Abegg Foundation

Riggisberg is a small town 25 km south of Bern, where, in 1961, the Zurich textile manufacturer Werner Abegg (1903-1984) founded the Abegg-Stiftung (the Abegg Foundation), which is an institute of Art History with a particular remit to research and conserve early textiles. The Abegg family factories were mostly in northern Italy. Werner Abegg managed them from 1924, and while resident in Turin in the 1920s began collecting works of art. He sold the company in 1947 before moving to New York, but subsequently returned to settle in Riggisberg.

The foundation opened a textile museum in 1967. The collection ranges from the fourth century BC to circa 1800 and includes fabrics from ancient Egypt, liturgical vestments from medieval Europe, central Asian fabrics of the 8th and 9th centuries AD and silk robes from the Liao Dynasty (907-1125) in China. There are also paintings by Roger van der Weyden (c 1400-64) and Sandro Botticellia (c 1445-1510), a collection of sculpture, and a well-resourced library. The former home of Werner Abegg and his American wife, Margaret, was adapted as part of the museum complex in 2000.

Abegg Foundation
Abegg-Stiftung
Werner Abeggstrasse 67
3132 Riggisberg
Switzerland
+41 (0) 31 - 8081201
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