Rietberg Museum

Brief Information

Museum Rietberg did not develop as a single museum building, but as a group of villas, service buildings, and an underground extension in Rieterpark. It is therefore worth understanding it through the proximity of different volumes: the historic buildings took in the collection of non-European art, while the new “Emerald” space hid much of the expansion underground.

The collection is devoted to the art of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. In the source text, the museum is described as the largest art museum of this kind in Switzerland. But the main clue for looking at it here is not the size of the collection, but the way the museum occupied an already existing park setting: Villa Wesendonck was converted for the collection donated to the city, while Villa Schönberg was later saved from demolition and turned into an extension.

What to Notice First

You can compare Villa Wesendonck and Villa Schönberg as two different ways of adapting old buildings to museum life. The first became the foundation of the museum after the city decided on its conversion; the second entered the complex later, when it was threatened with demolition, and its rooms now house the museum library. These facts help read the villas not simply as a beautiful backdrop, but as parts of an expanding institution.

It is worth noting that, alongside the villas, the Remise, or “Depot,” and the new “Emerald” building are mentioned. The Remise recalls the utilitarian nature of one of the complex’s structures, while “Emerald” works differently: it is primarily an underground museum, opened in 2007. Because of it, the exhibition space more than doubled, but the museum’s growth is not necessarily expressed as a tall new building above the park.