High in the Jura above Yverdon, Sainte-Croix is the world capital of music boxes. From the early 19th century its workshops, up to 40 companies and 600 workers at the peak, made the singing birds, music boxes and automata that delighted the world; the scenic railway up from Yverdon was built in 1893 to carry them to work.
The museum
That craft lives on at MuMAPS, the museum of mechanical art and heritage, which merged the famous CIMA with two neighbouring collections. Among some 15,000 objects you follow two centuries of “art mechanics,” from the first music movements to elaborate automata. The visit is a 75-minute guided tour with live demonstrations: the mechanisms are wound and set going in front of you, singing birds, dancers, writing dolls, stranger and more beautiful than it sounds.
What to do
- Tour MuMAPS, the music boxes and automata, with the mechanisms played for you.
- Ride the panoramic railway up from Yverdon, a climb through pine and rock with long views over the plain and the Alps.
- Walk the heights: Sainte-Croix is a major Jura hiking hub, with marked trails fanning out in every direction, including Le Chasseron and the Gorges de Covatannaz (see hiking). In winter, ski or snowshoe at Les Rasses.
Practical notes
- MuMAPS: entry CHF 14, by a 75-minute tour with demonstrations; see musees.ch for current hours.
- 34 minutes by the panoramic train from Yverdon, roughly hourly.
- The Sainte-Croix / Les Rasses ski area (1,150 to 1,580 m, about 20 km of pistes) runs in winter.
