Documents and books by two key Nietzsche researchers are on display, illustrating the phenomenal impact of Nietzsche’s works on the 20^th century. Oscar Levy was the editor of the first English edition of Nietzsche’s works, and the Italian German scholar Mazzino Montinari was the first editor of what is today considered the standard critical Nietzsche edition.

Both Nietzsche researchers had strong ties to the Nietzsche House in Sils Maria. Levy through the Rosenthal-Levy family, who made many gifts to the house. Montinari was a regular guest in Sils Maria and at the Nietzsche House.

The third exhibition space contains Oscar Levy’s library, though the library itself is not open to the public. One display case holds Nietzsche’s original manuscripts and first editions. The displayed items will be regularly replaced by other museum holdings and are part of the comprehensive Rosenthal collection, which the family donated to the Nietzsche House.

The upstairs room in the Durisch house, which Nietzsche rented for seven summers (1881 and 1883-1888), has been kept in its original, simple condition. The furnishings are from Sils’ oldest hotel ‘Alpenrose’, where the philosopher often had lunch.
To the left of the window, you can see a piece of wallpaper with a pattern that Nietzsche selected and paid for himself in the summer of 1883. It is no coincidence that both the tablecloth and the wallpaper are in shades of green. In this case, too, the philosopher himself chose the fabric. Nietzsche devoted much attention to the “things that surround us” which determine our day-to-day life, as he knew how they directly affected body and spirit.
The philosophy professor Paul Deussen, who visited Nietzsche in Sils Maria in September 1887, described his friend’s room in his memoirs: “The next day, he led me to his lodgings, or, as he said, into his cave. It was a simple room in a farmhouse, three minutes from the road: Nietzsche rented it during the season for one franc per day. The décor was as simple as one could imagine. On the side stood his books which I mostly still remembered from earlier times; then came a peasant-style table with a coffee cup, eggshells, manuscripts and toilet requisites in a colorful jumble extending to the unmade bed, via a boot j-jack with a boot jammed on it.”

“Saved myself again by traveling to the Engadine” – Friedrich Nietzsche as a traveler

An exhibition that is part of the joint project “Friedrich Nietzsche and Annemarie Schwarzenbach – UNESCO Memory of the World Register in Sils”.

In 2025, UNESCO added the literary estates of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and author, travel writer, and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908-1942) to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. This recognition also reflects well on Sils, whose distinctive atmosphere both writers experienced first-hand, highlighting it in numerous ways in their writing.

Three Sils cultural institutions, the Biblioteca Engiadinaisa, the Nietzsche House, and the Sils Museum, along with the zeit:fluss cultural festival have decided to launch a joint project from June 2026 to April 2027. Three exhibitions, plus lectures, readings, films, guided tours and cultural walks, as well as a chamber opera and a staged dialog will be devoted to the two part-time Silsers (details…).

The Nietzsche House exhibition:

When 34-year-old Friedrich Nietzsche had to end his professorship in Basel early owing to illness, he embarked on a nomadic existence. Without a permanent residence for ten years, the “fugitivus errans” was constantly in search of places where he hoped to find relief from his many health problems, and thus be able to realize his philosophical projects. What Nietzsche needed to bolster his health and inspiration were a dry, sunny atmosphere, walking trails through a magical landscape as well as the freedom to be able to set his own daily routine. The Engadine, particularly Sils, proved to be an ideal place to live and work for months at a time. He never returned to any other place as often as to this “summer residence”, even if only ‘durchreisendamente’ – this German-Italian neologism coined by Nietzsche, which links north and south, encapsulate the many ways he experienced, reflected on and described his travels.

The exhibition shows the significance of Sils and the Upper Engadine for the philosopher. It focuses on the conditions under which Nietzsche, who never really felt at home anywhere, experienced and endured his constant travels, though at times he has also idalised it as a departure to discover the world. How and by what routes did Nietzsche travel to Sils? How did he prepare for his travels? What resources were at his disposal? What sources of information and what infrastructure were on offer? How are Nietzsche’s travelling life and his work connected?