2_0_DiscoverGermany_October14_Issue19:Scan Magazine 1
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Masterpieces from around the world The Rietberg Museum in Zurich is the only art museum for non-European cultures in Switzerland and boasts an internationally renowned collection of works from Asia, Africa, America and Oceania.
search with important art institutions worldwide such as the British Museum and the V&A.
TEXT: CORDELIA MAKARTSEV | PHOTOS: RIETBERG MUSEUM
The jewel of the museum
Since 1952, when the Museum Rietberg of the City of Zurich opened its doors to the public, it developed into one of Europe’s leading exhibition places. “Last year, over 86,000 people visited our world-famous collection.The museum designs special exhibitions which are internationally acclaimed and which are passed on to the world’s most prestigious museums such as the Metropolitain Museum of Art in New York or the Musée du quai Branly in Paris,” says Christine Ginsberg, PR and communication manager at the museum Rietberg. The museum maintains a lively exchange concerning loan objects and scientific re-
The core of the collection came from Baron Eduard von der Heydt, the founding donor of the Museum Rietberg. A knowledgeable and discerning buyer, he knew the best art dealers of the 1920s and 1930s. Today, with its presentation of works of art, the Rietberg museum seeks to not only consciously highlight the fascinating variety of artistic forms of expression, but also to arouse an interest in and understanding of foreign cultures, beliefs and religions.“One of our central exhibits and, due to its beauty, the emblem of the Museum Rietberg, is the South-Indian bronze figure Shiva Nataraja, dating from the Chola dynasty 1000 AD,” explains Christine Ginsberg. The Hindu Meiyintang Dancers
16 | Issue 19 | October 2014