 The medieval heart of this city is buzzing at all times of day. Shops,
restaurants, markets and festivals constantly bring new life into the historic
centre.
The Casinotheater Winterthur, a platform for cabaret and comedy, has become
something of a national institution. Through the Swiss Foundation of Photography
and the Photo Museum, the city has become a major international centre for the
medium. In all, Winterthur has 17 museums, displaying everything from old
watches and rare coins to crafts and natural history.
Among those with an international reputation are the Oskar Reinhart
collections, as well as the Villa Flora and the Museum of Fine Arts. For many
years now musicals have been staged at the City Hall with great success.
Top-quality classical music concerts are given by the orchestra of the
Musikkollegium Winterthur, while big international names perform on the stages
of the music clubs and other venues.
A busy programme of festivals — such as the Afro-Pfingsten festival of
African music — gives the city an atmosphere unlike any other in Switzerland.
Art, architecture, design.
A world-class centre of the arts
In Winterthur visitors find themselves enjoying the city’s rich culture in
unusual settings. The Oskar Reinhart Collection “am Römerholz”, for example, and
the collection of French art by Hedy and Arthur Hahnloser, are on show in the
original homes of their founders. More recently, the new Zentrum für Fotografie
has created waves both here and on the international art scene. A must-see is
the Kunstmuseum: the extension building is one of the most widely discussed new
museum buildings by the architects Gigon & Guyer.
Fotomuseum and Fotostiftung
The Photo Museum Winterthur and the new Swiss Foundation of Photography
occupy a former factory building. Together, they account for the largest centre
for photography in Europe. Thirty bequests with more than 30,000 original prints
by renowned photographers make up the foundation’s collection; around ten
exhibitions every year cover all aspects of the art.
Oskar Reinhart Collection and Museum
The name of the art collector Oskar Reinhart is closely connected with
Winterthur. In the private setting of his former home “am Römerholz”, the
stylistic confidence of this lover of art shines through, over every period:
Cranach, Holbein, Rubens, Manet, Renoir and Picasso are just some of the artists
represented in this remarkable collection. Another building also carries his
name: the Oskar Reinhart Museum “am Stadtgarten” shows around 600 paintings from
three centuries. One of the highlights is Caspar David Friedrich’s “Chalk cliffs
on Rügen” – one of the key works of German Romanticism.
Gottfried Semper
The Stadthaus (city hall) on the Stadtgarten was built in 1865 by the
architect Gottfried Semper. Today the sandstone building with its impressive
temple front and flight of steps is considered one of the most important
buildings of the 19th century. |
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