Autumn Travel – Day 20 – Zurich.

I started the day by walking along the eastern shore of Lake Zurich to find the Chinese Temple and the Le Corbusier Pavilion.

The next stop was the massive Kunsthaus or Art Gallery. The permanent collection is kept in two large buildings connected by a marble-lined underground tunnel. The gallery has received over the years a number of bequests from art collectors and these collections are kept together in a number of rooms. This does mean that the work of a particular artist (e.g. Vincent van Gogh) can be seen in three different rooms, rather than the works all appearing together. There are a LOT of paintings to see and quite a few stairs to climb in both buildings.

The Swiss National Museum is also a large museum regarding the nation of Switzerland and its distinguished past. Again, there’s a lot to see including Roman finds, wooden interiors from 500-year old buildings, weapons, and an exhibition on the Switzerland’s relationship to war, both in the past and the future. Some politicians are wondering whether the Swiss should retain their strict neutrality or whether now’s the time to offer peace-keeping services in places like the Ukraine.