The failed migration of Switzerland’s Helvetii

Poster for the "Helvètes migrants" exhibition at the Roman Museum in Avenches. DR

The Roman Museum in Avenches in western Switzerland is hosting the exhibition "Helvetes Migrants", a project by photographer Yves André on the failed migration of the Helvetii tribes in 58 BC.

The attempted migration of the Helvetii is a well-known episode described by Julius Caesar in the first book of The Gallic War. It followed the Celtic tribe’s attempt – and failure – to leave the Swiss Plateau en masse.

Fearing pressure from Germanic tribes and constrained by limited land, the Helvetii sought to migrate towards the Atlantic coast of what is now southwestern France. Their plans were thwarted by Roman troops, forcing them to return home.

A journey through landscapes

Yves André’s exhibition invites visitors to reflect on population movements and migration by following the route the Helvetii are thought to have taken. The project was inspired by a personal discovery in Autun, Burgundy, and by discussions with Gilbert Kaenel, then director of the Lausanne Museum of Archaeology.

The route described in The Gallic War forms the backbone of the exhibition. André set out to retrace it – not on foot, as he initially hoped, but by motorbike – photographing the landscapes along the way. “I spent several months studying maps, trying to understand how they might have travelled,” he told Swiss public radio RTS on January 2.

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This detailed preparatory work allowed him to identify a plausible route between Avenches and Saintonge, an ancient region between the Charente and Garonne rivers. Given the lack of precise historical data, he focused on areas known to contain Celtic and Gallic sites.

Artistic choices

The exhibition has a carefully considered visual approach. André worked with a medium-format camera fitted with a shift lens, commonly used in architectural photography. “I decided to take two views of each location,” he explains. “One showing the landscape as it might have appeared to the Helvetii, and one reflecting its present-day appearance.”

Photographs taken along the outward route are in colour, depicting landscapes that André believes have changed little since antiquity. By contrast, images of the area where the Helvetii were forced to turn back are presented in a vertical format. The return journey is shown in black and white, symbolising loss, nostalgia and the fading hopes of a people compelled to abandon their migration attempt.

Through this visual narrative, the exhibition, which runs until January 25, makes an important link between the historic episode and contemporary questions about population movement, borders and belonging.

Adapted from French with AI/amva/sb