Zürich Things to Do Tips by Nemorino

North America Native Museum (NONAM) Other Museums of Zürich Review

Photos:
1. In the museum
2. A birch bark canoe
3. A kayak
4. The museum from the outside

This museum used to be called the "Zurich Indian Museum", but in 2003 it was re-named because they decided the label "Indian" was an over-simplification. On their website they explain:

If we use the blanket term “Indian” to describe all the different tribes, groups, bands, and nations of America, it is just about as unrepresentative and misleading as if we were to exclusively apply the term “European” to denote our own background. In reality, North American cultures display an immense range of cultural diversity, just as Europe does. Or, do you wish to claim that there is no difference between, let’s say, Swedes and Spaniards?

The permanent exhibition at the North America Native Museum is divided into six large regions of the United States and Canada, namely the Great Plains and the Prairie, the Northeastern Woodlands, the Sub-arctic Region, the Arctic, the Northwest Coast and the Southwestern Desert.

The accompanying text panels are well-researched and very informative, but they are in German only.

Address: Seefeldstr. 317

Directions: Location in OpenStreetMap

Phone: +41 43 499 24 40

Website: http://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/kultur/en/index/institutionen/native_american_and_inuit_cultures.html

Museum Rietberg Other Museums of Zürich Review

The Rietberg Museum is devoted to art from outside Europe. It is housed in three buildings, two of which are up on a hill called the Rietberg.

The first is the Villa Wesendonk, with collections of art from China, Tibet, Japan, India and Southeast Asia. Also there are exhibits of African art (shown here).

They are currently building a new addition to the museum, which will evidently be mainly underground so as not to impinge on the historic appearance of the villa.

A short ways down the hill is the Park-Villa Rieter, which has a lecture and concert hall, and collections of Indian, Chinese and Japanese painting and graphic art, as well as masks from the Japanese "No" theater.

(As I mentioned on the intro page, this museum has nothing to do with the composer Richard Wagner, despite the historical connections.)

Address: Gablerstrasse 15

Directions: Tram # 7 to "Museum Rietberg".
Location on OpenStreetMap

Phone: +41 44 206 31 31

Website: http://www.rietberg.ch/

Zürich Opera House

Photos:
1. Zürich Opera House from Bürkli-Platz
2. Zürich Opera House
3. Zürich Opera House
4. Stage entrance
5. The stage entrance at night

This opera house was designed and built in 1891 by the Vienna architects Fellner and Helmer, who were involved in building no less than 48 theaters and opera houses all over Europe between 1873 and 1919, including for instance the ones in Augsburg, Giessen and Wiesbaden.

It is a small to middle-sized theater with seats for 1,100 spectators.

Despite its modest size, the Zürich Opera is famous for putting on numerous new productions each season, many with big-name stars.

Also the Zürich Opera is highly successful at recruiting sponsors to pay for all this.

Address: Falkenstrasse 1, CH-8008 Zurich

Directions:
GPS 47°21'53.92" North; 8°32'48.15" East.
Walk through the Old Town, or take the tram # 2 or 4 to "Opernhaus".
Or tram # 11 or 15 to "Bahnhof Stadelhofen", which is very close to the opera house.

Phone: +41 44 268 66 66

Website: http://www.opernhaus.ch

Tonhalle

The Tonhalle, which simply means "Sound Hall" if you translate it literally, is one of Zürich's main venues for classical music concerts. It is the home of the oldest symphony orchestra in Switzerland, the Tonhalle Orchestra, which was established in 1868.

They give nearly 100 concerts per season, with about fifty different programs.

Address: Gotthardstrasse 5, 8002 Zürich

Phone: +41 44 206 34 34

Website: http://https://www.tonhalle.ch/

Kunsthaus Kunsthaus (Art Gallery) Review

Zürich has forty-five museums, of which this Kunsthaus (meaning "Art House") is one of the largest.

They have been doing lots of renovation work here in the last few years, but the main departments have now re-opened: the Old Masters on the first floor, the Impressionists and the Classic Modern on the second floor.

Address: Heimplatz 1

Phone: 01 253 8497

Website: http://www.kunsthaus.ch

Coffee Museum Other Museums of Zürich Review

The Johann Jacobs Museum for the Cultural History of Coffee is closed for renovation as of 2010, but plans to re-open in 2011.

The museum's website claims that coffee "is not only the second most important commodity in world trade (after petroleum), but the most widely consumed beverage of all in western Europe, ahead of both beer and wine."

