THE “SCHWEIZER STRAHLERMUSEUM”

The “Schweizer Strahlermuseum” aims to make visible the search for minerals in the Swiss mountains and to preserve this knowledge and skill in a documentary form in a museum.

Making visible:

  • The passion of the crystal seeker: what makes the attraction of crystals, their beauty?
  • Their craft: How do they go about recovering the crystals from the rock as unharmed as possible?
  • Their knowledge: This knowledge has been guarded for centuries by mountain farmers as a family secret and is in danger of being lost.
  • The tools: For their craft, the crystal seeker have developed their own tools, some of them very individual. We show these tools.

The knowledge:

  • How were the crystals formed?
  • What does a cleft look like?
  • How, when, and where were they formed?
  • Which are the most common minerals of the Swiss mountains?
  • Where are the big finding areas?

But also:

  • The history: already in Roman times, people searched for crystals in the Swiss mountains.
  • The biggest findings in Switzerland.
  • The representation of crystal seekers in art. Raphael Ritz has also dealt with crystal seeking.
  • The economic importance of crystal seeking in the Swiss mountains.

Newly published:
Published by the ‘Schweizer Strahlermuseum’ in co-operation with the ‘ Swiss Association of Strahler, Mineral and Fossil Collectors’, the ‘Book of Passion – Strahlerinnen und Strahler talk about their tours’.

What drives crystal seekers, i.e. those who search for minerals in the mountains? Perhaps we can guess the joy they had when they recovered the crystal. But we have not yet captured the passion to keep going up and looking for what is not easy to find. This book attempts a variant approach to the question of passion that is not answered by any scientific work on minerals. Thus it gathers very different accounts of successes and failures, of suffering and seeking, and it contains a conversation with a crystal seeker that allows an unusually open view into the soul of a crystal seeker.

The book costs 25 francs plus 5 francs for postage.
Order the book directly from us at info@kristallsucher.ch.

In the three-minute video you get a short insight into the museum:
(Only in German)

Guest comments

Rotary Club Brig

The guided tour in the Strahlermuseum with Reinhard Eyer was very informative and he was able to bring the world of crystals closer to the non-experts with a lot of passion and in an understandable and impressive way. A big thank you to Reinhard for his very successful tour. Also, a big praise to Kilian Schnyder and his wife, who spoiled our palate with their fine local products. It was a very successful event

Barbara Chuck

I was surprised by the high quality and the aesthetic arrangement of the topics. The detailed introduction conveyed much worth knowing. I was especially touched by the film. Here, many images of my childhood were awakened because I often accompanied my parents to the rays in the Lötschental or Gasterntal and experienced the excitement when a cleft was found. Later, the great moments when we unpacked, washed, and cleaned the stones at the well trough in the evening. I would like to thank the association: you have realized a great project.

Kathrin von Peschke

Crystals wherever the eye looks. Variety in size, location, and crystal seekers. A good place to think about the natural wealth of our nature.

Address

Schweizer Strahlermuseum
Felsenweg 100
3904 Naters

​info@kristallsucher.ch

Postal address

Schweizer Strahlermuseum
Silvia Eyer
Felsenweg 14
3904 Naters

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