The Dictionnaire passionné de Lavaux
Initiated and supported by the Bovard Foundation, The Dictionnaire Passionné de Lavaux (published by Cabédita) features 87 entries on the region’s past and present.
Written by the historian Jean-Pierre Bastian, this book goes beyond the historical dimension of Lavaux. It explores its art, architecture and literature, as well as societal and wine-growing developments. Richly illustrated, it aims to broaden our understanding of the life of a community and its living environment, looking beyond the specific characteristics of individual municipalities.
A dictionary to be savoured like a glass of Chasselas
The Passionate Dictionary of Lavaux does not set out to be an academic encyclopaedia of this beautiful region on Lake Geneva. Instead, it offers a methodical exploration of knowledge across a wide range of fields. History, of course, but also art, architecture, literature, economics, religion and contemporary social developments, as well as the evolution of wine-related trades and products. The book can thus be savoured like a glass of Chasselas, in small sips, or perhaps in one go, following the proposed alphabetical order, at the risk of being enchanted by Lavaux!
These perspectives help to deepen our understanding of the life of a population and its living environment, going beyond the specific characteristics of individual municipalities. The dictionary explores the region through time and space in 87 chapters of varying lengths, from the entry ‘André Paul/Géa Augsbourg’ to that of ‘Wines of Lavaux’, not forgetting the scholarly afterword ‘The dialectic of wine and water’.
Whilst acknowledging its ‘passionate’, warm and non-exhaustive nature, the book brings together verified data and a rigorous presentation, enhanced by reproductions of documents and illustrations relating to the entries. Its aim is to gather as much relevant information as possible about Lavaux. It draws on the extensive knowledge of the author, the historian Jean-Pierre Bastian. His research, as a native of the region, has expanded our understanding of Lavaux’s past and present.
The author
Jean-Pierre Bastian, Professor Emeritus of the Sociology of Religion at the University of Strasbourg, has studied the history of the Vaud region through the lens of migration and contemporary religious history. Among other works, he is the author of *Alpine Immigration in Lavaux, 15th–16th Centuries* and *The Religious Schism in Vaud, 1847–1966*.
The *Dictionnaire passionné de Lavaux* is an initiative of the Bovard Foundation in Cully. The Foundation supported its production and publication by Cabédita in 2024.
