Ho Ho Ho!

This year, Santa Claus won't be waiting until the night of 24 December to show his face. The Castle of Gruyères is lifting the curtain on a part of the origins of the old man with the white beard and, through more than a hundred historical objects, is tracing the paths taken by the venerable Saint Nicholas of Myra to transform himself into Santa Claus in the United States.

Ho Ho Ho! evokes the history of a figure that is inextricably linked with the end-of-year festivities, and who, over the generations, has never ceased to evolve, taking on the features of Saint Nicholas, Sinterklass, whom Dutch immigrants took with them to America, and then Father Christmas. Immortalised by the illustrator Thomas Nast in the mid-nineteenth century, the jolly figure in red has amused children and advertisers ever since, who have not hesitated to have him extol the virtues of the most disparate products.

Exhibition curator,
Marie Rochel

The exhibition received invaluable support from the Museum of Art and History in Fribourg, the Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel, the Beat Frey Collection and the Dietrich Collection.