Schweizerisches Landesmuseum Zurich, Switzerland

Overview

Located next to the train station, the Swiss National Museum (Schweizerisches Landesmuseum) in Zürich is a massive and important museum that provides an epic survey of the culture and history of the Swiss people.

History

The museum's vast collection is housed in a 19th-century Neo-Gothic castle. The displays include a large amount of medieval religious art that has not been welcome in Zürich's churches since the Reformation. These exhibits, shown mostly on the ground floor, range from 9th-century Carolingian art to frescoes from the Convent Church of Mustair and 16th-century stained glass from Tanikon Convent.

There is a Zwingli Room about the Swiss Reformation and an exceptional prehistoric section, with some artifacts dating from the 4th millennium BC. The rest of the collection includes a large display of Roman clothing, medieval silverware, 14th-century drinking bowls, and 17th-century china, as well as painted furniture, costumes, and dollhouses of various periods.

A display of weapons and armor shows the methods of Swiss warfare from 800 to 1800. There's also a reconstructed 18th-century apothecary and an exhibit tracing Swiss clockmaking from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

Special exhibitions are presented twice annually, lasting between 3 and 6 months. Themes are always different; a recent one was devoted to Swiss fashion design.