grand Rue. If you continue
down the Grand Rue passing Rousseau's side street
you will come to hills and forests where Rousseau used to
wander, and the waterfalls that captured his attention.
Big cities such as Paris and Geneva and Rome
and bigger towns like Neuchâtel are certainly important,
but these smaller villages are equally important in their own unique
way for it is in villages and rural areas like this that most of the
population of Europe once lived, and on which the the people in the
cities and towns depended for food and other products. These little
places are worth a visit for a fuller, more complete view of life
in Europe now and in the old days.
For Information on the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Museum in Neuchâtel |
Figurine of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
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