Visiting the Rosengart Collection Museum, Kapellbrücke and Jesuit Church in Luzern

Wanting to spend a cold winter afternoon admiring beautiful art works, we decided to visit the Rosengart Collection Museum in Luzern. On display is the private collection of art-dealer Siegfried Rosengart and his daughter Angela. The collection is mainly comprised of works by two artists, Pablo Picasso (with whom they had a personal relationship) and Paul Klee. The collection also includes works by Marc Chagall, Claude Monet, Vassily Kandinsky, and Joan Miró, among others. It is an amazing collection and very much worth a visit.

After the museum, we stopped by two other popular tourist sites in Luzern – the Jesuit Church and the Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge). They are each about a two minute walk from the museum and free, so why not check them out?

Detail Summary

The Rosengart Collection Museum

We did the self-guided tour, but it might be worth going back for a guided tour. The entire ground floor of the museum is dedicated to Pablo Picasso. The basement floor of the museum contains only works by Paul Klee (over 130 pieces.) On the upper floor of the museum are works by Marc Chagall, Claude Monet, Vassily Kandinsky, and Joan Miró, among others.

The building itself is a former bank and the boardroom is left intact. In the boardroom there was a video playing of Angela Rosengart explaining the history of the collection, which we stopped to watch. I’m glad we did as we learned about the personal interactions Angela Rosengart and her father had with the artists, in particular Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. It gave us context for the additional works by Picasso found on the upper floor (including portraits Picasso did of Angela Rosengart), the collection of photographs of Picasso at work taken by David Douglas Duncan, and the framed used artist’s pallet from Marc Chagall (which Chagall gave to Siegfried Rosengart to confirm he had taken Rosengart’s advice to not do a single thing more on a painting he was working on.)

Visiting the Jesuit Church and Kapellbrücke

After the museum we stopped by two other popular tourist sites in Luzern – the Jesuit Church and the Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge). They are each about a two minute walk from the museum and free so why not check them out.

Built in the late 1600s, the Jesuit Church has a beautiful interior. While we were there, there was a light sculpture of Brother Klaus (Nicholas von Flüe), the Swiss hermit who gave great advice on display (third picture). I first learned about Brother Klaus when we were hiking Stage 16 of the Trans Swiss trail which passes his birthplace, and then learned even more about him on Stage 17 of the Trans Swiss trail as we hiked past the location of his hermitage. According to wikipedia, his original vestments are stored at this church.

After leaving the church, we walked over the Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge), the oldest covered pedestrian bridge in Europe. As we crossed the bridge, we were sure to take note of the 17th century paintings along the way. Some were destroyed in a fire in the 1993, but those that are left are well worth seeing. This symbol of Luzern is a can’t miss tourist site.

I was very impressed by my visit to the Rosengart Collection Museum. If you are interested in Picasso and Klee, I highly recommend a visit. The Kapellbrücke and Jesuit Church are also very nice to see. Just add in a stop at a cafe for some coffee, and you will have a perfect afternoon.