Commemorating winemakers from the canton of Vaud in Switzerland who, with their families, bravely set out in 1822 to found a colony in southern Russia (now Ukraine) that to this day produces prize-winning wines. 

Even today, Shabo is a wine-producing village; it is not far from Odessa in Ukraine. The owners of the current award-winning winery have established a museum, which proudly recalls their heritage, honouring the vignerons of Lavaux, who left Switzerland in 1822 in a convoy of covered wagons under the leadership of Louis-Vincent Tardent, a resident of Vevey.  It was a long and difficult voyage, but the wagon train eventually reached the Black Sea and founded a colony; it was locally called Chabag, but the French Swiss came to know it as Shabo. At the entrance to the museum at today’s winery is a monumental fountain dedicated to the memory of Louis-Vincent Tardent, who took the initiative to travel to these lands and plant vines there. He presided over the early destiny of what-became a prosperous colony. Although its prosperity was later undermined by changing international borders in 1918 and again in 1940, many of its residents returned to their Swiss homeland in the interwar period, and the colonists’ descendants remember their origins fondly.
Louis-Vincent Tardent and those pioneer families who followed him deserve  that their homeland dedicates a memorial monument. 

A brochure of the project is available on: www.chabag.ch 

Funds raised will be dedicated to the budget of this project. In particular: 
- Payment of outstanding fees to the artist who designed the cart. 
- Erection of an explanatory plaque next to the cart 
- Organization of the inauguration of the monument in Chexbres, Switzerland

All in all, with a few other settlers, the expedition comprised only about 10 adults plus the children, and they were faced with the daunting task of traveling some 2,500 kilometres across Europe by horse and wagonette through Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and the Ukraine, a journey of 103 days before they reached their future home on the shores of the Black Sea.

In the following years, other Swiss families made their way to Chabag, the last colonists leaving Switzerland in 1846.

There are many interesting accounts and researches  of this historic Swiss colony by different historians, including descendants of the families involved, keeping the memory of the colony alive. A web search will uncover some wonderful resources and accounts of this significant venture in 19th century Swiss history.

An historical account of the history of the colony by the Societe Chabag Lausanne can be found here in French, German and English. It provides an overview of events from the foundation of the colony to its closure, with historical documents and input from many of the descendants of the intrepid Vaudois family colonists. Links and contacts provide an excellent insight into this unique settlement.