Sils Museum
Sils Museum
In 2026/27, our exhibition will focus on the journalist, photojournalist, and writer Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908–1942), who found a home in Sils. Her work was inscribed on the Memory of the World Register in 2025. The centerpiece of the presentation at the Sils Museum comprises Schwarzenbach's photographs, diaries, reports, letters, and literary texts—testimonies to both her extensive travels and her deep connection to Sils. The exhibition explores the tension between her restlessness and thirst for adventure, her commitment as a journalist and anti-fascist, on the one hand, and her psychological instability and longing for stability, for a home, on the other. The spatial design and a variety of presentation formats connect these facets and place them within a historical context. The focus is on the period between 1935, when Schwarzenbach made Sils Baselgia her adopted home, and her death in 1942.
Annemarie Schwarzenbach was born in 1908, the middle of five children of Zurich silk manufacturer Alfred Emil Schwarzenbach and his wife Marie Renée Wille. She studied history, philosophy, and psychology in Zurich and Paris. In 1930, she began her friendship with Erika and Klaus Mann. In 1933, she witnessed Hitler's rise to power in Berlin. The political situation in Europe was increasingly tense, and within the Schwarzenbach family, the divide between her Nazi-sympathizing parents and their anti-fascist daughter intensified. After a suicide attempt in January 1935, she went to Samedan to recuperate. Between extended trips to Persia and Afghanistan, she repeatedly returned to Sils. The town became increasingly important to her. Her precarious financial situation improved thanks to an inheritance from her grandmother, and buying a house in Sils became a realistic possibility. However, on September 6, 1942, she was involved in a tragic bicycle accident there. After several hospital stays, she died in Sils on November 15, 1942.
Guided Tours: Every Tuesday from June 11, 2026 to October 25, 2026 at 5:00 PM, fee included in the admission price.
Admission: Adults CHF 10.00, Youth CHF 6.00, Children free.
More information about the guided tours: www.sils.ch/events
Sils Museum - Kulturstiftung Andrea Robbi
Via da Marias 110
7514 Sils - Switzerland