As soon as you arrive in Zürich, you get a sample of the great architecture on offer in the form of the slender, light-flooded Dock E building at the airport by Spühler and Algélil/Graham/Pfenniger/Scholl. But this is only the beginning. With over 50 museums and 100 art galleries on offer, Zürich has become one of the major centres of art, architecture and design together with London and New York.

The jumping-off point of any culture vulture has to be the Kunsthaus, Switzerland’s foremost museum of art and home to one of the world’s greatest art collections. It showcases a display of 20th-century art as well as the best works by Giacometti, important works of Cubism, Fauvism, great pop art paintings my Warhol and works by Rothko and Bacon. Zürich has such an embarrassment of art that it is hard to pick out just a few venues but, as the original home of Dada, a visit to the Cabaret Voltaire itself – now turned into an exhibition space holding exhibitions featuring artists such as Roy Lichtenstein – is imperative. If you want to look beyond rarefied galleries, there are breathtaking stained-glass windows by Chagall in the Fraumünster church.

The formerly run-down industrial district of Zürich-West is now the ultimate hip scene and home to cutting-edge contemporary art thanks to the Löwenbräu-Areal. Anyone who’s anyone on the international art scene visits the former Löwenbräu brewery to see what the Kunsthalle Zürich, the Galerie Hauser & Wirth and the Migros Museum have elected to be important positions in the contemporary art scene. Another highlight of Zürich-West is the old shipbuilding hall Schiffbau, now a setting for jazz concerts, theatre productions and fine cuisine under the huge factory roof.

New arrivals

Le Corbusier’s final building, a Mondrian-coloured pavilion can be found in the Zürichorn Park, now a museum of the architect’s work. A more recent star architect to leave his mark in Zürich is Santiago Calatrava, whose Stadelhofen train station is as stunning as his swooping University Law Library is astonishing. The world-renowned artchitect Norman Foster has added new areas to one of the world’s finest hotels, The Dolder Grand, which has reopened its doors this year.

When making your way to the airport by train, the last piece of Zürich’s art to catch your eye is Niki de Saint Phalle’s colourful guardian angel hovering over the heads of travellers in the main railway station hall.


For more information on Zürich, visit www.zuerich.com or call 0041 215 40 04

Check out other resorts in Switzerland on www.myswitzerland.com/gaylesbian or call international free-phone number 00800 100 200 30