spyri-museum.ch

Exhibition

Come leaf through Johanna Spyri's books, immerse yourself in a Hirzler school lesson from the 1840s, and listen to the author having tea with her son, Bernhard. You might even look over Johanna's shoulder at her writing desk as she works and discover original objects and reproductions of letters and manuscripts.

Museum history

The Johanna Spyri Museum was founded in 1981 by schoolteacher, Jürg Winkler. On the 80th anniversary of the writer's death, it was a logical step to create a place in her honor, where her personality and her works could be appropriately presented. Hanni Heusser, later called Johanna Spyri, was born in 1827 in Hirzel. She lived in the doctor's house and attended classes in the old village schoolhouse, which today houses the museum. Johanna later wrote about her time at school saying, "This old house was the schoolhouse where I received my first lessons with the children of the village, which consisted less of giving us what we needed - than in taking what we wanted ...".

For a long time, the museum was only open on Sundays and admission was free. Guided tours were conducted by motivated volunteers. The municipality of Hirzel financed the rent, with thanks to regional sponsorship. Personnel costs and material purchases were covered. Verena Heck-Rieter, a courageous and well-known Hirzel personality, made an extremely generous financial contribution to the museum`s cultural life in town. For a while, civil weddings were possible with aperitifs within the museum walls.

Initially, the museum, library and Ludothek were located together in the schoolhouse, until the beautifully developed cellar on the ground floor was added as an additional museum space. Here portraits of Johanna's family were once hung, along with a depiction of a miniature Alpine world as described in the "Heidi" story. The wheelchair - an original from the family Spyri - and a large copper kettle from the kitchen of the doctor's house were also exhibited. On the upper level there were display cases with all kinds of objects and documents from the Heusser and Spyri families as well as the old diaper changing table. A video system was installed later, on which the "Heidi" classic with Heinrich Gretler and Elsbeth Sigmund was shown in multiple languages. This was ideal for international guests visiting from Japan, China, Germany and the USA. 

The museum's board of trustees was incidentally charged with the task of promoting cultural activities in the village. Every year, artists with local homage were invited to display their works in the basement of the original schoolhouse. In addition, festivities were held in dedication to the 100th anniversary of the death of Johanna Spyri (2001) and the 25th anniversary of the museum (2006). Occasionally there were readings by various Spyri authors in the church, the parsonage, and the museum, i.e. in the old village center, which Johanna had known so well.

Around the turn of the millennium, guides decided to begin welcoming school classes in the museum by combining "Johanna Spyri and Heidi" with the 19th century. For this purpose, various age-appropriate games and puzzles were designed and integrated. In 2014 the first Museum Night took place in Hirzel. Then in 2015 a travelling theatre on Johanna Spyri's life was created. Numerous villagers helped to create a memorable town festival together with the Laientheater. The performance was documented in the "Zürichsee-Zeitung". After a comprehensive redesign, the museum reopened its doors at the end of May 2016. The scenographer's focus shifted away from the Heidi figure and more towards Johanna Spyri, as an author. The new exhibition concept allows guests to travel through the time of Johanna Spyri's life: biographical elements are embedded in political, social and the economic conditions of the 19th century, making Spyri's life impressively tangible for visitors. With the new website, which went live in Autumn 2020, the museum has found its way into the 21st century.

A village tells a story

"The beauty of the landscape represents our greatest wealth ...", writes Jürg Winkler in his book "Der Hirzel, Bild einer Gemeinde". Let us convince you during your visit to Hirzel. Take a walk around the cemetery. Let your gaze wander into the distance from the bench under the large Beech tree. Enjoy peace and quiet with the certainty that Johanna Spyri spent her childhood and youth in this wonderful environment, where her character was decisively shaped.

In her first work, "A Leaf on Vrony's grave", Johanna Spyri wrote in 1871: "There is an old house next to the small white church in the mountain village where I lived for a good twenty years. I enjoyed, with open eyes, the glory that God poured out on this little spot of earth".

The original schoolhouse is now the Johanna Spyri Museum.

If you have some time left, you can walk up the steep little street, the "Toktergass", by the church and find yourself on the Vordere Höchi by the house where Johanna Spyri was born. Turn left there and enjoy the short climb through the beautifully laid out small animal park into the Spyri forest. There you will find the memorial plaque of Johanna Spyri and her mother Meta Heusser next to a forest playground.

If you walk the well-marked hiking trails in Hirzel, you will discover a unique landscape: on the wide horizon the gently rounded green hills (drumlins) are crowned by striking Linden trees.

The beauty of Hirzel has been listed since 1983 in the Federal Inventory of "Landscapes and Natural Monuments of National Importance" as a magnificent landmark of Swiss landscape.

Further literature on the history of the village of Hirzel can be found here:

- Jöri Bernhard: Hirzel. Village in transition, Hirzel 2017

- Jürg Winkler: The Hirzel, picture of a community, Hirzel 1989

Museum shop

A small but fine museum shop invites you to browse - with postcards, bookmarks, merchandise items and an assorted selection of rare and out-of-print books by Johanna Spyri.

Extraordinary opening hours

Museum visits outside the regular opening hours:

approx. 1 hr, up to 10 persons and without guide: CHF 150.–,
all other persons CHF 10. The entrance fee is always included.

Guided tours

Would you like to visit our museum outside opening hours with your family, friends, work colleagues or class? We would be happy to organize an individual guided tour for you. 

Standard guided tours:

approximately 1,5 hrs. including admission.

• Up to 10 persons: CHF 250.– 
• 11 to 20 persons: CHF 350.–
• from 20 persons in two groups (two tours at once): CHF 500.–
• larger groups: on request 
• school classes: CHF 250.–
• Horgen schools: free

Museum visits outside the regular opening hours:

approx. 1 hr, up to 10 persons and without guide: CHF 150.–,
all other persons CHF 10. The entrance fee is always included.