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Architecture and monuments

 

Switzerland is a showcase of architecture – outstanding sites recommended by appunto — your friendly PR agency in Zurich


Switzerland has a lot to offer to those interested in architecture, both modern and historical.


Modern architecture

Some of the world’s most famous architects designed buildings in Switzerland. Quite a few of these people are actually Swiss.

Mario Botta (Swiss, from Ticino)

BIZ Building, Aeschenplatz, Basel
Banca del Gottardo, Lugano (Ticino)
Tschuggen Grand Hotel, spa, Arosa (Graubünden)
Werner Oechslin Library in Einsiedeln near Zurich
Hotel of Modern Art (Eden Roc), in Ascona (Ticino)
Santa Maria degli Angeli Chapel, Monte Tamaro (Ticino)
Mogno church, Valle Maggia (Ticino)


Werner Oechslin Library in Einsiedeln near Zurich


Mogno church, Valle Maggia (Ticino)


Residence in Riva San Vitale and Cadenazzo (Ticino)
School in Morbio Inferiore (Ticino)
Other remarkable buildings by Mario Botta:
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco (US)
Scala Opera House extension, Milan (IT)


Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron (Swiss, Basel)

Tower Hotel (in construction), Schatzalp, Davos
Schaulager Museum, Münchenstein (near Basel)
Arts Museum, Aarau
St. Jakob Stadium, Commercial building Elsässertor, Central signal-box, main station, Basel

   Arts Museum Aarau
Arts Museum, Aarau
Other remarkable buildings by Herzog & de Meuron:
Tate Modern, Laban Dance Centre, London (UK); National Stadium for the Olympic Games 2008, Beijing (Chin); Prada store, Tokyo (Jap); Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg (GE); M. H. de Young Museum in San Francisco; Dominus Winery, Napa Valley, Cal. (US); Informations-, Kommunikations- und Medienzentrum an der BTU-Cottbus, Cottbus (DE)


Peter Zumthor (Swiss, Chur)

Felsen-Therme spa, Vals (Graubünden)
Sogn Benedetg chapel, Sumvitg (Graubünden)
Graubünden Art Museum, Home for Senior Citizens, Chur (Graubünden)
Kunsthaus (Art museum), Bregenz, Austria (close to the swiss border)










Zumthor's spa in Vals

  


Le Corbusier (Swiss, La Chaux-de-Fonds)

Heidi Weber Pavilion, Zurich
Villa Le Lac, Corseaux, Vevey
Maison Clarté, Geneva






Le Corbusier Pavilion in Zurich

  Le Corbusier Pavilion in Zurich
Other remarkable buildings by Le Corbusier:
Ronchamp chapel, Ronchamp (FR) Cité Radieuse, Marseille (FR), Pavillon Suisse à la Cité Uiniversitaire, Paris (FR), National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (Jap.); City planning and govenment buildings in Chandigarh, India


Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer (Swiss)
Kirchner Museum, Davos (Graubünden)
Oskar Reinhart art museum, Römerholz, Winterthur
Restaurant pavilion, Swiss transport museum, Lucerne
Housing estate Susenbergstrasse 75, Zurich
Central signal-box, main station, main station, Zurich		   The Kirchner Museum in Davos
Kirchner Museum, Davos


Santiago Calatrava (Spanish)
Santiago Calatrava studied Construction engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. His architecture firm is in Zurich.

Lucerne railway station
Postal center, Lucerne
Zurich Stadelhofen railway station
Law library, University of Zurich, Rämistrase 74–76, Zurich
Housing estate Buchen, Würenlingen
Wohlen High school, Wohlen

  
The Law Library in Zurich
Other remarkable buildings by Santiago Calatrava:
The new bridge over the Canal Grande, Venice (IT), Palacio de las Artes Reina Sofia, Museu de les Ciènces, L'Hemisferic IMAX, Valencia (SP); Oriente station, Lisbon (PT); Oberbaum bridge, Kronprinzen bridge, Jahn sports park, Berlin (DE); Satolas railway station, Lyon (FR) Alamillo bridge, Sevilla (SP), St. John the Divine cathedral, Biosphere, Manhattan, New York (US); Milwaukee Art Museum, Quadracci Pavilion, Milwaukee (US), Montjuic-radio tower, Barcelona (SP)


Jean Nouvel (French)
Culture und Congress Center (KKL), Lucerne (right beside the railway station)
Astoria Hotel, Lucerne		   The Culture and Congress Center in Lucerne
The Culture and Congress Center


Sir Norman Foster (British)
Dolder Grand Hotel, Zurich
Kempinski Grand Hotel, The Murezzan, St. Moritz (Graubünden)
Chesa Futura (a futuristic house), St. Moritz (Graubünden)		   The Dolder Grand with the new wings by Sir Norman Foster
The Dolder Grand with the new wings by Sir Norman Foster
Other remarkable buildings by Sir Norman Foster:
Swiss Re Tower (“The Gherkin”), Millennium Bridge, London; Reichstag cupola, Berlin


Renzo Piano (Italian)
Beyeler Foundation museum, Riehen, Basel
Paul Klee museum, Berne
   The Beyeler Fundation Museum in Riehen
The Beyeler Foundation Museum
Other remarkable buildings by Renzo Piano:
Centre Pompidou, Paris; Parco della Musica, Rome
Daimler City, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin
Kansai airport, Osaka, Japan


Historical architecture

Gottfried Semper (German)
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Tannenstrasse, Zurich
Eidgenössische Sternwarte (near ETH), Zurich
Town Hall, Winterthur		 The main building of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology by G. Semper
The main building of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Other remarkable buildings by Gottfried Semper:
Semper Opera, Dresden (DE)
Burgtheater, Arts museum, Natural history museum, Vienna (AT)



Churches

St. Martin, Zillis (Graubünden, near Chur)

This small romanesque church delights you with a unique painted ceiling of the 12th century. 153 painted panels tell the story of St. Martin and other biblic stories.

