My first time ... at the Landesmuseum

The Swiss National Museum is right next to the main station – anyone arriving in or leaving Zurich by train is bound to see it. I’ve never visited its exhibitions or collections, though. I’ve been to the library there quite often, though. Its study areas are quiet, usually free, and in an unbeatably central location. I sometimes have a drink at the Spritz. The cosy bar is ideal in winter, whilst the terrace is perfect in summer.

But today I’m heading into the museum. Unlike the many other exhibitions – which I’ve missed out on anyway – the current ones don’t particularly appeal to me. ‘Zum Geburtstag viel Recht’ (until 16 July) and ‘Swiss Press Photo 23’ (until 25 June 23) did, however, pleasantly surprise me. The former, in particular, is an interesting, diverse and modern exhibition on what is actually quite a dry subject. My companion, unfortunately, saw it differently. Too much information, too few pictures – the nearly 2-year-old was getting restless in the pushchair.

So off to the collection we went. It comprises 870,000 objects; we looked at a fraction of them. These included swords, archaeological finds and textiles. The sleighs, old toys and vehicles would probably have fascinated the child just as much. But the National Museum is vast, and there is so much on offer. And we wanted to visit the family exhibition as well. There, you can take the little ones on a journey into the past. Shipping, railways and the Orient are the main themes of this child-friendly exhibition. Highlights for the under-5s: huge carpets to climb on, old model trains and a dress-up corner.

The Landesmuseum is right next to the main railway station - anyone arriving in or leaving Zurich by train is almost bound to see it. But I have never visited its exhibitions and collections. The associated library, however, I have visited often. Its workplaces are quiet, mostly free and unbeatably centrally located. I sometimes have a drink at the Spritz. The smart bar is ideal in winter, the square in summer.

But today I'm going to the museum. Unlike the many other exhibitions - all of which I missed anyway - the current ones don't particularly appeal to me. but "Zum Geburtstag viel Recht" (until 16 July) and "Swiss Press Photo 23" (until 25 June 23) surprise me positively. The former in particular is an interesting, diverse and modern exhibition on what is actually a dry subject. Unfortunately, my companion saw it differently. Too much information, too few pictures - the 2-year-old got restless in the pram.

So off to the collection. It comprises 870,000 objects, a fraction of which we looked at. Among them are swords, archaeological finds and textiles. The sledges, old toys and vehicles would probably have excited the child just as much. But the National Museum is extensive, the range of exhibits huge. And we wanted to visit the family exhibition. There you can travel back in time with the little ones. Shipping, railways and the Orient are the main themes of the child-friendly exhibition. Highlight for the U5 audience: huge carpets to climb on, old model trains and a dress-up corner.

The National Museum will soon be celebrating its 125th anniversary. It is therefore once again receiving increased media interest. Some journalists are looking for interesting objects from the collection, others are dealing with the long history of the museum. It doesn't really need this attention. It is very popular with school classes, but especially with tourists. On this summery Friday morning, people from all over the world were there. Somehow it's nice that they are interested in the history of little Switzerland.