Completed in 1917, this jewel of hermeticism required three years of work and over a million tesserae made in Murano. It's a treasure trove of symbolism, blending the arcana of the Tarot with the wheel of the Zodiac.
Mary Wallace Shillito was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, in 1876. Her father, a powerful businessman, made his fortune in railroads, copper mines and Chicago department stores. From an early age, Mary had a deep admiration for her younger sister Violet. As teenagers, the two sisters delightfully immersed themselves in a Paris in the grip of Orientalism. Violet died of typhoid fever in Cannes in 1901, aged 24. Mary, inconsolable, travels the world. One fine afternoon in the summer of 1904, Mary and a few friends, including her best friend Marcelle Senard (1879-1971), visited modest oat-growing clearings on the slopes of the Salève. With no passable road, it took them an hour to walk up from Cruseilles. They were overwhelmed by the exceptional beauty of the panorama. Instantly, Marie decided to build here the shrine she dreamed of dedicating to her sister Violet, who had died too soon... Her parents had just died, and she was now alone, at the head of an immense fortune. She buys the land, sold by farmers in Cruseilles.
Services
Services
Restaurant
Bar
Sales on site
Boutique
Tourist brochures
No pets allowed
Accessibility
Accessibility
Possibility of drop-off in front of the site
Rates
Rates
Free
—
On request.
Openings
Openings
All year
All year
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
08:00 - 16:00
Thursday
08:00 - 16:00
Friday
08:00 - 16:00
Saturday
08:00 - 16:00
Sunday
08:00 - 16:00
on reservation
Location
Location
Spoken languages
Spoken languages
Environment
Environment
- In the mountains
- Isolated