It also says that coffee "is harvested from around 15,000,000,000 trees" and that over 25 million people have jobs in coffee cultivation.

When it re-opens, the museum plans to have a permanent exhibition showing "the geographical advance and the growing popularity of coffee, as well as its social significance, from the 17th century to the present day."

The Johann Jacobs Museum belongs to the Jacobs Foundation, which was founded by Klaus Johann Jacobs (1936-2008), the heir and longtime General Manager of the Jacobs coffee company.

Evidently Klaus Johann Jacobs was also an opera fan, since he became a member of the Board of Directors of the Zürich Opera House in 2003 and was also a board member of the Association of the Friends of Bayreuth.

Address: Seefeldquai 17

Phone: +41 44 388 61 51

Museum Bellerive Other Museums of Zürich Review

Photos:
1. Museum Bellerive
2. Paper clothes
3. Pop art on paper clothes
4. Pap(i)er fashion

This attractive museum belongs to the Museum of Design (previous tip) and is used for exhibitions of handicrafts and applied arts. The house was built as a private residence for a wealthy textile manufacturer in 1931.

When I was there in 2010 they were showing an exhibition called "Pap(i)er Fashion", documenting a trend from the 1960s and 70s which I must admit I had completely forgotten about, if I ever noticed it in the first place. Designers at that time evidently started making disposable clothes out of paper or paper-like materials.

While admitting that "this trend continued only for a few years", the museum text said that paper clothes "helped the fashion industry to create clever, disposable clothes for the fashion-conscious."

Politicians also used these paper clothes for campaign photos and slogans. You could get a dress or shirt reading "Nixon for President", for example.

Address: Höschgasse 3

Directions: Tram stop "Höschgasse", Tram No. 2, 4, Bus No. 33 or fifteen minutes walk from Bellevue.

Phone: +41 (0)43 446 44 69

Swiss National Museum Swiss National Museum Review

Photos:
1. Entrance to the museum
2. The archeological department on the ground floor
3. The museum as seen from across the river

This is a large museum with numerous departments, all dealing in one way or another with the history of Switzerland.

They say that their exhibitions cover "all periods, from prehistory to the 21st century."

The museum is located on the Limmat River right next to the main railroad station.

Opening hours are Tuesday - Sunday 10 am – 5 pm, Thursday till 7 pm. Closed Mondays.

Address: Museumstrasse 2

Phone: +41 (0)44 218 65 11

Museum of Design (Museum für Gestaltung) Other Museums of Zürich Review

Photos:
1. One of the many posters on display
2. Museum of Design in the rain

Unfortunately I arrived just a day or two too late to see their big "World Design" exhibition that I had heard good things about, so I had to make do with an exhibit of Swiss advertising posters, many of which I had seen 'in the wild', so to speak, in earlier years, so they didn't seem historic to me but just outdated.

One that I hadn't seen was the AIDS poster in the first photo, featuring a wholesome-looking young rural lady from the French-speaking part of Switzerland with two Swiss cows and chalet behind her and a condom pulled innocently over her thumb. The text: "Sans? Sans moi." Meaning "Without? Without me." And in the lower right hand corner: STOP SIDA with a condom for the O in STOP. In French and several other languages SIDA is the abbreviation for AIDS. In French it stands for Syndrome de l'ImmunoDéficience Acquise; in English Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Another poster on display is so new that I saw it just a few months earlier in the Zürich main station. It's the one on banking and cheese secrecy that I showed in a Local Customs tip from February 2010.

Ironically, the Museum of Design is in a poorly designed building (second photo), but this building has the advantage that it also houses the Zurich University of the Arts, so there are usually some interesting young arty types lounging around the cafeteria.

Address: Ausstellungsstr. 60

Directions: Tram stop "Museum für Gestaltung", tram 4 and 13

Phone: +41 (0)43 446 67 67

Website: http://www.museum-gestaltung.ch/E_welcome.html

Museum Bärengasse Other Museums of Zürich Review

This small museum near the center of Zürich used to be a "Museum of Domestic Life" containing exhibitions of Zurich domestic interiors of the 17th and 18th centuries. It also used to house a doll museum.

These earlier displays have now been phased out, and the museum currently has changing exhibitions on a variety of subjects.

The one I really wanted to see (but missed) was about the composer Richard Wagner and the years he spent in Zürich from 1849 to 1858.

Address: Bärengasse 20-22 (near Paradeplatz)

Phone: 044 211 17 16