Versoix, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland

Versoix is a city and a municipality in the canton of Geneva located on the right bank of Lake Geneva. Penultimate Geneva municipality before the canton of Vaud, it borders the Vaud municipalities of Chavannes-des-Bois and Mies, as well as the Geneva municipalities of Genthod and Collex-Bossy. The distance from the centre of Geneva is about 10 km, and it takes around 15 minutes by train or car to get into downtown.

Versoix has an area, as of 2009, of 10.51 square kilometers (4.06 sq mi). Of this area, 3.06 km2 (1.18 sq mi) or 29.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) or 38.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.4 km2 (1.3 sq mi) or 32.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.08 km2 (20 acres) or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.1% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 19.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 8.7%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.8%. Out of the forested land, 36.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 23.1% is used for growing crops and 3.5% is pastures, while 2.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 0.4% is in rivers and streams.

The municipality of Versoix consists of the sub-sections or villages of Richelien, Creuson, Sauverny, Petit-Saint-Loup, Ecogia, Versoix-la-Ville, Pont-Céard, Port-Choiseul, Versoix-Bourg, Versoix – lac, Crève-Cœur.

History
The castle of Versoix and its outbuildings originally belonged to the barony of Faucigny. The castle is mentioned in the 11th  -  12th century (1022), as did nine other castrated “Geneva”. Béatrix, only daughter of Pierre de Savoie and Agnès, lady of Faucigny, wife in 1251 Guigue VII, dauphin of Viennese; by this marriage, the barony of Faucigny passes into the hands of their son Jean. Béatrix hires the Château de Versoix for 4,000 pounds to Artemond de Baldica or de Valdec, lawyer from Basel, whose receipt on 25 February 1290.

Pierre de Savoie, future Count of Savoy, undertook the construction of the village around 1257. The June 2, 1282, the counts of Geneva and the dolphins of the Viennese sign a treaty with Béatrice de Faucigny, the daughter of the count Pierre II of Savoy and the wife of Guigues VII of the Viennese, to take back the lands that Pierre had received as a pledge from the counts of Geneva in 1250. These lands had been confiscated by Philip I, the new count of Savoy. From 1282 to the beginning of the xiv th century, Versoix coalition opposes Philippe Comte and later his successor Amédée V.

In 1571, this seigneury was sold and subservient, at the price of 25,000 gold crowns, by Emmanuel-Philibert, Duke of Savoy, to Nicolas de Watteville, baron and lord of Châteauvilain in Franche-Comté, and lord of Colombier, in the county of Neufchâtel, by his mother. In 1598, Duke Charles-Emmanuel of Savoy erected the land of Versoix as a marquisate, as a reward for the services rendered by Nicolas de Watteville and Gérard, his son.

After the exchange of the Marquisate of Saluces in 1601, that of Versoix was part of the country of Gex which had become French. Gérard de Watteville appeals to the court of accounts of Dijon and the parliament of Paris so that the King of France maintains and keeps the sales and alienations made by the Duke of Savoy. As the decision of this trial was too long overdue, Gérard turned to Charles-Emmanuel of Savoy who, to compensate him, ceded him, theMarch 6, 1621, the land of Conflans. This was set up as a marquisate, but as it did not have an income equal to that of Versoix, the duke supplied it with an annuity of 1,440 gold ecus assigned to the salts of Chambéry.

The new town of Versoix is created in the 18th century at the request of the Duke of Choiseul and with the support of the Count of Ferney, Voltaire. Versoix is then still on French territory and is intended to compete with Geneva. In 1767, the planning was entrusted to the military engineer Pierre Joseph de Bourcet. He designed an agglomeration of regular, octagonal plan, to be built on the shore of the lake a few hundred meters from the medieval site of Versoix-le-Bourg, to allow the construction of a port. The disgrace of Choiseul in 1770 slows down the project. Construction resumed a little later with a less ambitious plan proposed by Jean Querret, chief engineer of Bridges and Roads in Franche-Comté. This project, which provided for a city of ten thousand inhabitants, was approved by King Louis XV in 1773, but was finally abandoned in 1777 without the port being completed. All that remains is the canal diverting the waters of the Versoix to supply the new town with water. Much later, in 1965, the port was completed according to the old plan.

