A museum dedicated to the life of screen legend Charlie Chaplin is to open in his former home at Vevey on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

L'Espace Musee Charlie Chaplin, in the planning for more than ten years after neighbours initially opposed the idea, will showcase the actor's screen career and include footage from classic films such as The Immigrant, City Lights and The Great Dictator. It will also cover Chaplin's life in London music hall and feature artefacts, mementoes, multimedia exhibits and the history of film making. A wine cellar beneath the house will be used to create a Chaplin-era Victorian London streetscape.

The estate, where Chaplin made his home in 1952 after being banned from returning to the US because of his alleged political leanings, consists of an area of about 14 hectares and comprises the house, a farm, ancient buildings, woodland, terraces, gardens and pathways. Planners say the project will be neither a museum nor an interpretation centre nor a theme park but rather an amalgamation of all three - "a marriage of culture and entertainment." The cost is estimated at around US$50m (£30.1m, 33.5m euro, CHF50m) and it is reported that some funding will be provided by the Vevey-based confectionery company, Nestle.

L'Espace Musee Charlie Chaplin has an anticipated opening date of 2012. Pic courtesy of L'Espace Musee Charlie Chaplin