Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich

The Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich is a social anthropology science museum and the third oldest ethnographic museum in Switzerland. In research, teaching and public outreach activities, it focuses "On Human Skill" and shows the full range and diversity of human competences.

In exchange with members or descendants of those communities of origin who once invented, produced and used them, the objects in our collections are explored under topical questions and, if possible, researched collaboratively. The origin of these objects and the circumstances of their acquisition, as well as the colonial past of collections, are also addressed. And (self-) critical questions are asked about who actually talks about cultures and societies and how they are represented.

Thus, as a place of dialogue, the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich encourages reflection on what it means to be human.

This museum greets you in the following languages: D/E
Opening 1889

Current exhibitions

Honeymoon? 5 Questions on the ‘Hans Paasche Collection’ from East Africa

22.05.2022 - 21.01.2024

To the source of the Nile with 60 porters: this is how Hans and Ellen Paasche travel through the East African Great Lakes Region in 1909/1910. They bring back hundreds of objects from their honeymoon. The couple’s collection comes to Zurich in 1922. Hans Paasche’s life is well documented; little do we know about the objects’ precise origins and their original owners. How and why did the objects get into our museum? The exhibition shows how we do research on open questions.

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D

Business idea? 5 Questions on ‘the object set’ from Noanamá, Colombia

07.10.2022 - 21.01.2024

In 1969, the Ethnographic Museum bought a Noanamá collection from Colombia from Borys Malkin, a professional collector known as the “big boss” of ethnographics from South America: “100 pieces covering the entire range of material culture, including pottery”. At least a dozen other museums acquired Noanama “object sets” from Malkin. How should such collecting and museum practice be classified? What do the Noanamá say today about the business relationships established at that time?

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D

Looted Goods? 5 Questions on Objects from China at the End of the Imperial Era

03.03.2023 - 12.05.2024

What do we know about objects in our collections that may have been looted during the Boxer War (1900/1901) and thus ended up in museums worldwide?

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D

Mask Dances? 5 Questions on Ritual Costumes from Sri Lanka

14.07.2023 - 15.09.2024

From 1984 to 2006, the German ethnologists Wolfgang Mey and Anna Wischkowski-Mey researched Sinhalese mask dances on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka.
Between 1885 and 1947, exotic Sri Lankan culture was presented to the Zurich public in the context of "Völkerschauen", "ethnographic shows". Who were these people?
Today, we ask: What opportunities emerge for our togetherness? And how can an exhibition contribute to giving space for knowledge and multi-vocality?


The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D