During the French Revolution, Versoix, which was attached to the department of Ain, took the revolutionary name of Versoix-la-Raison. In 1798, the city was part of the new department of Léman (capital of Geneva). Under the Treaty of Paris of 1815, Versoix is attached to the canton of Geneva, like six other communes (Pregny, Collex-Bossy, Grand-Saconnex, Meyrin and Vernier) of the country of Gex to allow the entry of the canton of Geneva into the Swiss Confederation after 1815. The eastern part of Sauverny is attached to it under the name of Sauverny-Genève. Indeed, Switzerland demanded that the Republic of Geneva have a common border with the canton of Vaud.. The agreement between France and Switzerland on this transfer of sovereignty was successful in 1816.

Economy
As of 2010, Versoix had an unemployment rate of 7.2%. As of 2008, there were 44 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 421 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 66 businesses in this sector. 2,060 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 277 businesses in this sector. There were 4,864 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 46.1% of the workforce.

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 2,146. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 34, of which 20 were in agriculture, 11 were in forestry or lumber production and 2 were in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 405 of which 248 or (61.2%) were in manufacturing, 8 or (2.0%) were in mining and 135 (33.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 1,707. In the tertiary sector; 249 or 14.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 40 or 2.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 135 or 7.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 12 or 0.7% were in the information industry, 51 or 3.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 77 or 4.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 665 or 39.0% were in education and 278 or 16.3% were in health care.

In 2000, there were 1,534 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,669 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 10.7% of the workforce coming into Versoix are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.3% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 18.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 63.9% used a private car.

Religion
From the 2000 census, 3,667 or 35.6% were Roman Catholic, while 1,963 or 19.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 191 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.85% of the population), there were 13 individuals (or about 0.13% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 265 individuals (or about 2.57% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 45 individuals (or about 0.44% of the population) who were Jewish, and 554 (or about 5.37% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 46 individuals who were Buddhist, 54 individuals who were Hindu and 23 individuals who belonged to another church. 2,311 (or about 22.42% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 1,177 individuals (or about 11.42% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education
In Versoix about 2,774 or (26.9%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 2,132 or (20.7%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 2,132 who completed tertiary schooling, 31.4% were Swiss men, 26.9% were Swiss women, 22.2% were non-Swiss men and 19.5% were non-Swiss women.

During the 2009-2010 school year there were a total of 3,061 students in the Versoix school system. The education system in the Canton of Geneva allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten. During that school year, there were 200 children who were in a pre-kindergarten class. The canton’s school system provides two years of non-mandatory kindergarten and requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In Versoix there were 413 students in kindergarten or primary school and 65 students were in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 413 lower secondary students who attended school in Versoix. There were 605 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 90 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 596 students attended a private school.

As of 2000, there were 1,082 students in Versoix who came from another municipality, while 688 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Versoix is home to the Bibliothèque Communale de Versoix library which is found in the Bolero Building.

In Versoix there are four primary public schools:Ami-Argand, Bon Séjour, École Lachenal and Monfleury. These schools go from Kindergarten to 6th grade. There is one public Middle school, the Collège des Colombières. This school goes from 7th to 9th grade. Students from Versoix, Genthod, Bellevue, Céligny, Chavannes-des-Bois and Crassier go to this school. There are no High Schools in Versoix, so the students have to go to Geneva. There is one private school Collège du Léman.

Sights
It is the hub for many humanitarian organizations and other organizations within the environmental, science and technology fields. The university of Geneva has part of its campus, in particular the department of astronomy and its observatory, in Versoix, while the International Committee of the Red Cross maintains a training center there. Versoix has its official music band, the “Musique Municipale de Versoix”, which also provides a music school. Versoix is also known for the impressive ice formations, or icicles, which can be seen mainly in the coast line during the winter.

