Enchanting Afternoon at Museum Zug Burg

Entrance:

Zug Burg is an 8 minute walk from the Zug old town, and is right next door to the Kunsthaus, making these two a good option for a combo-visit.

Entrance is 10 CHF but is free on the first Wednesday of every month. I got the Swiss Museum Pass so it was also ‘free’ for me.

I was offered a booklet explaining the exhibits in English, which I really liked. I can’t expect Swiss museums to just have things in English all the time, but I definitely prefer paper guides to apps.

The Exhibits:

The exhibition covered the history of the castle through the years, dating back to the 12th century.

There were really cool artifacts from the 18th-century days of Swiss mercenaries, upper-middle class life of the castle’s early 20th-century inhabitants, religious artifacts, and examples of stores and pharmacies from the 1930s.

A couple of my favorite items include this amazing wall paper from the 1700s—the oldest ever found in Switzerland!

In the same room they showed some playing cards found in the castle’s baseboards during renovations.

They look a lot like the cards used today to play Jass, a popular Swiss card game.

In a room discussing Swiss stained glass craftsmanship, a little autograph book from a 17-century Swiss journeyman was on display. He collected signatures and drawings from friends he made in his travels—maybe an early form of Instagram?

One exhibit I found particularly thought-provoking was a display of curiosities from the 16th-18th centuries.

The English-translated guide said “during the period of Enlightenment people forgot how to marvel, and as a consequence the cabinets of curiosities lost their lustre in the late 18th century.”

How sad to forget how to marvel! May we all try to practice this lost art when opportunity arises.

Conclusion:

There's also two big rooms for kids to dress-up and play, less relevant to me, but I could see how this would be a fun place for parents to take their kids.

The cafe also seemed reasonably priced and had good indoor and outdoor seating options. I didn't partake, but it looked like it would be nice.

I arrived around 2pm on a Tuesday and had the entire place to myself the full hour that I visited. Would definitely recommend for a Zug visit.