Museum Hermann Hesse, Writer's house museum in Collina d'Oro, Switzerland
Museum Hermann Hesse opened in 1997 in the Torre Camuzzi, a tower a short walk from Casa Camuzzi in Montagnola, where Hesse lived from 1919 to 1931 before moving to Casa Rossa. Its permanent collection displays photographs and Hesse's personal objects in rooms arranged to evoke his home. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions, lectures and meetings.
Hesse moved to this region in 1919 and lived for over forty years on the Golden Hill, where he wrote books such as Siddhartha and The Glass Bead Game. The museum keeps his personal objects and papers, protecting them as a record of his later creative life in Ticino.
The museum opened in 1997 in the Torre Camuzzi, a short walk from the Casa Camuzzi where Hesse lived from 1919 to 1931 before moving to the Casa Rossa, his home until 1962. Since 2000 it has been run by the Hermann Hesse Foundation, whose board includes members of the Hesse family, the municipality of Collina d'Oro and the city of Lugano. Temporary exhibitions, lectures and meetings are held alongside the permanent display.
The museum occupies the Torre Camuzzi, a short walk from the Casa Camuzzi where Hesse lived from 1919 to 1931. It has been housed there since 1997 and is run by the Hermann Hesse Foundation, established in 2000 with representatives of the Hesse family, the municipality of Collina d'Oro and the city of Lugano. Temporary exhibitions, lectures and meetings take place alongside the permanent collection, so check what is on before travelling.
Many visitors do not realize that Hesse was also a painter, and his watercolors of the surrounding hills and light hang alongside his writing materials. An audioguide from the museum leads walkers through eleven spots in the woods and villages, including the small grottos where he liked to rest and paint.
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