Exploring Zurich - More Museums

We have found in our limited travelling that Museums come in all shapes and sizes.
And before we leave Zurich we had a few hours to explore a few more.
- or should I say DH wanted to ... I am pretty much Museum-ed out by now!

THE DOLL MUSEUM

With Zurich Pass and Map in (his) hand
(and Google maps firmly in mine) we wandered down cobble stoned back streets in the Old part of Town to the Zurich Toy Museum.

This is possibly the smallest Museum we have visited and is accessed by the smallest elevator we have ever been in.

From the earliest Dolls and War Era Train sets to Barbie and Star Wars they had 300 years of Children's Dreams covered.

I even found a small familiar face.

I called mine Thumbelina and found her VERY difficult to dress - by the looks of things I am not the only one!

She is in a shoe-box somewhere, maybe I should get her out and put her on display too?




NATIONAL MUSEUM of ZURICH


I must admit that I was expecting something more on the lines of a 'Traditional' Museum when we set off to Visit the National Museum of Zurich.

The vision of a Beautiful Carriage in the portico certainly led me to think that was what were were going to see.

But that was about as "Traditional" as it got!

The exhibition space itself is undergoing a total rebuild which has resulted in a Labyrinth of Polished Concrete Walls and Floors and Ceilings.
It certainly was not welcoming - it was cold and smelled of wet cement.

I trust that once finished - visitors will have easy access through the exhibits.  We got lost and disorientated just trying to find our way out!

HOWEVER- the exhibits were housed in State of the Art, modern displays with interactive multi-lingual 'overlay screens' for you to learn more about a particular exhibit.

They were very impressive.

As with most museums Photographs are frowned upon (although I think it is more the Flash photography which is the issue - which can damage fragile exhibits). 

Although I would have liked to record our visit with many photographs, I was only able to 'sneak' one shot to share.

Beautifully hand illustrated Monumental Bible.
12 Monks worked on these 477 pages. Full Page pictures of the Evangelists decorate the beginning of each of the Gospels.

It was an enormous achievement for the Scriptorium of Einsiedelin during the 11th/12th Centuries.

* * *

And with that our time in Zurich was over - 

We certainly did enjoy our time here and would definitely return to Switzerland.

But for now it is back on the Train

Zurich to Strasbourg in 2 1/2 hours

Note: I do not use flash photography as I find the lighting of the exhibits quite adequate.