2016-09-03 Die Lange Nacht der Zürcher Museen – Museum Night in Zürich

Hello everyone! Last night was the long museum night of Zürich. I was also participating last year and as there are 51 museums and parks and zoo participating, there’s always something new you can see and experience. 🙂

In general, the main idea should be relaxing and enjoying the night instead of rushing to different museums as there will be so many parties and concerts, and of course, museum night is so much more than just museums. In my opinion, as the big and famous museums are also participating, and there will be definitely much more people than normal opening times, it’s not that easy to be totally immersed in the museum environment.  This is a lesson I learnt from last year. The Kunsthaus (art museum) was so crowded during museum night, but during normal opening times at weekdays, I went there again, it was totally different feeling and I was even wondering whether it’s the same art museum or not. And of course I enjoyed it much more when there were much less people. 🙂

However, I have to say that this is a unique opportunities to take a look at the museums you think you might be interested in. And if you like it, why not going back when it’s less crowded and explore it more? What’s more, some of the museums are not normally open to the general public (for example, the City Hall), so museum night might be the only chance for you to have a look at them. Also, I wouldn’t object choosing a few of the expensive museums as all the entrance tickets to all the 51 museums are included in the museum night ticket: only 25 CHF.

IMG_7362

First of all, thanks to Zürich public transportation, it’s convenient to go to basically all the museums. 🙂 AND, there are even museum buses, trams and ships (different lines) which take you point to point from one museum to another. Below is the list of museums participating this year and the museum transportation route.

Now I’ll show you the museums I went to this year. 🙂

  1. Uhrenmuseum Beyer (Zürich Watch and Clock Museum)
  2. Rathaus (Zürich City Hall)
  3. Helmhaus
  4. FIFA World Football Museum
  5. Landesmuseum Zürich (Zürich National Museum)
  6. Stadtgärtnerei
  7. Johann Jacobs Museum
  8. Museum Bellerive
  9. Pavillon Le Corbusier

1. Uhrenmuseum Beyer (Zürich Watch and Clock Museum)

For more info (Address, Contact info, Opening time and Ticket price) please click here to visit the official website.

Last year this museum required reservation and this year you can only wait till your turn. Tour was every hour (19:00, 20:00, 21:00 etc.), lasting half an hour and in different themes. There were also visits allowed without tours (19:30, 20:30 etc.). In general this museum is very small but the clocks and watches in it are truly art. Tours were only in german and if you speak no german at all or only a little bit, I suggest you go and visit without tours because I was basically just picking up single words……

2 & 3. Rathaus (Zürich City Hall) & Helmhaus

For more info for Rathaus (Address, Contact info, Opening time and Ticket price) please click here to visit the official website.

This Town Hall is actually still in use and if you wanna experience being a government leader giving a speech, this is a great opportunity. In the forth picture, there are speakers and lamps on and above each seat. You can almost smell the gunpowder listening to the governors arguing with each other. This is especially a good place for politics lovers as you can see the different parties and their seats.

Helmhaus is actually a church and is very close to the Town Hall. Taking 5-10 mins to have a look won’t be a waste of time. 🙂

4. FIFA World Football Museum

 For more info (Address, Contact info, Opening time and Ticket price) please click here to visit the official website.

This is actually a new museum, which just finished constructing this year. As I’m not a football fan, I wasn’t expecting too much from this museum, but this museum actually made my night! First of all, for me this is a very modern museum. Attention! There is only one way! If you are interested in something, take a close look. After the small movie, there’s no way back!

Well, I don’t really know much about football, but this museum surely think of entertaining people like me. There are T-shirts of the teams, history of football, football stories all over the world, and also, chairs of each stadium in which the World Cup happened. There are also photo machines putting you in different settings such as the opening ceremony of the World Cup and the London Wembley football field. Don’t be serious and just have fun! you can send the pics to your email right after. Nice way to remember the visit to this museum. There are also footballs from all over the world hanging in the air. For me, they just look like Mövenpick ice cream lol.

The last part of the museum is actually the playground and there are quite some playing machines. Don’t forget to register using your ticket and after finishing all the games you’ll see your total scores and your ranking. 🙂 This is the part that made my night lol. Well, I didn’t play as, I said before, there were so many people and I didn’t really wanna wait too long. How did it make my day then? Here comes the story. There was a middle-aged woman playing and I can tell she was trying really hard to reach the goals. Obviously people behind her were kind of impatient as it took her really long. She got nervous of course and wanted to just hit the goal and finish the game. Then I guess she used all her strength to hit the ball and THEN! Her shoe flew together with the ball to the hole! OMG, if you saw it you would know what that looked like. I seriously don’t remember what happened right after as I couldn’t help thinking of the flying shoe. I know it’s mean but this is really not something you see often. 😛 And when I went back she already got her shoe and left, so it’s not really a big tragedy. Anyway, that night, whenever I thought of the flying shoe I knew I would never forget the FIFA football museum.

