A dream castle for everyone

Schug Castle is in a state of flux, and has been for a very, very long time. After all, its beginnings date back around 1000 years. And so it is not surprising that the castle has changed again and again and adapted to new times and needs. Otherwise it would probably not have "survived", would have been abandoned and fallen into disrepair. It is therefore not surprising that this historical jewel has not always looked the way it does today. The various owners and residents have constantly remodeled it and transformed it into a stately residence over the course of time. The striking timber-framed building that defines the character of the complex today dates back to the 16th century and was built on the former shield wall of the medieval castle.

Change is therefore the constant in the history of Zug Castle. And this motto has also been taken to heart by the management of the museum, which has been housed within these ancient walls since 1983 following extensive renovations. Running a regionally oriented cultural history museum and offering the public an attractive and modern program year in, year out is not as easy as one might imagine. A good museum today does not want to be a museum in the conventional sense. So how do you bring a museum to life? What appeals and what works? This is the question that museum management has to ask itself again and again.

Historian Walter Bersorger, who has held the post of museum director at Zug Castle for a good three years, has more than one insight into these questions. One of them is this: models and reliefs have a great appeal to the public. They are popular because they bring the past into the present and because they allow visitors not only to learn or read about history, but also to experience it with all their senses. "History should be tangible, even in the third dimension," says Walter Bersorger.

It is therefore no coincidence that the museum in Zug Castle is currently working flat out on a new, media-playable 3D relief that will be able to depict the historical development of the entire landscape of Central Switzerland. The multimedia project is an important research project on the one hand, but on the other hand it is also history "to touch" and see for the general public. Speaking of touching: Bersorger would prefer to have no barriers or fences at all in his museum, but this sometimes conflicts with conservation tasks, which the museum must of course also fulfill. However, new media technologies and ideas more than make up for these restrictions. From November 2025, visitors will be able to marvel at the new relief.

But the museum in Zug Castle already offers something for everyone. For children and families as well as adults. With a wide variety of objects and thematic approaches, it appeals to a broad, even supra-regional audience. The exhibition on Swiss Brown Swiss cattle, for example, was almost like a little sister to the Olma, with a correspondingly large number of visitors.

The museum at Zug Castle offers workshops for schools, children's birthday parties, play afternoons, a grandparents' day and torchlight tours for young sleuths. But adults are also catered for. They too can explore local history with a flashlight, albeit on somewhat more serious topics, gain insights into late Gothic popular piety through sacred sculptures or explore the background to Zug's women's history.

The mission to which Walter Bersorger and his team have dedicated themselves can be summed up in two words: Understanding history - literally and figuratively. A visit to Zug Castle Museum should therefore not be missed if you want to understand Zug's history.