Exhibition
Many children dream of travelling back in time. They can do just that at the family exhibition ‘A magic carpet ride through history’ at the National Museum Zurich. The exhibition features three areas with fun and hands-on experiences to teach kids about the Islamic Golden Age, explorers’ ships, and the advent of rail travel. The youngsters can visit a magnificent Arabian palace, board a sailing ship or step inside an old railway carriage, and travel back in time to key periods from history.
The exhibition combines learning with age-appropriate activities, such as solving puzzles, searching for hidden treasures, listening to stories, dressing up, and drawing.
The atmospheric settings allow children to let their imaginations run wild, and the high-quality original objects bear witness to important events in global cultural history.
For families with children from age 4 upwards.
Long ago, a great deal of knowledge came to Europe from the Arab-Islamic world, thanks to which important advances were made in fields such as astronomy, medicine, music, literature and architecture.
Improvements in ship engineering allowed seafarers to sail to undiscovered parts of the world from the 15th century onwards. The voyages were dangerous as the valuable cargo meant they could be attacked by pirates at any time.
Switzerland’s first railway line, the ‘Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn’, or Swiss Northern Railway, ran between Zurich and Baden in 1847, and from 1870, railway tracks connected many towns and cities. The railway was a symbol of modernity and progress, and allowed rapid economic growth.
The book Globi im Museum (‘Globi at the Museum’) was published in 2024. In it, the popular children’s character unravels a mystery surrounding an ancient sword with the help of some experts from the Museum. And because the history of this ancient weapon is pretty awesome, the sword was handed over to the Museum at the end – not only in the book, but also in real life, and is displayed in the family exhibition as a permanent loan from Globi.
A new family exhibition at the National Museum Zurich invites you to join us on a journey through time. Spread over three themed rooms, the exhibition allows visitors to step back into the past.
Many children dream of travelling back in time. In the new permanent exhibition ‘A Magic Carpet ride through history’, we make this dream come true! Spread over three separate spaces, visitors can explore the topics ‘Orient’, ‘Seafaring’ and ‘Railways’, with plenty of hands-on fun. In an Arabian palace, on the deck of a large sailing ship and in a vintage railway carriage, young Museum visitors can really get a feel for these momentous eras in global history.
From the early Middle Ages onwards, the Orient had an immense influence on the western world. Trade routes brought valuable knowledge to Europe, and this new information was quickly dispersed throughout the region and beyond. For instance, the Arab numerical system left its mark on schooling and business, while the medical field benefitted from significant discoveries and inventions. In the 15th century, Europeans sailed into unknown waters. New shipbuilding techniques made it possible to undertake long voyages on the high seas. The masters of maritime navigation were at home in Portugal and Spain, and it was from these countries that the exotic products the seafarers brought back to their homeland found their way to every corner of the globe. The invention of the railway in the 19th century meant people and goods could be transported much faster, and brought the big, wide world within reach. The railway accelerated industrialisation, boosted tourism and, with its bridges and tunnels, dramatically altered the landscape of Switzerland.
The family exhibition ‘A Magic Carpet ride through history’ combines learning with activities designed specially for children. The exquisitely designed backdrop provides space for imaginations to run free at the Museum, and the beautiful original objects are important witnesses to these epochs in the cultural history of our world.
The Swiss National Museum would like to thank the Foundation Willy G. S. Hirzel for the generous support.
Overall management
Andreas Spillmann
Curator and project management
Rebecca Sanders
Scientific collaboration
Marina Amstad, Maja Škrkić
Scenography
Martina Nievergelt, Zürich
Graphics
Paolo Monaco, Zürich; Jakob Schiratzki, Zürich
Lighting design
Ursula Degen, Zürich; Kaori Kuwabara, Zürich; Timo Martens, Kilchberg
Set building
Beat Künzler, Schaffhausen
Audio and video
Peter Bräker, Zürich; Tom Gerber, Zürich; Kellerthurgau, Frauenfeld; NatureFootage; Pasquale Pollastro, Danilo Rüttimann, René Vogel
Cultural services and museum education
Stefanie Bittmann
Public relations and marketing
Andrej Abplanalp, Anna-Britta Maag, Sebastiano Mereu, Carole Neuenschwander, Alexander Rechsteiner
Technical management
Gianina Flepp
Conservation management
Gaby Petrak
Conservation and montage of objects
Thomas Imfeld, Elisabeth Kleine, Veronique Mathieu, Jürg Mathys, Uldis Mākulis, Gaby Petrak
Logistics of objects and montage of objects
David Blazquez, Simon D’Hollosy, Reto Hegetschweiler, Markus Scherer
Loans
Maya Jucker, Bernard Schüle, Angela Zeier
Advisory committee
Heidi Amrein, Ellen Bryner, Beat Högger, Markus Leuthard, Sabrina Médioni, Andreas Spillmann
Controlling of project
Ellen Bryner, Sabrina Médioni
Photography
Jonas Hänggi, Zvonimir Pisonić
Photo library
Andrea Kunz, Fabian Müller
IT and web
Thomas Bucher, Pasquale Pollastro, Danilo Rüttimann, René Vogel
Translations
Abacus translations Ltd., Monthey; Marie Claude Buch-Chalayer, Weil am Rhein; Bill Gilonis, Zürich; Marco Marcacci, Lumino-Monticello; Laurence Neuffer
