The mural of the world, painted by Augusto Giacometti in 1931, is on the first floor of the old stock market in Zurich. (ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv)
ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv.
The wall on which Giacometti painted the 18-metre work has been hidden behind screens and curtains for years. (ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv)
ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv.
A detailed close-up. (ETH -Baugeschichtliches Archiv)
ETH -Baugeschichtliches Archiv.
The old stock exchange in Zurich. The cylindrical part of the building contains a stairwell. (ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv)
ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv.
The stock exchange was finished in 1930. (ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv)
ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv.
The orphanage on Bahnhofquai: Augusto Giacometti also painted the walls and vaulted ceilings of the "Blüemlihalle". (ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv)
ETH - Baugeschichtliches Archiv.
A historic wall painting by Swiss artist Augusto Giacometti in Zurich’s old stock market has been hidden behind projection screens and curtains for years. Experts and the public have criticised renovations of the landmark building for showing a lack of respect.
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Born in England, I've lived in Switzerland since 1994. I trained as a graphic designer in Zurich between 1997 – 2002. More recently I have moved on to work as photo editor and joined the team at swissinfo.ch in March 2017.
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, editor at the Portuguese Dept. and responsible for swissinfo.ch Culture beat. Degrees in Film and Business & Economics, worked at Folha de S. Paulo, one of Brazil’s leading dailies, before moving to Switzerland in 2000 as international correspondent for various Brazilian media. Based in Zurich, Simantob worked with print and digital media, international co-productions of documentary films, visual arts (3.a Bienal da Bahia; Johann Jacobs Museum/Zurique), and was guest lecturer on Transmedia Storytelling at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU – Camera Arts, 2013-17).
Helen James (picture editor), Eduardo Simantob (text), swissinfo.ch
Augusto Giacometti (1877-1947) – the lesser-known Giacometti and older cousin of world-famous Alberto – was commissioned in 1931 by Tiefengrund, a corporation founded by the Zurich Chamber of Commerce and canton Zurich to construct and manage the building.
The idea of the 18-metre-wide mural was to express world trade in an increasingly globalised economy, as part of an ambitious new Swiss stock market. The result was a gigantic world map. Technically, it was quite a feat: the surface of 154 square metres – over a wall and around doors – was completed in three-and-a-half months.
Giacometti used egg tempera for paint, following a formula attributed to Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) and passed to him as a trade secret. Giacometti needed several hundred eggs to cover the wall.
Strong fading
The stock exchange was listed as a historical monument in 1992, including the interior and facade – and thus Giacometti’s painting too. However, as the Neue Zürcher Zeitung recently remarked, “the preservation of monuments has no influence on the use of the protected area”.
That means the “building substance” must be preserved, but not necessarily made visible. The mural’s condition was already questioned 30 years ago by Giacometti expert Beat Stutzer, who noted a strong fading of colour. The hall is now a popular location for events, with capacity for over 750 people.
The reputation of Augusto Giacometti, who was highly appreciated during his lifetime, has also faded from public memory, although many of his works are still conserved in several spots throughout Zurich. These include the “Blüemlihalle” in the entrance hall of the Amtshaus I (which houses the police headquarters) and the windows of Zurich’s two cathedrals Grossmünster and Fraumünster (the latter also displaying windows painted by Marc Chagall).
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