Chinese contemporary art in Mauensee Castle

19 February 2022

Castle Mauensee (Canton of Lucerne) was mentioned in 1184 and 1340. Lucerne acquired ownership of the castle in 1455. However, two years later, the castle and the lake were sold again and changed hands several times over the following centuries.

The present castle was built in 1605. In the following centuries, ownership changed several times. Since 1998 the castle, the island and the lake have been owned and lived in by the Sigg family.

Ulrich Adolf Sigg (1946), Switzerland’s ambassador to China from 1995 to 1998, started collecting Chinese contemporary art in the 1970s when there was little interest. In a few decades, he acquired the world’s most important collection of contemporary Chinese art.

The island is not open to the public and is connected to the mainland by a bridge.

(Source and further information: www.mauensee.ch).