Switzerland 
Visiting St Moritz
Home > Tourist Guide > Table of contents > Graubuenden > The Upper Engadine > St Moritz > Visiting the town




There are only a couple of diversions in the town to explore, but both are definitely worth making time for. About 1km west of Dorf on Via Somplaz, the terrace road, is a curious domed church-like building which holds the excellent Giovanni Segantini Museum (June to mid-Oct & Dec–April Tues–Sun 10am–noon & 3–6pm; Fr.7; SMP), displaying the beautiful work of this largely self-taught Symbolist who is acclaimed as the definitive painter of Alpine life, and who spent the twelve years before his sudden death at the age of 41 working to portray the clear mountain light of the Upper Engadine. Although many of the works on display are excellent – including an intense self-portrait, drawn three years before his death, and the poignant Dead Deer (1892) – the highlight is the Alpine Triptych, shown upstairs in the circular domed room designed for the purpose. The sequence of vast, luminous canvases, each between three and four metres long, covers Birth, Life and Death. Segantini had studiously sketched all three in entirety as preparation, and was working on the final touches of the complete painted triptych when he died.

On the terrace below is the Engadine Museum, Via dal Bagn 39 (June–Oct Mon–Fri 9.30am–noon & 2–5pm, Sun 10am–noon; Dec–April Mon–Fri 10am–noon & 2–5pm, Sun 10am–noon; Fr.5), housed in a solid stone sgraffitied building that’s one of the few surviving pieces of vernacular architecture in the town. Inside are reconstructed interiors of farmhouses and patrician mansions, along with interesting displays on the history of the spa and Engadine culture.


© Micheloud & Cie 2013     No part of this site may be reproduced in any form or by any means without our prior written permission. Printed from http://Switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/graubunden/visitingstmoritz.html