Open Air Museum Ballenberg

2 December 2022

The open-air museum (Freilichtmuseum Ballenberg) features a collection of over 110 rural houses and farm buildings relocated from all over Switzerland. To furnish the buildings, the museum collects objects from rural life and farming before the advent of agriculture.

These items and related secondary information relate to earlier ways of living, social structures, and economic activities in the farming community, as well as crafts and commerce.

The site features magnificent farmhouses, humble workers’ quarters, alpine huts and stalls, barns, storehouses, washhouses, and drying ovens, providing architectural and socio-historical testimony to the everyday life and rural culture of the past. Gardens, fields, pastures and meadows, set up according to historical models, surround the farmsteads and houses.

Some craftspeople work with traditional tools in the buildings, while various theme exhibits give insight into scenes from rural pasts.

Moreover, approximately 250 farm animals, representing the full range of native domestic animals, provide lively scenes. However, to get a good impression of typical Swiss houses, one could also visit the nearby villages of Ballenberg and Brienz before or after visiting the museum.

(Further information: www.ballenberg.ch)

Impressions from the Open Air Museum Ballenberg