A carpet of stories

Editor Soraja Hagspiel

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At the entrance, it's time to take off your shoes and put on your headphones. Then you enter a colourful carpet landscape in the Forum Zurich cemetery and immerse yourself in the city's history.

Even the arrival is different to what you are used to from other exhibitions: Wearing socks and headphones, you are invited into a colourful carpet landscape, softly laid out with cushions and dimmed lighting. The atmosphere is calm, almost intimate - a space that invites you to let yourself go. And this is exactly where the journey through time into the city's history begins in the Zurich Forum cemetery.

Listening while lying down

I stretch out my legs and lean back into a cushion. For around 95 minutes, ten biographies are woven into a tapestry of sound. Actor Thomas Sarbacher talks in a calm, pleasant voice about people who have lived in Zurich. What they have in common: They are all buried in Sihlfeld cemetery. The exhibition deliberately juxtaposes famous people with lesser-known personalities, creating a multi-layered picture of 200 years of Zurich's city history. Sometimes it's about Arnold Bürkli's bridges, sometimes about Johanna Spyri's world-famous "Heidi", sometimes about Emilie Lieberherr's political struggles.

Close and blunt

I found the women's stories particularly impressive. Bürkli and co. are of course familiar, but the female protagonists of Zurich's history - apart from Johanna Spyri - were largely unknown to me. Mariella Mehr particularly caught my attention. The Yenish writer tells of a life that was characterised by heteronomy, exclusion and coercion and makes it clear that it was not so long ago that women in Switzerland had little control over their own lives. Her narrative is raw, powerful and goes straight to the heart.

The ten stories are skilfully woven together and, taken as a whole, unfold a panorama of 200 years of Zurich's city history. Despite the length of 95 minutes, they are entertaining; in the landscape, images are created before my inner eye that bring the past to life.

Taking to the field

I went to the Friedhof Forum just before it closed, so I didn't have enough time for all ten biographies. But no problem: a QR code can be scanned at the exit to continue listening to the stories on your mobile phone - while walking through the cemetery, for example. Listening to the stories between the graves of the figures told makes the whole experience even more intense.

The exhibition "Ten Lives - The Story of a City" turns remembrance into a sensual experience: personal, intelligent, approachable. It was created in collaboration between the Friedhof Forum and the Einfach Zürich project.

On display until 9 July 2026 at the Zurich Cemetery Forum. Admission free.

Opening hours:
Mon: closed
Tue-Thu: 1.30-5.30 pm
Fri & Sat: closed
Sun: 1.30-5.30 pm

Friedhof Forum

Zehn Leben - Die Geschichte einer Stadt

Die Zürcher Geschichte kennt viele Aufs und Abs. Wir erzählen ihre letzten 200 Jahre anhand der Leben von zehn Menschen, die auf dem Friedhof Sihlfeld ...

Permanent exhibition

Published from Soraja Hagspiel on October 09, 2025.