Muzeum Susch: A Swiss sanctuary for contemporary art

PLACES & SPACES | ROOMS & GARDENS | WORLD OF CABANA

Perched in the Swiss Alps, Muzeum Susch transforms the modest village of Susch into a sanctuary for contemporary art and female creativity. Founded by Polish visionary entrepreneur and art patron, Grażyna Kulczyk, the museum unfolds through repurposed historic buildings and grottos hewn from the mountain, where light, stone, and space meet art in a quiet, contemplative dialogue.

BY LUCREZIA LUCAS | ROOMS & GARDENS | 11 NOVEMBER 2025

The Engadine has a secret. Tucked between serpentine roads that wind across Graubünden’s breathtaking Alpine landscape, or the faster Vereina car shuttle (a train slicing 12 miles through the Silvretta Alps, where in the darkened interior of your car you feel as if descending to the earth’s core), lies the inconspicuous village of Susch, Zernez. Under the shadow of mountains that loom like watchful sentinels, their peaks powdered with snow well into spring, Susch remains untouched by the buzz of any city.

Historically well-positioned along the Alpine transit route, connected to Davos by the Flüela Pass, Susch was forgotten amid the gentrification brought on by the energy and tourism industries that reshaped much of the Engadine, including St. Moritz. It is here that Grażyna Kulczyk saw the potential to create an art haven, choosing the location precisely for its remoteness—a place one seeks with intent, rather than stumbles upon by chance. Here, Muzeum Susch reveals itself slowly, as if it were always part of the landscape; carved from rock, enveloped in the silence of the valley.

The museum's Bistro, with its historic wood panelling. © Courtesy Muzeum Susch, Art Stations Foundation CH

The building’s foundations date back to the Middle Ages—first a monastery and a hospice for pilgrims traveling along St. Jacob’s Way to Santiago de Compostela, later a brewery. These reincarnations are still palpable in the museum’s thick walls, winding passages, and small details—remnants of the past.

Kulczyk commissioned young architects, Chasper Schmidlin and Lukas Voellmy, to oversee the renovation, combining four existing buildings, seamlessly integrated into the town’s typology. Ten thousand tonnes of rock were excavated so that the museum now sits embedded in the mountain—an extraordinarily grounding sensation palpable throughout the interiors, particularly upon entering the gallery grotto. Materials removed during excavation were respectfully returned to the building: polished stone flooring, wooden ceilings and furniture, sand worked into the plaster.

Muzeum Susch now stands as an example of architectural intervention that does not overwrite heritage or nature but instead makes both integral to its character. Kulczyk envisioned a space for thinking, not consuming, and has spoken of “a trend towards ‘Slow Art’—visiting locations that lack crowds, where one can calmly receive art and, at the same time, meet with nature; spending a couple of days in a place that allows an escape from the dealings of our everyday.”

Since opening in 2019, the museum has already established itself as a powerhouse in the art world, championing women artists and overlooked voices. A place of “contemplation, research, and innovation,” it features works outside the conventional spotlight—ones that demand time and attention, like the slow blooming of lichen on stone, both outside and within the museum’s being.

The space and the art it houses exude a quiet yet profound power—a gravitas that emerges from the museum’s geographical seclusion as much as from its material form. Outside, the mountains keep watch. Inside, Muzeum Susch holds space—not only for art, but for contemplation, for slowness, for being—revealing the formidable energy of the female artists within its walls.

The Gallery Grotto housing ‘NARCISSUSSUSCH’, (2018), by Mirosław Bałka. © Lucrezia Lucas

Upcoming exhibition:

Edita Schubert: Profusion, curated by David Crowley
Opening December 13, 2025