Remember you need your ticket to exit, don’t just throw it. After the gift shop, there is a nice cafe, where you can sit outside at the terrace (quite nice view) and have some ice cream. 🙂

5. Landesmuseum Zürich (Zürich National Museum)

For more info (Address, Contact info, Opening time and Ticket price) please click here to visit the official website.

This is the only museum that I went to both this year and last year during museum night. The building itself looks like huge castle, which makes it more like a history-teller. I have to say this museum is a great choice for party and music lovers. I remember clearly both year there were concerts and bars and restaurants here and there were always so many people chatting, drinking and laughing. This museum was under construction last year and  till this museum night its fully open.

This is a really big museum and I wanna go there again during non-busy time to have a close look. During this museum night there were three exhibitions (Europe in the Renaissance and archaeology in Switzerland and History in Switzerland) in addition to the normal collection. When I entered this year, I felt lost so a guidance book or simply a museum map is very important. They changed so much of the museum after the renovation and I was even wondering whether I was here last year or not. Maybe it’s because of the exhibitions, there are so many things so see.  As shown in Picture 5, I like the huge clock very much as it shows what Switzerland is famous for.

Basically this museum shows different aspects of Switzerland, history, drawings, paintings, music, banks, money (notes and coins), and much more. It’s actually quite easy to get lost. Also there’s a tower for you to go up to and to be honest, I don’t really remember what was there.

The exhibitions this year are actually quite interesting as there are many interactive games you can play as well as some experiments you can do, for example, mixing right portions of gold, silver, bronze, iron and other metal elements you can get a new kind of metal. 🙂

All in all, this museum tells history and introduced Switzerland using modern technology and I recommend it to all generations. 🙂 The most important thing is to get a map so you know where you are going. 🙂 I remember I kept saying: It seems we’ve been here. lol

6. Stadtgärtnerei

For more info (Address, Contact info, Opening time and Ticket price) please click here to visit the official website.

This was actually a surprise for me as I’ve never heard of it. However, there are two houses (the palm tree house and the tropical house), one exhibition, and one bar open. It’s really nice experience to jump from the loud concerts to the jungle or the tropical forest. 🙂 I always recommend at least one quiet place for the museum night to take a rest. Last year we went to the zoo (it’s not really quiet but you feel you are closer to nature).

I was thinking going back there during the day time, but exploring it at night is also really fun and unique experience. There are actually real birds and fish living there but at night you won’t be able to see that many. The most important thing is to feel. There were only around 5 people in each house and the only thing you hear is the falling and flowing water, really loved it after the other museums. 🙂

Except the nature houses, the exhibition is also fun. We heard that there are fireflies on the wall and they are wonderful. However, when we arrived, we were told that the firefly exhibition is already finished and the new exhibition is called “We eat the world”. you can get a “passport” when you enter the exhibition and put stamps on them. Each stamp is in each booth, which represents a city or country with their most famous food (local special product). The introduction is in both german and English. By the end,  the stamp is a QR code. When you scan it, it redirects you to the website of the exhibition, where more information is available. The activity was probably mainly for kinds but we also had fun. 😛

7, 8 & 9 Johann Jacobs Museum, Museum Bellerive & Pavillon Le Corbusier

For more info of Johann Jacobs Museum (Address, Contact info, Opening time and Ticket price) please click here to visit the official website.

For more info of Museum Bellerive (Address, Contact info, Opening time and Ticket price) please click here to visit the official website.

For more info of Pavillon Le Corbusier (Address, Contact info, Opening time and Ticket price) please click here to visit the official website.

To me these museums feel more like houses for private exhibitions. There are also many workshops where people actually make these art pieces. If you are interested in these museums please look at the official website I provided before as they change the exhibitions from time to time and quite frequently.

I went to Museum Bellerive last museum night and thought it was a glass museum and this year I went again, it turned out to be a carpet and blanket museum. I read the plans afterwards and only then I realized they have so many different exhibition at different times of the year. Check the handbook on the official website if you have interest.

I always go to these museums by the end of museum night. They are located quite closely by Zürich lake. You can take a ship and get off at Fischstube. This area is so quiet at this time of the night and there are only a few people looking at the exhibition or the workshops. I feel this is where the true artists work and live and where art lovers buy their favorite artworks.

I don’t really understand modern art but the environment and atmosphere here always attracts me. Don’t forget to check out Pavillon Le Corbusier. It is the building instead of the artworks within that took me here. Only when you are here will you understand why it is called art. Follow the steps to the roof, take a seat, and breathe in some air from the nighty Zürichsee. 🙂 (Don’t sit there too long as the bench is made of metal.) 😛

That’s the end of Zürich Museum Night. See you next year. 🙂

Good night and have a nice dream.

 

 

 

 

 

2016-09-03 Die Lange Nacht der Zürcher Museen – Museum Night in Zürich was last modified: September 9th, 2016 by Dong

1 Comment

  1. […] Tropical house and it changes from time to time, if you wanna know more about the exhibition please click here to visit my other post “2016-09-03 Die Lange Nacht der Zürcher Museen – Museum Night in […]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.