The Bex Arts Triennial is held in Szilassy Park, a nearly 20-acre site originally known as En Soressex (“Above the Rock”) because it sits atop a gypsum cliff on the northern edge of the town of Bex. The park offers unbroken views of the surrounding mountainscape, including notable peaks such as the Dents du Midi, the Dent de Morcles and Les Diablerets.
Aside from its nearly 200-year-old landscaped gardens, the site is also known for its many remarkable trees, including copper beech, chestnut, sessile oak, Atlas cedar, Austrian pine and Lawson’s cypress.
The park is an ideal site for a summer open-air exhibition that welcomes visitors of all ages and backgrounds.
The Bex Arts Triennial has been held there every three years since 1981.
Szilassy Park
The park was designed and built between 1835 and 1838 by Lady Louisa Anne Hope and her daughter Elisabeth. In keeping with the Enlightenment-inspired vision of nature as something to be admired and contemplated, these two British aristocrats fashioned the site in the image of an English landscape garden. The carefully chosen vistas, which frame the surrounding scenery like a series of paintings, reflect a broader fascination with the Swiss Alps among Europe’s high society of the day who, according to historian Claude Reichler, saw this landscape as a refuge from the trials and tribulations of modern life. Rooted in both cultural and landscape traditions, Szilassy Park expresses this distinctly human yearning for emotional and spiritual connection with nature.
The park is named after Count Jules de Szilassy, a Hungarian nobleman who came to Bex in 1869 to seek treatment for an eye condition and went on to marry Laura Correvon, the adopted daughter of Elisabeth Hope.After the family fell on hard times, the estate was rented out in the early 20th century before being bequeathed to the Canton of Vaud in 1949. Charles and Francis de Szilassy, the sons of Laura and Jules, were granted special permission to stay in the family home and tend to the fields, gardens, greenhouses and beehives. The last remaining descendant, Julia de Szilassy, lived there until her death in 1969.
Under the ownership of the Canton of Vaud, the manor house was converted first into a school and, later, into a youth residential centre. The former owners are commemorated in a small family cemetery in the grounds of the park.
Youth residential centre
Since 2008, the manor house in Szilassy Park has housed a youth residential centre run by local non-profit Association de la Maison des Jeunes. The facility offers a structured, tailor-made educational programme for eight young people aged 15–18 facing various struggles in their lives, as it helps them integrate into society and prepare for entry into the workplace. The centre is staffed around the clock by a team of educators and night supervisors.