Ballenberg Open-Air Museum
_{To go Back at any time,}
use Browser’s “Previous Page”

• A short excursion from Lungern by train and bus took us to the 163 acre Ballenberg Open-Air Museum. There, more than 100 traditional Swiss buildings have been moved, reassembled, furnished and staffed with costumed craftsmen. Farm animals are everywhere. As spacious and hilly as the grounds are, it would be real feat to see all of it in one day. We did not try and, at that, we succeeded. It is a beautiful place for a simple stroll without rushing:
  

  

  
  Many of the buildings are isolated from other structures ....
  

  

  .... while others are appropriately grouped in clusters:
  

  

  
  As well as being educational, on a fine day Ballenberg is a great setting for photos:
  

  

  
  The oldest building in the Museum and one of the oldest wooden houses in Switzerland is this 675-year-old structure from central Switzerland. Built in the 1330’s, the house is presented as it would have appeared around 1400. Unlike typical buildings at Ballenberg, this one has been left unfurnished because of its antiquity.
  

  

  
  Among the larger and more elaborate buildings is this one from the Geneva area:
  

  

  Begun as a vineyard press-house, it was later enlarged into a multi-purpose farmhouse. Still later, the farmhouse was converted into a roomy work building that could accommodate some fifty head of cattle in two long stalls.
  
  Below is part of the “East Midland” cluster of homes, originally from the vicinity of Zurich:
  

  

  The farmhouse in the background, as well as the one in front of it, were homes of wine-makers. The former was a two-family dwelling. The latter had a sizeable press room, a small stable and threshing floor and living quarters.
  
  Ballenberg is not unique, to be sure, there being similar open-air museums in other countries. And while the buildings in this Swiss version may not be as colorful as in others, the Museum's magnificent setting is color enough.