The industry is facing challenges these days. However, for art enthusiasts, some hotels possess impressive collections that few people know about.
1. Sculptures of Superlatives, Ascona
The Castello del Sole in Ascona is one of Switzerland’s most attractive luxury hotels with 78 suites and rooms. On the hotel’s extensive grounds (140 hectares), they cultivate their vineyards, crops, rice, fruits, and vegetables.
The immense hotel park (pictured above) is perfect for oversized sculptures. During the 2021 season, starting on March 26, the «steel structures» by Zurich artist James Licini, made from industrial steel components, will be on display. The hotel itself hosts rotating art exhibitions.
2. A Castle Full of Art, Zuoz
Overflowing with art, Hotel Castell in Zuoz is no surprise, considering its owner Ruedi Bechtler is an entrepreneur, artist, and art collector. In the over-a-hundred-year-old castle hotel, works from Bechtler’s private collection by Roman Signer, Fischli and Weiss, Thomas Hirschhorn, Martin Kippenberger, Chantal Michel, and others are exhibited.
Three works stand out for their sheer size: the wooden terrace (pictured above) by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata; the red bar designed by Pipilotti Rist and architect Gabrielle Hächler; and the «Skyspace» by American James Turrell, a striking stone structure above the hotel with a roof opening providing a constantly changing view of the sky, its light, clouds, and colors.
3. Portrait Gallery in the Restaurant, Gstaad
The five-star superior Le Grand Bellevue in Gstaad is among the impressive luxury hotels in the resort. Dutchman Daniel Koetser took over the «Bellevue» in 2013 and, with the help of his wife Davia Koetser, an interior designer, transformed it into a luxuriously casual lifestyle house.
Leonard’s restaurant (15 Gault&Maillau points) serves as an outpost for the Hauser & Wirth art gallery (Zurich, New York, Hong Kong). On display are 30 portraits (pictured above) by outstanding artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Francis Picabia, Rita Ackermann, or Martin Creed.
4. Art Experiment Without Compromise, Basel
The recently reopened Basel Volkshaus is worth a visit. The Herzog and de Meuron architectural firm meticulously renovated the property from the 1920s, which had been altered without regard for losses in the 1970s, restoring its former glory.
Secondly, Volkshaus is an art experiment. The von Bartha Gallery (Basel and S-chanf GR) showcases works from the gallery’s program under the name «von Bartha Insight» four to five times a year. The first presentation is dedicated to French sculptor Bernar Venet. A visit is worthwhile once it reopens.
5. Journey Through the Epochs, Pontresina
Since Saratz was founded as a guesthouse in 1865, several expansions have allowed a fascinating journey through the epochs of hotel architecture. Integrated harmoniously into the rooms is a regularly changing and publicly accessible art exhibition.
Works by artists Andrea Röthlin, Claude Seeberger, Charlie Lutz, Peter Horber, and sculptor Philipp Käppeli are on display. In the 35,000 square meters hotel park, sculptures (pictured above) can also be admired. The bar in the oldest part of the building is impressive: it consists of a massive iron sculpture built by two sons of the famous Bernese artist Bernhard Luginbühl.
6. Art in the Villa by the Lake, Lugano-Castagnola
The five-star superior Grand Hotel Villa Castagnola, owned by the Garzoni family since 1982, boasts a long history of hospitality. The main building houses a collection of arts and crafts from around the world.
In 2002, the owners of Villa Castagnola purchased the Hotel Du Midi across the street directly by the lake and built a mixture of art gallery and gourmet restaurant on the ground floor, aptly named Arté al Lago(pictured above). For ten years, it has hosted biannual exhibitions featuring various artists. The restaurant is adorned with a Michelin star and 16 Gault&Millau points.
7. With the Photography Pioneer in the Inn, La Punt
In La Punt in the Upper Engadin, where the Albula Pass road diverges, entrepreneur Beat Curti bought the Hotel Gasthaus Krone and transformed it into a gem. For art lovers, the 450-year-old house has much to offer: Not Vital’s paintings, the most famous contemporary Graubünden artist, adorn the walls on the ground floor and in the rooms.
The suites feature works by Matias Spescha, Bryan Cyril Thurston, Lukas Rohner, and Gaudenz Signorell. Another focus is on the works of photo pioneer Albert Steiner, born in 1877 in Frutigen in the Bernese Oberland, who lived in Engadin from 1909. Steiner’s photographs, displayed in the dining rooms, significantly shaped the image of Upper Engadin.
8. Museum in the Youth Hostel, Burgdorf
The City Castle, which dominates the town of Burgdorf in Bern, has a history of over 800 years as a residence for Zähringers, Kyburgs, and later Bernese bailiffs. Until 2012, it served as a court and prison. In spring 2020, after extensive renovation, the castle reopened with entirely new functions: as a museum, a restaurant, and Switzerland’s most elegant youth hostel.
The museum invites visitors on a time-travel journey (pictured above); on 1,500 square meters, it presents the history of the castle, the city, and the region in a diverse and multimedia way. Objects from the Goldkammer association’s collection are also on display, documenting the history of gold mining in Switzerland and the yellow precious metal in general.
