Partners

Pierre Gianadda Foundation

Biography of the patron of the nineteen stained glass windows of the cathedral in the upper town of Vaison-la-Romaine

Léonard Gianadda was born on August 23, 1935 in Martigny, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. After classical training at the College de l’Abbaye de Saint-Maurice, Léonard studied engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique of the University of Lausanne.
His interest in art and archaeology, discovered in his adolescence, is great and continues to grow over time, during his various travels and meetings. After obtaining his engineering degree in 1960, Léonard Gianadda opened an engineering office in Martigny

In 1976, a Gallo-Roman temple was discovered on the site where he planned to build a building and Pierre Gianadda, his brother, died in a plane crash. This combination of circumstances motivates Léonard Gianadda to create, around the remains, a Foundation with a cultural purpose to perpetuate the memory of his brother.
The engineer-patron gradually developed close contacts with museums and collectors around the world, as well as with renowned musicians. These privileged exchanges opened doors for him and allowed him to organize exceptional exhibitions and concerts at the Pierre Gianadda Foundation.
Over the years Léonard Gianadda has completed the cultural offerings of the Foundation. He set up the Gallo-Roman Museum, the automobile museum and the sculpture park in the gardens. Its action also extends to the town of Martigny, notably through the roundabouts decorated with sculptures by Swiss artists, the seventeen stained glass windows by Hans Erni offered to the Protestant church, and the Great Saint Bernard dog museum.
The repercussions of such cultural patronage were not long in coming, honours rained down on Léonard Gianadda: knight, officer, commander of the Legion of Honour; member of the section of Foreign Associates of the Academy of Fine Arts in 2001; installation under the Dome of the Institut de France in 2003; member of the Acquisitions Commission of the Musée d'Orsay from 2004 to 2010, administrator of the Phillips Collection in Washington from 2005 to 2014, member of the Acquisitions Commission of the Rodin Museum from 2006 to 2012, Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2007.
This active patronage of Léonard Gianadda was extended to Vaison-la-Romaine, a town twinned with his hometown, Martigny. In 2017, the Valais patron, captivated by the beauty of the cathedral of the medieval city for which he offered many donations, offered the nineteen stained glass windows by the artist Kim En Joong which adorn the cathedral from the fall of 2019.

Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence Foundation

Stéphane BERN Mission

Patrimony Foundation

Vaison la Romaine

20200916 partenaires

	Because Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence is a regional cooperative bank, its ambition is to be useful to the region and its inhabitants. To express its difference by giving local meaning to its results, the Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence Foundation was created in 2006. For 14 years, it has supported initiatives for solidarity, education, culture, and heritage. The Foundation has thus enabled more than 450 projects to come to fruition. In this context, the Foundation supports the restoration of an interior fresco in the Cathedral of the medieval city of Vaison-la-Romaine.
The fourth chapel, slightly predating the expansion of 1599, opens onto the nave through a semicircular arcade. Three steps lead to the chapel which, like the one opposite, is closed off by a masonry balustrade. The north wall contains a stone pillar bearing lapidary signs that very likely come from the Saint-Laurent chapel and date back to the construction work of 1464. It also contains a niche.
	The rounded arch vault features the remains of a painted decoration (a crowning of the Virgin, surrounded by the 4 evangelists, and a Saint Jerome). This decoration, dated to the 16th century, was first consolidated in 1994. The west wall has a large window. Externally, the west wall is supported against the belfry and is therefore posterior to it. A groove in the construction, to the left of the window, likely indicates the original roof of the chapel. The south wall includes three niches (a statue of a Virgin with Child) and a masonry altar.