2000 – Today

Following the tradition of the first two “Dialogues of Cultures” initiated by Denis de Rougemont in Geneva in 1961 and in Basel in 1964 (Europe-World Conference), the Centre organised two international meetings on this theme in 2004, one in Geneva in January in cooperation with the University (Faculty of Arts) and the Latsis Foundation, the other in Lisbon in April at the Gulbenkian Foundation with the support of the Latsis and Luso-American Foundations and under the patronage of Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso, who opened the session with a vibrant tribute to Denis de Rougemont, whose student he was. Amongst the presentations were those of Professor of Legal Philosophy Alexis Keller on the Geneva Agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, of which he was one of the inspirers, and that of Hélène Ahrweiler, former Rector of the Académie de Paris, on the theme of education and peace, whilst European Commissioner Viviane Reding evoked the role of the European Union in opening up to the world in the field of education, in particular through the Erasmus Mundus programme. The contribution of Europe to the dialogue of cultures was addressed by Professors Dusan Sidjanski and Fernando Gil (from the University of Lisbon), while Professor Umberto Gori (University of Florence) showed the cultural challenges of globalisation. The pluralist essence of an intrinsically diverse European culture was the common thread of various interventions, notably those of Professors Charles Méla and Alain de Libera (University of Geneva and École pratique des Hautes Études de Paris). Professor Maurice-Ruben Hayoun (University of Geneva) contributed his reflections on Jewish identity and European culture, while the writer Abdelwahab Meddeb spoke about the divisions in contemporary Islam.

The most significant contributions of the Geneva and Lisbon meetings resulted in the book Dialogue of Cultures at the Dawn of the 21st Century: a tribute to Denis de Rougemont, published in 2007 in the collection of the European Centre for Culture by Bruylant (Brussels).

Through its President, Charles Méla, the Centre has also actively participated in several initiatives of the Martin Bodmer Foundation. In particular, we can mention the exhibition on “East – West, spiritual roots of Europe” in 2009 (Proceedings published in 2014), “Solzhenitsyn, the courage to write” in the presence of the writer’s wife in 2011, “Alexandria the Divine” in 2014, accompanied by a scientific symposium on “Barbarian Wisdom” (27-30 August), supported by the International Latsis Foundation, on the relationship between the Greek and non-Greek (barbarian, including Christian) worlds in the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman period, through the interest of the Greeks in the barbarians, Egyptians, Persians, Chaldeans, Jews and Indians, and in their philosophy. The cultural landscape of the Mediterranean and the East was profoundly modified by this and the baton was passed on to the sciences and wisdom of Baghdad in the 10th century, Cordoba and Toledo in the 12th century and Florence in the 15th century. In this context, the Centre has twice participated in the “Orient – Occident Meetings” organised at the Château Mercier in Sierre and in an exhibition in Paris in the Miró Hall of UNESCO (from 15 to 25 November 2010) of 57 photographs by Frédéric Möri on “Orient-Occident. Spiritual roots of Europe”, followed by a conference-debate in Room IV, in the framework of the World Philosophy Day (2010, International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures).

Promoting European education remains an important objective for the European Centre for Culture. In 1999, during the Latsis Foundation Awards, Professor Sidjanski met the Nobel Prize in Physics (1992) Georges Charpak, who told him about an innovative method of familiarising young children with the scientific process that he had developed with Leon Lederman, another Nobel Prize in Physics (1988): “La Main à la Pâte”.

This is a playful and experimental method of introducing 4-5 year olds to the scientific process and reasoning. It awakens their curiosity by teaching them to dialogue with others – and therefore to respect them – through the exchange of rational and convincing arguments. Beyond the scientific aspect in the strict sense, its characteristics also make it a method for learning about democratic debate and life in society. For example, in classes where it has been introduced, a significant reduction in violence between pupils has been observed. It is therefore also a tool for social integration.

On the strength of his initial contacts with Georges Charpak as well as with some of his colleagues such as Yves Quéré and Pierre Léna (of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France), Professor Sidjanski convened a colloquium in 2002 at the Centre Européen de la Culture, led by Georges Chapark and Yves Quéré, which was attended by some twenty teachers and those responsible for education policy in the French-speaking cantons of Switzerland. The experiment then developed very quickly thanks to a partnership with the Sciences-Cité platform of the University of Geneva. Unfortunately, the introduction of the experiment into school curricula came up against administrative obstacles, aggravated by the cantonal fragmentation of education policies, which hindered its dissemination in Switzerland.

At the European level, Professor Sidjanski organised a meeting in Paris in 2005 between Georges Charpak and President Barroso to make the latter aware of the importance of “La Main à la Pâte”. 1.75 million in funding from the EU as part of the “Pollen” project, which networks twelve science incubator cities. In 2010, the ‘Fibonacci’ project (named after a 13th century Pisan mathematician) took over from ‘Pollen’. The transition from “La Main à la Pâte” to “Pollen” was presented in September 2010 by Professor Sidjanski at a conference at the University of Bayreuth entitled “European Cultural Heritage and the Role of Science and Mathematics”. He also paid tribute to Georges Charpak at a ceremony held on 1 March 2011 at the Academy of Sciences of the Institut de France in Paris. The most significant contributions of the Geneva and Lisbon meetings resulted in a book entitled Dialogue of Cultures at the Dawn of the 21st Century: a tribute to Denis de Rougemont, published in 2007 in the collection of the European Centre for Culture by Bruylant (Brussels).

Through its President, Charles Méla, the Centre has also actively participated in several initiatives of the Martin Bodmer Foundation. In particular, we can mention the exhibition on “East – West, spiritual roots of Europe” in 2009 (Proceedings published in 2014), “Solzhenitsyn, the courage to write” in the presence of the writer’s wife in 2011, “Alexandria the Divine” in 2014, accompanied by a scientific symposium on “Barbarian Wisdom” (27-30 August), supported by the International Latsis Foundation, on the relationship between the Greek and non-Greek (barbarian, including Christian) worlds in the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman period, through the interest of the Greeks in the barbarians, Egyptians, Persians, Chaldeans, Jews and Indians, and in their philosophy. The cultural landscape of the Mediterranean and the East was profoundly modified by this, and the baton was passed on to the sciences and wisdom of Baghdad in the 10th century, Cordoba and Toledo in the 12th, and Florence in the 15th. In this context, the Centre has twice taken part in the “East-West Encounters” organised at the Château Mercier in Sierre and in an exhibition in Paris in the Miró Hall of UNESCO (from 15 to 25 November 2010) of 57 photographs by Frédéric Möri on “East-West. Spiritual roots of Europe”, followed by a conference-debate in Room IV, in the framework of the World Philosophy Day (2010, International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures).