Museums/Parks:
Switzerland
ABOVE: Olympic Museum, Lausanne,
Switzerland.
General
SwissArt Network
Select a region on the map for lists of gallery exhibitions, some with links.
Aargau
Castle
of Wildegg
Tour the castle, gardens, aviary, and farm at this Swiss National Museum site
between Aarau and Brugg, which you can reach easily from Zürich by train or
car.
Basel
Augusta
Raurica
Some 20,000 people lived in this Roman town near Basel 1,800 years ago. In
summer, you can reach the museum and animal park by boat.
Antiquities Museum and
Ludwig Collection
Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman artworks are featured here.
Basel Historical Museum
The city's history since Celtic times is chronicled in the Barfüsserkirche, a
restored Franciscan church from the 1300s. If you don't read German, see the
tourist office's English-language
information page.
Basel Public
Art Collection
The ÖKB encompasses two museums: the Basel Art Museum and the Museum of
Contemporary Art.
Museum of Cultures
Basel's ethnological museum displays objects from around the world, with an
emphasis on the Americas, the Pacific, and rural Europe.
Zoo Basel
See everything from Aafen to Zebras. (In German, but the
hours, prices, and restaurant listings are easy to figure out.)
Bern
Bern Museum of Fine Arts
Among its other exhibits, the Kunstmuseum Bern has one of the world's
largest collection of works by Paul Klee.
Kunsthalle
Bern
Contemporary art is on display at the Helvetiaplatz every day but Monday.
Natural History Museum Bern
Mounted specimens include Barry,
the world's most famous St. Bernard.
Bernese Oberland
Swiss Open-Air
Museum, Ballenberg
The Freilichtmuseum is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 1998. It
has more than 80 buildings, 250 farm animals, and demonstrations of historical
crafts in an 80-hectare (200-acre) site.
Wichterheer Museum
of Timepieces and Mechanical Music
A 13th Century mansion houses this lakeside museum, which opened in 1995 near
the Swiss capital of Bern. The museum has watches, clocks, a replica of an
antique clock shop, music boxes, and an horological library.
Fribourg/Freiburg
Fri-art
Click the photo, then move your cursor over the lower frame on the next page
to see what's on tap at Fribourg's modern-art museum.
Geneva
International
Car Museum
More than 400 cars are on display here, and you can see examples online.
Lausanne
Château
de Prangins
The Swiss National Museum operates this "fairy-tale castle"
in a garden setting between Lausanne and Geneva, near Nyon. A restaurant is on
the premises.
Olympic Museum
Lausanne switzerlandforvisitors.com
You've seen the medals and torches on TV, and now you can see them in
person--along with sporting equipment, costumes, 3D movies, on-demand video
clips, and other items at the International Olympic Committee's modern
museum.
Lucerne
Swiss Transportation Museum,
Lucerne
switzerlandforvisitors.com
This lakefront museum complex has trains,
planes, automobiles, boats, a planetarium, a 360° panoramic movie tour of
Switzerland, and an IMAX theater.
Art
Museum Lucerne
The Kunstmuseum's new home in the Kultur- and Kongresszentrum opened
in summer of 2000.
Glacier Garden
Lucerne's Gletschergarten has Ice Age potholes, a relief
model of Central Switzerland, an "Old Lucerne" section with antique
furniture, and other attractions.
Historisches Museum Luzern
Visit once for the general displays, then return for special exhibits that
range from Samichlaus (Santa Claus) to zithers. (On the museum's Web
site, click "E" for English in the top navigation menu.)
Natur-Museum Luzern
The permanent collection at the Nature Museum includes a section on Lucerne's
prehistoric residents.
Picasso
Museum
See a collection of Picasso paintings and a photo documentary in the
Am-Rhyn-Haus, next to the Rathaus in the Kornmarkt.
Lugano
Swiss
Customs Museum
Take the motorboat from Lugano Giardino to Gandria to visit this
museum. Boats depart daily at 1 p.m. from late March through late October.
Swissminiatur, Lugano-Melide
If your feet aren't up to a hike around Switzerland, this scaled-down version
of the Confederation is a handy substitute. The park has more 100 buildings
and 3.5 km (2.2 miles) of model-railroad tracks.
Schwyz
Forum
of Swiss History
Helvetian culture between 1300 and 1800 is highlighted at this museum, which
occupies a restored granary in the town that gave Switzerland its name.
Thurgau
Conny-Land
Switzerland's only theme park is in Thurgau, on the Bodensee (Lake Constance).
In German; translate with
AltaVista.
Winterthur
FotoMuseum
Winterthur
This museum has organized nearly 40 exhibitions since it opened in
1993. It has a growing collection
of works by world-famous photographers and an archive of applied photography.
Solothurn
Museum
of Musical Automatons
Nearly 400 music boxes and mechanical orchestras are on display in Seewen, not
far from Basel.
Valais
Matterhorn Museum - Zermatlantis
Don't miss this fascinating history museum if you visit the skiing and
mountaineering resort of Zermatt. Its exhibits include photos, models, and
historical objects (such as the rope that broke after the first ascent of the
Matterhorn, sending two climbers to their deaths).
Zernez
Swiss National Park
The Nationalpark has been a refuge for chamois, deer, ibex, marmots,
and other wild animals since 1914. No camping is allowed in its 40,000 acres
of forests, and tourists must stay on the marked paths.
Zürich
Kunsthaus Zürich
The city's leading art museum has a multilingual Web site.
The following museums have Web pages at
Musée Suisse Gruppe:
Swiss National Museum
The main building of the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum is right behind
the main Zürich railway station, and it's the perfect place to spend a rainy
day.
Museum of the
Bärengasse
Get a taste of Zürich's material culture and living conditions in the 18th Century
at this restored house, which also incorporates the Sasha Morgenthaler Museum of Dolls.
The Guild House
"zur Meisen"
Swiss earthenware and crockery are on display in rococo rooms overlooking the Limmat
River. The house is a short walk from Paradeplatz.
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