Raetisches Museum Chur
N 46° 50.881 E 009° 32.023
32T E 540691 N 5188413
Once a manor house, now a museum for the public. In the 19th century, the house became the permanent home of items of cultural and historical interest.
Waymark Code: WM2428
Location: Graubünden, Switzerland
Date Posted: 08/31/2007
Views: 44
At that time, lawyer Peter Conradin von Planta and others were concerned about the drain and loss of valuable cultural assets in the Chur area and resolved to halt this development by starting up a historical collection, and hence the Rätisches Museum came into being.
The collection contains archaeological, cultural-historical and folkloristic objects of the Grisons (Graubünden) canton from Prehistory to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Baroque periods and the 19th and early 20th Century.
Most of the exhibited archaeological finds are from settlements of the Stone and Bronze Age. Tools, arms and jewellery document the influence from the north and the south. The 82cm-long Bronze Age pin with disc-shaped head from Falera/ Fellers for example is unique because of its size. First finds on scripture and coinage originate from the Iron Age. The oldest inscription of the Grisons can be found on the spout of a bronze beaker jug from Castaneda (500-400 BC). Statuettes of Mercurius, the god of trade, illustrate the importance of Chur as emporium in Roman times.
First traces of Christianization are found at the medieval cemetery of Bonaduz. Christianity in Chur was proven through the first mention of bishop Asinio in 451. From the Tello-Cathedral (8th Century) fragments of Carolingian marble chancel-screens are preserved.
Numerous fortresses are evidence of the growth of the aristocracy from the 10th and 11th Century on. An eminent archaeological trove of the High Middle Ages is the calotte helmet from Cazis/Niederrealta (2nd half of the 12th Century).
Grison arts and crafts are represented at the Raetian Museum mainly through pottery and metalwork. Textile equipment and accessories, such as spinning wheels, textile products, such as embroideries and costumes, are also displayed in this section.
Some of the exhibited furniture - mainly wardrobes and chests - date back to the 16th Century. The numerous Grisons book prints, primarily of religious content, point at the denominational time of the 16th and 17th Century.
The printing shop of Strada connects the scholars of the Enlightenment with the economic patriots, such as Ulysses von Salis-Marschlins, but also clubs and societies. They represent national consciousness and pride in the emerging Canton of the Grisons (from 1803 on).
Other important objects, which display the cultural history of the Grisons, are relics of historic hunting and fishing and arms and armor.
The third floor is devoted to Grison home décor of the 18th and 19th Century. In the magnificent open attic a great number of objects show people worked and how things were produced in the traditional Alpine agriculture, long before the Industrial Revolution caught up with the Grisons.
The Raetian Museum attends a collection of over 200'000 numismatic objects from Antiquity to modern times. Center of the unsurpassed collection are coins and medallions of the Grisons, as well as treasure and single troves from the canton of Grisons.
The numismatic objects are exhibited at the Münzraum.
In the main display cabinet, the comprehensive mint production, various forms of money and currencies from distinct locations of the present-day canton are displayed. No less than nine different institutions minted coins in the area that is the Canton of Grisons today. Also on display is a small selection of medallions.
Another display cabinet introduces the visitor to the complex minting history of the Three Leagues. The production of a coin, the goffers and rollers, coin balances, coining machines for forgeries and other treasures are to be found here.
Other coin hoards can be seen in the Roman and medieval sections of the museum.
Theme:
History of the Grisons canton
Street Address:
Hofstrasse 1
7000 Chur
Food Court: no
Hours of Operation:
Monday closed
Tuesday-Sunday 10:00 - 17:00
Cost: 6.00 (listed in local currency)
Museum Size: Small
Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
Gift Shop: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
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