Practical Information

Art Galleries & Museums

Switzerland has nearly 1000 museums, with one for about every 7,400 people. The Federal Department for Culture is responsible for the museums in the National Museum Group, which include the three major history museums: the National Museum in Zurich, the Forum of Swiss History in Schwyz, and the Château de Prangins, near Nyon in Canton Vaud. The group also contains some smaller specialised museums, like the Customs Museum in Cantine di Gandria, in Canton Ticino, and the Musical Automata Museum in Seewen, Canton Solothurn.

Swiss museums feature outstanding paintings by the French impressionists, such as Monet, Pissarro and Renoir. The most important concentration of such works outside of Paris is shared by seven art museums located in the area between Basel and Winterthur. There is also the international clock museum at La Chaux-de-Fonds with its unique collection of 4,000 time pieces, and the museum of natural history at Geneva, one of the most modern of its kind, with 3,500 mammals on display.

The Swiss Museum Pass allows for entrance to 400 Swiss museums. Links to most of the museums in Switzerland can be found at the Museums.ch website. Also, see our section on Culture for more information.