Museum Rietberg is Zürich’s museum for the arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. It sits in the Rieterpark in the Enge district, above the western shore of Lake Zürich. The City of Zurich runs it, and its collection holds about 23,000 objects and 37,000 ethnographic photographs (Zürcher Museen).
The museum opened in 1952 in Villa Wesendonck, a neoclassical house completed in 1857. Richard Wagner was a regular guest there. Today most visitors enter through the “Emerald,” a green glass pavilion designed by Alfred Grazioli and Adolf Krischanitz and opened in 2007. It leads down to large underground galleries that link the villa with the nearby Park-Villa Rieter. The founding collection came from Baron Eduard von der Heydt and includes Indian temple sculpture, Chinese Buddhist bronzes, African masks and Swiss-held Japanese prints. Alongside the permanent displays, the museum stages major temporary exhibitions (Museumsnetz Zürich). The on-site restaurant faces the park lawns.
Visitor Highlights & Practical Info
Plan on about two hours (Offpeaktrip). Weekday mornings are the quietest. Weekends and the opening weeks of new exhibitions draw the biggest crowds. The museum is closed on Mondays, and opening hours vary, so check them before you go.
To get there, take tram 7 to the “Museum Rietberg” stop and walk uphill through the park. Public tours and private tours are available, and groups bringing an external guide pay an extra CHF 80 plus individual tickets. To book, email [email protected] (Museum Rietberg). Afterward, you can walk down to the lakeside promenade at Enge.
