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HERITAGE CENTER
The Heritage Center raises awareness of the built environment with exhibitions, guided tours, theater tours and workshops. It is located on the ground floor and garden level of Villa Patumbah in Zurich’s Seefeld district and is surrounded by a historic park.
With the Heritage Protection Center, building culture education and mediation has a firm place within the activities of Swiss Heritage Protection. Our aim is to look and perceive together, to immerse ourselves, to discuss and negotiate. A particular attraction of the center is the Villa Patumbah itself as an exceptional architectural monument.
The idea of an educational center for the Swiss Heritage Society dates back to 1999, when the proceeds from the 2005 Schoggitaler campaign to mark the 100th anniversary of the Swiss Heritage Society helped the project to get off the ground. After a nationwide search for a suitable listed building, a rental agreement was signed with the Patumbah Foundation and the center opened in 2013.
The Swiss Heritage Society is responsible for running the heritage center. The Federal Office of Culture as well as the canton and city of Zurich also contribute to its operation. The “Friends of Villa Patumbah” club provides an additional source of funding. We rely on third-party funding for special exhibitions and project-related educational and mediation activities.
Cosmos Old Town.
Your city – your story. We want to hear them!
In the exhibition Kosmos Altstadt: Unterwegs in der Sonderzone (from spring 2025), the heritage protection center in the Villa Patumbah in Zurich shows how Swiss old towns deal with a wide variety of challenges. Vacancy, densification, climate change, tourism, mobility or social cohesion – the topics are diverse and we are interested in people who can tell us something about them. Share your story, initiative, memory, project or even a controversy. From the submitted contributions, 20-25 will be selected to be portrayed in the exhibition.
