Organisation

Under the roof of the Collection Centre, the various collections of the Swiss National Museum, the workshops of our conservators and restorers, our conservation research operations and the Object Centre are brought together. The modern infrastructure enables staff to expertly apply their skills and experience in preserving and maintaining our extensive collections. A seminar room and work spaces are available for Collection Centre guests.

The Swiss National Museum’s Collection Centre commenced operations in 2007. The Centre has fundamentally changed the way our collections are managed and maintained, and the cooperation within the group of museums. A new style of collaboration transcending the boundaries of the separate departments and the various establishments of the museum group has been ushered in. Bringing the different departments together under one roof has enabled us to completely reorganise the workflows and processes within the Collection Centre and the National Museum, and a new level of professionalism has been achieved. The architectural, technical and operational infrastructure that was envisaged, planned and implemented is at the centre of this new era of museum cooperation, and provides the foundation for all our activities.

accessibility.sr-only.person_card_info Markus Leuthard

Deputy Director, Head of the Collection Centre, Member of the management board, Head of Conservation

Collection Centre

Directors and Management +41 44 762 13 60 markus.leuthard@nationalmuseum.ch

Departments

The Object Centre ensures the technical operation of the Collection Centre as well as the management and logistics of objects on all sites of the Swiss National Museum. The storage of collection holdings and the regular inventory control are responsibility of the Storage Management, while the Registration manages and monitors all object recordings in the electronic inventory. For publications, exhibitions, collection mediation and documentation, the collection objects are photographed in the photo and digitisation studio. The Lending Department organises in close cooperation with the Logistics, the Conservation-Restauration as well as the Curatorial Department the outgoing and incoming loans for all locations. The Museum Technology is jointly responsible for the appropriate packaging of objects for transport and the installation in exhibitions. Finally, the Printing and Distribution Department handles the internal postal service, large external mailings and the production of printed material for the museum group.

accessibility.sr-only.person_card_info M.A. | MAS ALIS Laura Mosimann

Head of Object Centre and Registrar

Collection Centre

Object Centre +41 44 762 13 40 laura.mosimann@nationalmuseum.ch

The main task of the conservators and restorers in the Collection Centre is the conservation, and thus the long-term preservation, of the objects held in the collections of the Swiss National Museum. As part of their preventive conservation work, they undertake specific measures to counteract processes of deterioration and protect the objects against detrimental factors such as light, pests, climate fluctuations and mechanical stresses. As necessary, and to the extent possible, our conservators and restorers professionally restore objects in the Swiss National Museum collections. They also assess loan requests and prepare objects for internal exhibitions and for lending to other institutions. Much of this preparation involves the production of object mountings and racks or supports in the Centre.

Depending on training and the specific features of the object or material being handled, our conservation and restoration operations are divided into three departments, each with different areas of specialisation.

accessibility.sr-only.person_card_info Markus Leuthard

Deputy Director, Head of the Collection Centre, Member of the management board, Head of Conservation

Collection Centre

Directors and Management +41 44 762 13 60 markus.leuthard@nationalmuseum.ch

The Conservation Research Department deals with internal and external requests for material analysis and develops and refines conservation methods in cooperation with the conservators. Non-destructive or minimally invasive analysis using micro X-ray fluorescence, atomic absorption, infrared, and micro-Raman spectrometry enables qualitative and quantitative determination of inorganic and organic materials. In addition to the benchtop spectrometers, some handheld machines are also available. The composition of metal alloys, binders, pigments, dyes, gemstones and semi-precious stones, glass, corrosion products and preservatives can be determined.

accessibility.sr-only.person_card_info Dr. Katharina Schmidt-Ott

Head of Conservation Research, Deputy Head of the Collection Centre

Collection Centre

Conservation Research +41 44 762 13 73 Katharina.Schmidt-Ott@nationalmuseum.ch

About the Swiss National Museum

The organisation, duties and responsibilities of the Swiss National Museum are regulated by the Federal law on the museums and collections of the Swiss Confederation (Bundesgesetz über die Museen und Sammlungen des Bundes, MSG) of 12 June 2009. Since its entry into force on 1 January 2010, the SNM, comprising the National Museum Zurich, the Château de Prangins, the Forum of Swiss History Schwyz and the Affoltern am Albis Collection Centre, has been a public-law institution with its own legal identity, which organises itself and maintains its own accounts.

Under the MSG, the SNM is subject to supervision by the Federal Council, which exercises its oversight function in particular by electing and discharging the Museum Council and approving the annual report. The Federal Council sets out the strategic objectives of the SNM, usually for four years; the achievement of these objectives is reviewed annually.

Pursuant to the Museums Act (Museumsgesetz), the organs of the SNM are the Museum Council, the Management Board and the auditors. The funding of the SNM is determined by Parliament every four years in the government’s cultural policy statement (Kulturbotschaft), most recently at the end of 2020 for the period 2021-2024.

Museum Council

Under the Federal law on the museums and collections of the Swiss Confederation, the Museum Council ensures the implementation of the strategic objectives set by the Federal Council and reports on their achievement.

Tim Guldimann (President, political scientist, diplomat and politician), Larissa Bieler* (Vice-President, Director SWI swissinfo.ch, SRG SSR, Berne and Executive Board member SRG SSR, Berne), Sonia Abun-Nasr (Member, Director of University Library Bern), André Holenstein (Member, Professor at the University of Bern), Andreane Jordan Meier (Member, lawyer and Director of Development and External Affairs at the Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois in Lausanne), Marie-France Meylan Krause (Member, Archaeologist and former director of the Site et Musée romains d'Avenches), Fulvio Pelli* (Member, lawyer and notary public), Vanessa Rüegger* (Member, Professor of Public Law at the University of Geneva)

*Members of the Finance Committee

Management Board

Pursuant to the Museums Act, and subject to approval by the Federal Council, the Museum Council appoints the Director of the Swiss National Museum and, on request by the Director, the other members of the Management Board. The Director presides over the Management Board, is responsible for the operational management of the Swiss National Museum, recruits staff and represents the institution externally.

From left to right:

Markus Leuthard (Deputy Director, Head of the Collection Centre), Heidi Amrein (Chief Curator), Beat Högger (Head of Museum Operations), Denise Tonella (Director), Helen Bieri Thomson (Director, Château de Prangins), Mirjam Richter and Barbara Meglen (Assistants to the Director), Günhan Akarçay (Head of Digital Transformation and Innovation)