Visiting the Bad RagARTz Swiss Triennial of Sculpture Festival in Bad Ragaz
Every three years, Bad RagARTz hosts the Swiss Triennial of Sculpture, a large open-air sculpture festival, in Bad Ragaz, Vaduz, Liechtenstein and Altes Bad Pfäfers. In 2024, this festival takes place between May 4th and October 30th and this past weekend, we took the opportunity to stroll around the town of Bad Ragaz to check out the festival’s many impressive, weird, and wonderful sculptures.
Detail Summary| Where: | Bad RagARTz – Swiss Triennial of Sculpture Bad Ragaz, Switzerland Canton St. Gallen |
| Train/Bus: | Zürich HB -> Bad Ragaz- 1 hr 16 min |
| What: | Walk around Bad Ragaz – Map of Sculpture Locations From the Train station, we followed Bahnhoffstrasse into the town center, where we wandered around looking at the many artworks, many of which are found in Kurpark. We then followed Maienfelderstrasse to Geissenerweg (a left onto a trail just before the traffic circle) through Geissenpark to a trail alongside the Rhine river and then back to the Train station. See the Bad RagARTz website for other related events, such as cultural events in the fields of literature and music, as well as exciting symposia on contemporary issues. |
| Cost: | Free to wander the town and enjoy the art. You can purchase a guidebook at the Train Station in Bad Ragaz, among other locations. See the official site for more info. (I didn’t know you could purchase a guidebook until after we got back. I wish we had known as I would like to know more about the artists and their works. A price is not listed on the website, so I don’t know how much the guidebooks are.) Public and private Tours can be booked. |
| Time: | Plan to spend about 2 hours here to see much of the artwork. |
| Notes: | This festival only happens every three years. |
Getting There
We took the train to Bad Ragaz and started our tour at the train station.
Right at the train station, already there was sculpture to admire.
Wandering Past the Sculptures
With over 450 works by 88 artists from all over the world, there is a lot to see. If you take a look at the map of sculpture locations, though, you’ll see that most are located in the center of town with several located along main streets creating a convenient loop to walk in order to see most of the sculptures.
Following the map, from the train station, we went down Bahnhoffstrasse into the town center, passing several interesting sculptures along the way, and posing with a few of them. We also stopped for lunch in the town center at a place called Restaurant Central. I got the vegetarian mini-capuns and they were quite good.
After lunch, we wandered around looking at the artworks, many of which were found in Kurpark. I really liked the metal heads and the giant lemons.
One of my favorite sculptures was this giant metal ball with a star map cut into it. You could go inside and the way the light came through was surprisingly beautiful.
I like how this picture gets both the mountains and the church steeple in the background of all the art and that it is also an action shot of my husband taking a selfie with a purple rooster.
After leaving Kurpark, we followed Maienfelderstrasse towards Geissen park. Along this street were multiple sculptures including a giant purple nest of sticks.
At Geissenerweg, we took a left onto a trail just before the traffic circle and began walking through Geissen park. The cubes on the trees were painted in parts so you had to stand at just the right spot to line them up. I also like how I lined up the “I Am What” sculpture over the I have no idea what it is shoe sculpture.
I kind of wish that I got a person in with the artwork in the first photo below as all the people are life-sized. My husband commented that the sculpture in photo two below was post modern art. The third sculpture completely captured the feeling of being alone and sad.
We both liked the last sculpture we saw before connecting to the trail alongside the Rhine river that took us back to the train station. The blue sheep were so perfectly positioned, it was as if they were real sheep.
There were so many interesting works to see and I know we didn’t see them all, but what a delightful way to spend a few hours enjoying art and the outdoors. I highly recommend going to this exhibit if you have the chance. And, I am looking forward to going again in three years and seeing what new art works will be on display.
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