This is the Palais de Rumine, paid for by the fortune of a Russian-born aristocrat, Gabriel de Rumine, who left his money to the city. Grand as it is, that is not why the world knows this building. It is known for the fact that inside this palace, just over a hundred years ago, diplomats signed the Treaty of Lausanne. If you have never heard of it, let me give you some context. For this, let’s rewind to the time when the First World War was over, and one major question remained unsettled. What will happen to the defeated Ottoman Empire? The Allies had already tried to answer that with the Treaty of Sèvres, which demanded severe territorial losses and proposed extensive foreign influence over Anatolia. But the Turkish National Movement, led by Mustafa Kemal, later known as Atatürk, rejected it. Turkish forces then fought the Turkish War of Independence and defeated the Greek army in Anatolia. An armistice had stopped the fighting, but Sèvres no longer reflected the reality on the ground. A new settlement was needed, and this time the negotiations came to Lausanne. The Treaty of Lausanne was signed after Turkey negotiated with Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. This was the treaty that set the borders of the modern Republic of Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The chief figures were Turkey's İsmet İnönü, Britain's Lord Curzon, and Greece's Eleftherios Venizelos. The months of hard bargaining happened in the hotel rooms of Beau-Rivage. But the signing, the moment it became real, happened here in this building. However, this treaty carried a high human cost. Alongside the borders, it sanctioned what was called a population exchange. Well over a million people, Greeks and Turks who had lived in their towns for generations, were uprooted and forced to move across the new lines according to their religion. It was called an exchange. For the families torn from their homes, it was exile, decided by men around a table in a lakeside town far away. And this conference had one more shadow. During those very weeks, a Soviet diplomat, Vatslav Vorovsky, was shot dead by a Swiss man named Maurice Conradi, an anti-Bolshevik émigré who had fought against the Bolsheviks. He blamed the Soviet regime for the deaths and suffering of members of his family during the Russian Revolution and Civil War. He surrendered to the police and presented the killing as an act of personal revenge. The trial later that year became even more controversial. Rather than focusing only on the murder, the defence drew attention to atrocities committed under the Bolshevik regime, and the jury acquitted Conradi. For the Soviet government, this was an international outrage. A Soviet diplomat had been murdered in neutral Switzerland, and his killer had walked free. The Soviet Union broke diplomatic relations with Switzerland and imposed a boycott, which defined the century to come. Entry to the palace is free, and it has permanent exhibitions focusing on natural sciences, regional history, and money. When you’re ready, follow the map up to the next stop, where I’ll introduce you to a real rebel.