The Bourg, a Bronze Age littoral settlement, and the Villa Bartholony (Sans Souci) are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The Bourg settlement is part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Culture
The city of Versoix has its municipal harmony, the municipal music of Versoix, a second division harmony composed of forty musicians. It is also a popular music school, run by professional musicians.

Each year, an association (La Gallagiu) organizes a “beer festival” called La Gallagiu (compression of the nickname of the organizers). This festival is intended to raise funds for associations for the benefit of children or having a cultural purpose. Almost 64,300.- francs have been donated since 2006 to the various associations.

Versoix also hosts and organizes FestiChoc, a chocolate festival that attracts many people every year. Salon des artisan chocolatiers, tastings, visit to the Favarger chocolate factory and various activities for children on the program.

Events and festivals
The city of Versoix organizes many events throughout the year such as:
The Soup of January 1st. The population is invited to share a convivial moment around a succulent soup prepared by the Confrérie des Potes au Feu.
Festichoc (every year, 2 weeks before Easter). The biggest festival in Switzerland dedicated to chocolate! With 50,000 festival-goers in 2017, Festichoc is the largest event in Versailles and brings together more than 30 artisan chocolate makers each year who come to exhibit their creations and sell their chocolate products. Family-friendly and friendly, this free festival offers many events around chocolate with food stands and an exhibition of chocolate sculptures. More info under www.festichoc.ch
La Sérénade au Maire (May). The Municipal Music of Versoix offers the serenade to the new Mayor in the park of the Town Hall and the new citizens are welcomed by our authorities. This event is open to the population.
School promotions (end of June). To celebrate the end of the school year, more than 1,000 children from all schools in Versailles gather at the Espace Lachenal after having strolled through the city during the highly anticipated Procession of Promotions. Rides, stands and music accompany this festive moment before the start of the summer holidays.
National Day – August 1st. Each year on the Versoix quays with an exceptional view of Lake Geneva, the city of Versoix, in collaboration with the Sauvetage de Versoix, offers a festive evening to celebrate the birthday of our country. Speeches from the authorities, food stands, MMV concert, fireworks, alphorn concert, procession with lanterns and dance ball make up the program for this beautiful evening.
WeAre18! (October). This event, by invitation only, is dedicated to young adults of the municipality who come of age.
Climbing Festival (early December). The City Council is organizing this beautiful party commemorating the victory of the Genevans over the invader from Savoy during an evening consisting of a procession, a serenade, a disguise contest and the breaking of the large chocolate pot. The festivities take place at the municipal hall of Lachenal.

Chocolate
The City of Versoix is home to two chocolate companies, the Cartier chocolate factory (founded and established in Versoix since 1858) and the Favarger Chocolate factory (founded in 1826 and established in Versoix since 1875). The town hall has been organizing a free annual “chocolate festival”, the Festichoc, which welcomes several artisan chocolatiers exhibiting creations of chocolate pieces. Since 2004, Versoix has organized a chocolate festival. At this festival you can taste various artisan chocolates and visit the Favarger chocolate factory. There are fun activities to do, like treasure hunts. In 2010, a five-meter tall chocolate bunny statue was built on site.

Forest
The commune of Versoix enjoys a large forest, 22 ha of woods and forests in the middle of a wooded area of 617 ha in direct connection with the forests of Jura and the canton of Vaud. The woods of Versoix were completely overhauled in the 1950s by the Geneva State Councilor Aymon de Senarclens, then head of the Department of the Interior and Agriculture, who set in motion a policy of conservation and restoration of our forests.

There are several types of plant formations. The most extensive is the charming oak grove of the plateaus on clay soil, the mesophilic oak grove grows on more fertile soils in the hollow of depressions and the hygrophilic oak-ash grove along the rivers. The beeches of the forest of the slopes fix the soil near the Old Building. Each one is accompanied by its characteristic plants of the undergrowth: molinie, gouet or ferns, as well as shrubs, buckthorn, glutinous alder and juniper.

The Bois du Faisan, covering an area of 9.5 ha, has been a nature reserve since 1933, located on the right bank of the Versoix river. It consists of moist alder groves at the bottom of the valley, beech groves on the slopes and charming oak groves on the plateau.