CERN’s photo archives contain hundreds of thousands of images, among them hidden gems. Many of them are beautiful, while others are surprising or downright bizarre. For a long time, these photos lay forgotten in filing cabinets, stored on film or slides. Since 2014, a major digitisation project has been under way, bringing these pieces of the Laboratory’s heritage back into the light. “Digging through the archives, I was drawn to these black-and-white shots, some of which are exceptional,” explains Renilde Vanden Broeck, who has been working on the photo archive database for several years. “I thought it was a shame that no one ever saw these testimonies to CERN’s rich past.” That’s how, beginning a few years ago, these photos came to be posted regularly on CERN’s Instagram and Facebook accounts, with the hashtag #ThrowbackThursday. And Renilde has since created a collection of the most beautiful among them. Then came the idea of putting some of the photos on display for the public in Geneva, and the Bains des Pâquis seemed the perfect location. “Pâquis attracts all kinds of people. It’s the ideal place to grab the attention of those who might not normally think of coming to CERN and to inspire them to visit the Science Gateway,” says Renilde. The exhibition, which was produced in collaboration with writers and graphic designers from the Education, Communication and Outreach group, includes around forty of these photographs from the 1950s to the 1980s, telling the story of CERN’s scientific and human endeavour: incredible machines, ultra-precise work and collaboration between scientists, as well as scenes of joy and whimsy, passion and humour – in short, everything that defined CERN back then and continues to do so today. Explorers of science, past and present Jetée des Bains des Pâquis, Geneva Admission free 18 April to 22 May 2025 Practical information If you’d like to journey further into CERN’s history, you can explore the CERN photo archive database and admire Renilde’s collection of images. You’ll see that a lot of information is still missing in the database. You can help to improve it by providing additional information or captions. Click on the “Suggest a caption” link on the right above your chosen photo. If you have any interesting historical photographs relating to CERN, please send them to Heritage.Committee@cern.ch, observing these rules if possible: Digital version with a resolution of at least 1440p; With a caption in French or English that answers the questions “who, what, when, where, how”. Thank you! If all that still doesn’t satisfy your appetite for CERN’s history, why not browse the articles in the CERN70 series, published in 2024 to mark the Laboratory’s 70th anniversary.