Visiting the Bruno Weber Sculpture Park in Dietikon
Bruno Weber (1931 – 2011) was a Swiss artist best known for his whimsical concrete sculptures. If you have been to the top of Zürich’s local mountain, Uetliberg (maybe while hiking stage 1 of the Zürich-Zugerland Panorama Trail), you probably saw his very memorable mosaic deer street lamps. In Dietikon, on the site of Bruno Weber’s former home, is an entire sculpture garden filled with his weird and magical creations. If you are looking for something really different to escape to for an hour or so, this sculpture garden is the perfect place to go.
Detail SummaryWhere: | Bruno Weber Park (german only site), Zur Weinrebe 3, Dietikon, Switzerland (Parking lot is in Canton Zürich, but the park is just over the border in Canton Aargau) |
Train/Bus: | Zürich HB -> Dietikon, Weinberg – 35 min or Zürich HB -> Dietikon, Stadthalle Ost – 45 min |
Car: | Public parking for a fee is available at Stadthalle Ost, Dietikon: Fondlistrasse 15, 8953 Dietikon Note: Parking for disabled patrons is available closer to the park. Contact the park secretary for more information. Contact information is on the website (german only site). |
What: | Walk around Bruno Weber Park (german only site) |
Cost: | Cost to enter the park as of May 2021: Adult – CHF 12 Seniors/Students – CHF 10 Children (to age 6) – CHF 5 Cash Only |
Time: | Plan to spend about 1 hour here to see all the artwork. |
Notes: | Park has limited opening hours. As of May 2021, the park is only open on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday 11 am to 6 pm. A note at the entrance also warned that the park will close in wet weather. Check the website (german only site) for current hours before going. |
Getting There
You can reach Bruno Weber park either by public transportation or by car. We chose to drive and we parked at the recommended public lot at Stadthalle Ost (Fondlistrasse 15, 8953 Dietikon). The Stadthall is currently the Coronavirus vaccine center in Dietikon – so nice to see progress being made.
Right next to the parking lot is a sign pointing out the path to the park. A mosaic seahorse lets you know you are definitely headed in the right direction. After a short five to ten minute walk, we reached the entrance to the park.
Wandering the Park
Just walking up the entrance to the park, you can see what this place is all about – there are deer lamps and mosaic cat snakes guarding the way. After we paid our entrance fee, we walked under the mouth-gate and into the park.
Inside the park, there are art works and artistic details everywhere you look, from sculptures, like the bizarre finger/lion (in the third picture below), to ornately decorated buildings. Even the bathrooms were decorated with mosaic roses!
One of my favorite areas of the park was this water garden with giant mosaic snakes and weird pink tadpole/frog creatures.
I also really enjoyed walking the short forest paths which were full of fun, whimsical creatures and characters. A few of my favorites are below.
Another area I loved was this impressive reflecting pool surrounded by unicorns, seahorses, and two giant dragons. You can get a view from above by walking the path along the dragons’ backs and through their mouths.
The park isn’t particularly big, so you can easily wander aimlessly around looking at whatever interests you without worrying about getting lost. Despite the small area, it is packed with art. There are so many wonderful sculptures to see that there was no way to include them all in this post. Bruno Weber Park is a delightful place to spend an hour or two and I highly recommend it.
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