Pinakothek Bad Ragaz

The listed Old Town Hall of Bad Ragaz is also used as a Pinakothek. The extensive private collection of Margrith and Otto Schneider of graphics, engravings, paintings, books and writings about Ragaz and the surrounding area is preserved as a unit in a foundation and made accessible to the public. The collection is unique and contains an exceptionally large number of valuable works of art from the 15th to the 20th century. The outstanding value lies in the many originals, in the variety of representational techniques as well as similar pictures from different perspectives by artists from all over Europe. Ragaz, located on the trade route from Germany to Italy, was once a horse exchange and customs point at the same time. The nearby Benedictine abbey as well as the Pfäfers spa with its healing thermal baths were known beyond the borders of the country at that time. These were reasons for travelers, but also for artists who came here especially for the purpose of drawing, to capture the village of Ragaz, the abbey and the Pfäfers spa in pictures. That is why there are so many different views and engravings of no other place in Switzerland - not excluding cities - as there are of this region. Richly illustrated books about the abbey, the Pfäfers baths and descriptions of the Battle of Ragaz in the Old Zurich War in 1446, but also the spa and bathing industry of the 19th century contributed to the region's fame.