The totem poles travelled for more than two months to reach Switzerland from Alaska, first by liner from Ketchikan to Seattle, then through the Panama Canal and across the Atlantic to Antwerp before reaching Geneva by lorry. As soon as the packing crates arrived in the museum’s garden in February 1956, they attracted the attention of the pupils of Carl-Vogt Boulevard’s school. After being inspected by customs, the totem poles waited several months before being erected and inaugurated in the museum’s garden on 9 June 1956. L. Monot/MEG