Stephan Jaggi has served as the president of the Museum der Landschaft in Saanen since 2009. GstaadLife caught up with him to learn about what goes into presenting and preserving the region’s history for future generations.

You are the president of the museum association?
That’s right; it is my honour to hold this role. The museum was opened 25 years ago and is run by an association of 340 members.

The founding of the museum was initiated by Hans and Steffi Berchten who donated their collection of unique, local, rural and cultural assets (which they had compiled over decades) to the region. The Berchten collection is something we are proud to display to our visitors today.

We offer a permanent exhibition on the history, customs and traditions of the Saanenland. Our exhibition covers local crafts, family life, work and school. We even have an original smoky kitchen with pantry dating back to the sixteenth century. One of our most important exhibitions is the “Bell Room”. From 1830–1950 over five generations cast bells in the Saanen foundry, where the restaurant 16 now stands. We are proud to highlight this heritage.

I understand you are a former architect. How does it feel to preserve the traditions of the region through the museum?
Yes, I was an architect throughout my working life. I specialised in hotels, but was also involved in renovating old chalets around the region. To now play a role in helping to preserve and highlight the craft of wood construction across the region is a real pleasure. In fact, the museum itself is housed in a listed building dating back to 1575.

What are the challenges involved in running a museum?
There is a lot of work behind the scenes. Above all else it’s incredibly important that people know we are here. We attract between 1800–2000 visitors per year and as you might imagine we’re a popular destination during bad weather! We would like to welcome more visitors during all weathers.

In addition to preserving the region’s history, we aim to entertain visitors by illustrating how life in the region used to be. We see this as a way to share our traditions so they do not get forgotten.

Balancing the books is another critical challenge, especially as we run on such a small budget. We are partially supported by the local authorities, but always welcome sponsors. We are so lucky to have received such generous support from many guests. We are particularly grateful to the thousands of volunteer hours that go into keeping the museum running.

I’m really proud of what we achieve. Yes, there are challenges, but that keeps things interesting and it’s a joy to arrange and offer new exhibitions. Doing this on a consistent basis is something we pay a great deal of attention to. We want to keep our offer fresh so there’s always something new for our visitors to enjoy. I’m pleased to say we regularly receive many compliments which makes all the hard work worth it. Something we hear consistently from visitors is surprise that the museum is so extensive and how they wish they’d visited sooner.

What are your thoughts about the future?
We have worked together as a good team these past 25 years, but I think the future could get more difficult. We need to encourage the younger generation, our successors, to become more involved in whatever way possible. I also think we will need to put the museum administration on a different footing. We currently run on a very small budget, which just about covers our overheads, and rely on thousands of volunteer hours. I don’t know how sustainable that is over the long term.

Do you have a favourite museum yourself?
That’s a very hard question to answer! I will admit there are two things that I look for in a museum – what they offer and also the architecture of the building. Yes, it’s always about the buildings for me! I like to visit the Beyeler museum in Basel every year. They put on some wonderful exhibitions.

ANNA CHARLES

Visit the museum in Saanen, Dorfstrasse 62a, Saanen (on the main square in Saanen, next to the Tourist information)
The museum is open from May 18th to October 13th, from Thursday to Sunday, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.