Maison D'Ailleurs - History

History

The Maison d'Ailleurs originates from the work of the French encyclopedian Pierre Versins, who dedicated his life to writing and the study of what he named "rational romanesque conjectures" ("conjectures romanesques rationnelles" in French). For more than twenty years, he gathered a very important collection of science fiction works. Based on this corpus, he wrote one of the major books in this domain, the Encyclopédie de l'utopie, des voyages extraordinaires et de la science-fiction. In 1976, he donated his assets to the city of Yverdon-les-Bains and the Maison d'Ailleurs was created. Pierre Versins acts as its curator until he moves back to France in 1981. Initially, the Maison d'Ailleurs only occupies a three-room flat, and doesn't have the ambition of a museum.

After a lethargy period (during which the direction is held by Pascal Ducommun), the municipality of Yverdon-les-Bains decides in 1989 to install the Maison d'Ailleurs in the renovated old prison, a historical building built in 1806 and well-situated in the center of the city. The journalist Roger Gaillard (1947–2010) is chosen as its curator and the new museum opens in 1991.

By the end of 1995, the communal council of Yverdon decided to cut more than 70% of the budget for the next year, which dramatically reduced the organizational slack of the Maison d'Ailleurs and generated a lot of negative reactions. The majority of the staff was dismissed. In 1998, a foundation is created to manage the museum. Its first decision is to give the direction to historian Patrick Gyger, who takes over in February 1999.