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Belle-Idée

Site Canton of Geneva · Uninhabited site (municipality of Thônex)
Part of the municipality of Thônex
View of Belle-Idée
Photo: Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr, Wikimedia Commons
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Must-see historical sites Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Belle-Idée

« Belle-Idée » is said to combine « Bel-Air », the name of the former asylum, and « Mon-Idée », the neighbouring site where a geriatric hospital opened in 1972.

Founding of Belle-Idée

Belle-Idée is a hospital site in the municipality of Thônex, which also extends into Chêne-Bourg. At the end of the 19th century, the Genevan asylum of Les Vernets had a very bad reputation and lacked places. A commission on the question of the insane chose an asylum in the countryside, on the Bel-Air estate. The Bel-Air psychiatric institution opened in 1900. It also served as a university clinic. It has since been attached to the Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, as the Belle-Idée site.[1][2][3]

History of Belle-Idée

1892. On 29 January the minority of the commission on the question of the insane submits its report. The majority proposes an asylum in the countryside, the solution adopted, on the Bel-Air estate.[3]

1900. Inauguration of the Bel-Air asylum, a psychiatric institution that also serves as a university clinic.[1][5]

1946. The asylum becomes the Psychiatric Clinic.[5]

1959-1975. Julian de Ajuriaguerra, holder of the chair of psychiatry at the University of Geneva, co-directs the Bel-Air university psychiatric clinic.[7]

1995. The Institutions universitaires de psychiatrie merge with the other Genevan public care institutions into the Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève.[5][6]

2025. On 19 February the Council of State presents the Belle-Idée/Trois-Chêne Masterplan, which provides for a new psychiatric hospital on the « Les Lilas » plot.[4][8]

2026. On 5 June the winning design « Canopée » (ffbk Architectes and PTArchitecten), chosen from 29 proposals, is presented to the public. The new 129-bed hospital is announced for 2033 or 2034 (announcements vary).[8]

Historic sites in Belle-Idée

Hôpital des Trois-Chêne. Hospital of the Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève located on the Belle-Idée estate.

Sources

  1. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Thônex » (Dominique Zumkeller), version du 19.02.2014
  2. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Psychiatrie » (Vincent Barras), version du 20.08.2026
  3. Université de Genève, exposition « Figures de l'ombre », « Des Vernets à Bel-Air »
  4. Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, « Construction d'un nouvel hôpital psychiatrique sur le domaine de Belle-Idée »
  5. Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, « De l'Hôpital général aux HUG » (chronologie)
  6. Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, « 30 ans d'excellence au service des patientes et des patients » (mise à jour 03.09.2025)
  7. Collège de France, « Julian de Ajuriaguerra », biographie
  8. Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, « Évolution de l'infrastructure de la psychiatrie hospitalière »
  9. geo.admin.ch, service de recherche de swisstopo (Belle-Idée, Thônex, coordonnées)

Other villages near Belle-Idée

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