Fodor's Expert Review Ile Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in Geneva and the son of a Genevois watchmaker, is known to history as a liberal philosopher in part because the conservative governments in Geneva and Paris so thoroughly rejected his views. His statue on this former city bastion, erected reluctantly in 1835 (57 years after his death), was surrounded by trees and his face deliberately hidden from view until the 1862 construction of the Pont du Mont-Blanc gave Rousseau the last laugh. In 2012, for Rousseau's 300th birthday, the statue was turned so visitors can once again see his face.