HR Giger Museum

The HR Giger Museum in Gruyères, Switzerland, displays the largest collection of HR Giger’s paintings, sculptures, and film designs, including works from the ‘Alien’ series.

Planning your visit

H. R. Giger designed the creature for Alien, won an Oscar for it, and spent his career producing biomechanical work in which flesh, machinery and sexuality fuse into something genuinely disturbing. The museum he established in 1998 occupies the Château St. Germain in Gruyères, a medieval walled town in the Swiss Alps otherwise known for cheese and cream — a juxtaposition so incongruous it becomes part of the experience.

Inside is the largest collection of his work: paintings, sculpture, furniture, film design material including original Alien concept work and props, and his personal collection of art by other surrealists and outsider artists.

Across the square is the Giger Bar, which he designed as a total environment — vaulted skeletal arches overhead, seating built from vertebral forms — and which is worth entering even if the museum is not to your taste.

Gruyères itself is a preserved hilltop town with a castle and views over the Alps. The contrast is the point. Bookable options include day trips from Geneva combining Gruyères, its cheese dairy and the museum. Current availability is listed below.