Schweizerisches Landesmuseum Zürich

About this book

From the preface by G.E. Marchand:0"There are several historical museums in Switzerland but only one National Museum and following its opening on 25 June 1898, Swiss history has been seen on a federal scale. The fairy tale castle Gustav Gull placed behind Zurich?s main railway station was a monument to the confederation, not the federal states. The National Museum embodied the independent nation state because the spirit of the Swiss lived in the house of history.0It still lives there, even if it has changed. After over a hundred years, its castle became too constricting and, moreover, it was declining with age. Thorough renovation and expansion were required. The primary concern for the renovation was dealing with the original building and for the expansion, the interplay of old and new. A new whole, a multiform entity has been created and the museum has become more surprising, more magical. It is the monument to a modern, open, sober Switzerland and sums up the last 120 years of Swiss and architectural history."0.