Plaine de Plainpalais and Frankenstein's Monster

Why is it significant?

Step onto the vast, diamond-shaped expanse of the Plaine de Plainpalais, sprawling across seven hectares of red gravel and shady chestnut avenues in the heart of Geneva.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Step onto the vast, diamond-shaped expanse of the Plaine de Plainpalais, sprawling across seven hectares of red gravel and shady chestnut avenues in the heart of Geneva. This is the city's largest open civic space, hosting traveling circuses, seasonal funfairs, and Switzerland's most celebrated open-air flea market for generations. On the northern edge of the plain stands a striking and unsettling bronze figure that commands immediate attention: the statue of Frankenstein's Monster.

Walk up to this bronze sculpture created in 2014 by the Genevan artists' collective KLAT. Standing two and a half meters tall, the creature is depicted with a heavy, melancholic stride, draped in tattered bronze garments with a haunted expression upon its face. The artwork commemorates one of the foundational masterpieces of world gothic and science fiction literature, conceived on the shores of Lake Geneva.

During the freezing, rainy summer of 1816 — famously known as the Year Without a Summer following the catastrophic eruption of Mount Tambora — eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley stayed at Villa Diodati overlooking the lake with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. In Mary Shelley's groundbreaking novel, it is upon this very plain of Plainpalais that the monster first reappears to Victor Frankenstein following the murder of his young brother William.

On Wednesdays and Saturdays, the surrounding gravel transforms into an open-air treasure hunt as antique dealers and collectors spread out vintage books, antique watches, and rare oddities. The vibrant democratic spirit of Plainpalais makes it one of Geneva's most beloved gathering places. Skateboarders glide across the modern concrete bowl on the southern edge of the plaza, while open-air bookstalls attract curious students and passionate collectors beneath double rows of shading chestnut trees. The immense public square serves as a great democratic melting pot, where children play in the dust and diplomats pause during evening walks across the city.

Cross Rue des Bains westward to discover the industrial temple of modern art at MAMCO.