My first time ... at Kulturama

There are places in Zurich that you only visit as a child yourself or with a child. Kulturama is one of them. The "Museum of Man" is in Hottingen - actually only a few minutes away from my home. Now I want to explore it for the first time.

With a two-year-old by the hand, I climb the steps to the entrance. The doorbell rings loud and long - like in a shopping shop. I am surprised, the child is startled. But only for a moment. My companion rushes to the stools, which are shaped like teeth. She discovers books and wants to look at them.

But this is only the entrance area. The actual exhibition rooms extend over several floors. The young woman at the ticket office advised us to start on the top floor. There is a discovery path there that should also please small children. And indeed. My companion is fascinated by the diverse objects he discovers in various drawers. He doesn't yet understand that these are supposed to teach him about human anatomy, among other things. But he is entertained.

One floor further on, we stroll through the current special exhibition "How much prehistory is in you? The toddler is fascinated by the many "Mansgöggeli": the exhibition makers use many Playmobil figures. In general, the exhibition is vividly designed. A variety of approaches probably enable everyone to find traces of prehistory in their personal everyday life.

While I have been amazed by the bright rooms so far (- perhaps the gloomy National Museum was still too much in my bones -), we are going to the basement for the second permanent exhibition. Here, presumably, all generations are equally taken in: the youngest are delighted by the dinosaurs and a reconstructed cave, the older ones study information about the human body and evolution more extensively. In the process, they may well be reminded of their local history lessons - and feel like a child again themselves.