During my short stay in Zurich, I headed to the Landesmuseum, or Swiss National Museum. Unfortunately I didn’t see much of the beautiful exterior my guidebook raved about as it was extensively covered in scaffolding, but I did find this interesting little gem inside: the ‘Wheel of Myths’.
The wheel of Swiss myths
Slowly rotating on the wooden ‘road to direct democracy’ (according to the museum guide), the wheel features a lot of things the Swiss are known for: William Tell’s bow and arrow, the Alps, Edelweiss, clocks, chocolate and cheese, among others.
The enormous ‘Wheel’ really stood out for me in a huge range of exhibits telling the story of the creation of Switzerland.
What a fascinating artwork. It would be great trying to work out the relevance of each individual bit. Were there any where you didn’t understand why they had been included or were they all obvious?
There was one I definitely didn’t recognise – a series of small bells on a stick. I think they must be quite traditional as they seemed to be everywhere, but no idea what they were.
I’ve visited that museum and do remember that particular piece (the exterior is very attractive too, from what I remember!)
It was, or so I’m told. They were doing extension renovation work when I went so half the exterior was covered up. Bad timing!
Good excuse to go back! Personally I rather like Zurich, even though I know it’s not fashionable to say that
I absolutely LOVED Zurich, though I haven’t had change to write about it yet – I would move there in a heartbeat. Haven’t fallen for a city like that in a long time…
Wow, pretty cool concept and execution!
Yeah, I really liked it. It was absolutely huge, too. Very dramatic.