Switzerland 
Zurich : Museum Rietberg
Home > Tourist Guide > Table of contents > Zurich > The city > West bank > Museum Rietberg




The impressive Museum Rietberg (www.rietberg.ch) comprises two villas set in a lush park southwest of the centre, which together house a spectacular collection of non-European art. Signs from the Rietberg stop on tram #7 direct you up into the park; a right-hand fork takes you to the Villa Wesendonck, a left-hand fork to the Park-Villa Rieter. The main collection is housed in the grandiose Villa Wesendonck (Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; Fr.6 for both buildings, plus about Fr.6 for any special exhibits), where the composer Richard Wagner lived for a time in 1857. Once inside, head left for a chronological tour, through rooms of Indian and Chinese Buddhist art and sculpture from between the third and sixteenth centuries – look out for the blissfully serene lovers’ faces, in glorious contrast to the mournfulness on display in the Landesmuseum’s European art of roughly the same period. A four-armed dancing Shiva in bronze, surrounded by a ring of fire, is particularly stunning. Upstairs are some intricate Tibetan bronzes, Chinese ceramics, and a host of American, African and Australasian pieces. The smaller Park-Villa Rieter (Tues–Sat 1–5pm, Sun 10am–5pm) houses on two floors changing selections from the museum’s enormous collection of exquisite Asian painting: Indian art on ground level, Chinese and Japanese art upstairs.


© Micheloud & Cie 2013     No part of this site may be reproduced in any form or by any means without our prior written permission. Printed from http://Switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/zurich/rietberg.html