Museum of Estavayer-le-Lac and its frogs

The frogs were created in the 19th century by François Perrier, a former officer at the Vatican. He sought to recreate typical scenes from everyday life in Estavayer-le-Lac. The frog vignettes include an electoral banquet, a class of schoolchildren, a family meal, soldiers on exercise, and a lawyer sitting at his desk. François Perrier painstakingly reproduced the furniture and fittings of the day in miniature, which gives this collection its unique character. His work is a masterpiece of taxidermy, a fascinating example of anthropomorphic art, as well as a curiosity of social history.

Visitors will be delighted to know that restoration work on the frog collection has been recently completed.

The Estavayer-le-Lac museum is also home to a treasure trove of exhibits dating from the 15th to the 20th century. Most of the collections were privately owned by local families. In the early part of the 20th century, these families entrusted their collections to the then brand-new museum of local history (May 1927) to ensure that this heritage could be preserved and enjoyed by the generations to come.