You can easily reach Zillis on a ride to or from St. Moritz or the Engadine. Stop in Thusis and take a postal bus to Zillis (15 min., restaurants). From the bus stop, walk downhill to the church. Take binoculars for better viewing.

From Zillis, there is at least one bus per hour back to Thusis. And from there there are two trains every hour to Chur.

 St. Martin in Zillis presents a unique romanesque painted ceiling.
One of the 153 magnificent panels

Einsiedeln monastery (Schwyz, near Zurich)
This Benedictine monastery was founded in the year 934. The splendid baroque church, famous among others for its black Madonna and its organ, dates from the beginning of the 18th century. Einsiedeln is also a pilgrimage place on the trail to Santiago. The monastery built from 1656 to 1723 and its historic library can be visited. To get there, take any Interregio (IR) or S-Bahn train at Zurich main station towards Ziegelbrücke (–Chur or –Glarus). Change in Wädenswil to an S13 train to Einsiedeln (final stop). The trip takes 50 min. and there is a train every 30 min. to travel back. In Einsiedeln there is plenty of hotels and restaurants.  

The baroque cathedral of Einsiedeln with the ladies fountain

The baroque cathedral of Einsiedeln with the lady's fountain


You’ll find your way to the monastery easily. The region is also a nice spot to relax and stroll in the beautiful neighbouring nature.

Fraumünster cathedral, Zurich (with glass windows by Marc Chagall)
When in Zurich, do not miss to visit Fraumünster, 2 minutes from downtown Paradeplatz banking square. This cathedral, founded, in 853, is known for its magnificent stained glass choir windows created by the French-Russian painter Marc Chagall in 1967. The windows by the Swiss painter Augusto Giacometti are worth seeing, too. Take a rest from the bustling city in the intimate Romanesque choir adjacent to the church, dating from 1250–70.   One of the stained glass windows by Marc Chagall
One of the Chagall windows



Bridges

Switzerland is also known for some world famous bridge builders who built world heritage rank bridges. It is little known that the George Washington Bridge, the Bayonne Bridge and Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York were built by Swiss engineer Othmar Ammann who also worked as a consultant for the construction of Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

Robert Maillart
Salginatobel bridge, Schiers, (Graubünden). This bridge was classified as a "World monument" by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Inn bridge Zuoz (Graubünden) (first armed concrete bridge of the world)
Tavanasa Rhine bridge, Tavanasa (Graubünden)
Stauffacher bridge, Zurich		 Salgina Tobel bridge by Robert Maillart
Salgina Tobel bridge by R. Maillart


Müller & Zeerleder
Landwasser railway bridge near Filisur (Graubünden)   Landwasser railway bridge, near Filisur, St. Moritz and Davos


Christian Menn

Sunniberg bridge, Klosters (near Klosters and Davos, Graubünden)
Rhine bridge near Tamins (Graubünden)

Felsenau bridge (A1), Berne
Biaschina bridge, Giornico, Ticino
Ganter bridge, Simplon motorway (A9), near Brig (Valais)
Nanin bridge and Cascella bridge (A13), Mesocco (Graubünden)
Wooden bridge between Intragna and Loco in Valle Onsernone, Ticino

   Sunniberg bridge
Sunniberg bridge
Other remarkable bridges by Christian Menn:
Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge (Charles River), Boston Mass. (US)
Christian Menn designed around 100 bridges in his life.


Some other superb concrete and stone bridges

Wiesen railway bridge, Wiesen (near Davos, Graubünden)

Langwies railway bridge, Langwies; (near Arosa, Graubünden) (the highest concrete bridge of the world and the one with the widest span)
The motorway bridges (A9) above Chillon castle, Lake Geneva
The Biaschina motorway bridges near Giornico on the south side of San Gottardo motorway (A2)

   Wiesen railway bridge near Davos
Wiesen railway bridge, Wiesen (near Davos, Graubünden)

Langwies railway bridge near Arosa Langwies railway bridge near Arosa


The most beautiful old stone bridge
Lavertezzo bridge (16th century), Verzasca valley, (Ticino)   Lavertezzo bridge, Ticino
Lavertezzo bridge, Ticino


Covered bridges

Chapel bridge (around 1300), Lucerne
Spreuer bridge (around 1300), Lucerne
Timber bridge over river Aare (1535), Bremgarten (near Berne)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Register of all timber bridges of Switzerland:

» Swiss Timber Bridges

   Chapel bridge, Lucerne
Chapel bridge, Lucerne

     

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