Medieval galley launched on Lake Geneva

Liberté, the medieval galley, is launched on Lake Geneva for her maiden voyage Keystone

Forty-five thousand people gathered on the shores of Lake Geneva on Saturday to cheer the launch of a 140-tonne medieval galley, called "Liberté". The wooden sailing ship, which took eight years to construct, was built by unemployed people, and was the brainchild of unionist, Jean-Pierre Hirt.

“We had to do something to occupy the unemployed, so that they wouldn’t forget their skills, and wouldn’t become demoralised,” Hirt told swissinfo.

With a budget of SFr2.5 million, Hirt and his team of around 600 people started the project to build the 55m long and 25m wide boat in 1982.

The ship, which is a replica of the vessels which navigated Lake Geneva’s waters in the thirteenth century, was launched from the lakeside town of Morges in canton Vaud.

But the project did not always run as smoothly as Saturday’s maiden voyage. “Little by little, wood cutters, carpenters and cabinetmakers disappeared,” said Jean-Paul Poget, the construction director. “Other unemployed people then came to work with us,” he added.

Poget said that at least one third of those who worked on the galley have since found a job, either temporary or permanent.

Celebrations to mark the event in Morges are set to go on until Sunday ending with a grand medieval festival.

Work inside the galley will also continue. Cabins able to host up to 30 passengers will be constructed in true historic style. Hirt said he also hoped to build port-village, which would serve as a museum to preserve the trades of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

But that is another project to be tackled at a later date. For the time being Hirt is concentrating on celebrating Liberté’s first outing on Lake Geneva.

swissinfo