Binntal Landscape Park

The exhibit organized on the ground floor of Binn Regional Museum is dedicated to the strange objects that have contributed to the fame of this valley beyond its borders: minerals.
Great part of the rich collection legitimately belongs to the citizens of Binn, who are entitled to a great amount of the material that was found in Lengenbach graben, situated at 3 km in the west of the Municipality of Schmidigehischere. Professor Stefan Graeser, expert in minerals and coming from the area, gave other pieces to some Swiss museums and to the citizen Toni Imhof. Imhof's father had worked in the graben.
Geological maps, a relief model of the graben - now inaccessible to the public - and photos of the work carried out by Imhof complete the exhibit.

Since there is no town called Binn, Schmidigehischere, interesting both for its archaeology and popular culture, is today the inhabited center of this valley.
Several archaeological discoveries took place here: they witness the presence of populations living in the area before and after Christ.
The first floor of the building houses a rich display of objects coming from the Iron Age and the times of the ancient Rome.
Already during the building of "Hotel Ofenhorn" in 1883, very ancient tombs containing several gifts were found.
Anyway, most of the objects on display in the Museum were found from the early 1970s onwards by the archaeologist Gerd Graeser, coming from the area. The number and diversity of the objects found still amazes visitors. As a matter of fact, people would believe this is an isolated valley. On the contrary, the objects in ceramic, iron, and gold that have been found witness the ancient presence of man in these places.
This presence is witnessed not only by finds of national importance, but also by the ruins of structures used for the ancient processing of iron (before the year 1740). The name of the most important country hamlet of Schmidigehischere (Schmiede-Häuser: blacksmiths' houses) recalls the main past working activity in the area.
On the second floor, you will find another section of the collection dedicated to popular culture and prepared by Gerd Graeser. It includes objects coming from traditional and popular medicine, 19th and 20th century veterinary medicine and pharmaceutics, put together by several Swiss collectors.

Binn Regional Museum was inaugurated in 1982. It is situated in the ancient outbuilding of "Hotel Ofenhorn". The building was purchased by the town, renovated, and transformed into a museum. The lower floor houses the citizens' hall, a meeting place where it is possible to organize conferences or celebrations.
During the summer, also thematic meetings dedicated to mineralogy, popular culture, and flora are organized.

Further information: Regionalmuseum Binn - Stiftung Graeser-Andenmatten - 3996 Binn-Schmidigehischere