Alpineum
Historic Alpine diorama next to the Lion Monument with large-scale, three-dimensionally staged mountain paintings by the Hodel painters.
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About the museum
The Alpineum is housed in a neoclassical domed building from 1885, which originally belonged to the ensemble with the Lion Monument and a chapel as the Lion Monument Museum. It first showed the story of the storming of the Tuileries in 1792, a concept that lasted less than ten years. In 1895 the landscape painter Ernst Hodel Sr. acquired the building, which offered ideal space for his large-format Alpine paintings.
Together with his son Ernst Hodel Jr., he gradually set up an Alpine diorama, which opened in May 1901. The huge paintings with a staged foreground show mountain landscapes such as Pilatus, Rigi, Jungfrau, Monte Rosa, Gornergrat, the Matterhorn and the ascent of Mont Blanc, and create a striking sense of depth. Panoramas and dioramas are considered forerunners of cinema and television: they let audiences experience distant landscapes without travelling.
Until about 1975 a multilingual porter guided visitors through the building; around 1990 the presentation was adapted so that the diorama has since been visited independently with captions. Later, reliefs of the mountain regions as well as models of houses, ships and mountain railways were added. An additional exhibition is devoted to stereo photography around 1900.
Highlights
- Large-format 3D Alpine dioramas by Ernst Hodel Sr. and Jr.
- Views of Pilatus, Rigi, Jungfrau, the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc
- Reliefs and models of houses, ships and mountain railways
- “Das Stereo-Bild” exhibition on three-dimensional photography around 1900
- Located right next to the Lion Monument
Permanent exhibitions
- Alpendiorama – Large-format mountain paintings with a staged foreground show Pilatus, Rigi, Jungfrau, Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn and the ascent of Mont Blanc with a three-dimensional effect.
- Das Stereo-Bild – The exhibition tells the history of three-dimensional photography around 1900 with stereo viewers.
- Founded
- 1901
Admission & discounts
| Adults | CHF 10 |
|---|---|
| Reduced | CHF 7AHV (old-age pension) holders and students |
| Children & teens | CHF 5 |
| Seniors | CHF 7AHV rate. |
| Students & apprentices | CHF 7Students; school pupils pay CHF 3. |
| Groups | CHF 7 per personGroup rate; minimum size not specified. |
| School pupils | CHF 3 |
Accessibility
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Kids & families
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Getting there & parking
By public transit
Löwenplatz
Take VBL bus lines 1, 19, 22 or 23 (about every 10 minutes from Lucerne railway station) to “Löwenplatz”.
The museum is about 10 minutes from Lucerne railway station, directly opposite the Lion Monument.
Get directionsAmenities & dining
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Events & venue rental
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Plan your visit
| Good to know | The diorama has captions and is visited independently. |
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