Visitors from the north immediately feel that they have reached a magical place: The view sweeps across Lake Sils towards Italy, the southern light flatters the eyes, the warm Maloja wind surrounds the face, a thermal airflow that blows all day in wind force 4 to 5 in some weather conditions. At the tip of the Chastè peninsula, which stretches far into Lake Sils, it is particularly noticeable when it rustles the pine trees.

Chastè was one of Friedrich Nietzsche's favorite places, who spent seven summers in the nearby village of Sils Maria. In the 1880s, he lived in a simple guest room in the Durisch family's house several times for a few weeks. In the dry and sunny climate of the Upper Engadine, the philosopher, tormented by frequent migraine complaints, hoped to find favourable conditions for his health and ability to work. Important works were designed in Sils and some were written down: The Happy Science, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, The Wagner Case, Götzen-Twilight Among others, especially in his main poetic work So Zarathustra spoke Nietzsche's interpretation of the Engadin landscape as “heroic” and “invigorating” is palpable.

During his stays in Sils, he imposed a strict daily schedule with fixed working and meal times and several hours of exercise. The wide, flat valley allowed long walks in the area, where you didn't spend too much and had the opportunity to fill the notebooks you carried with you with flashes of thought at any time. Even his first stay in Sils is said to have given him a key idea on a distinctive, pyramid-shaped stone on the shores of Lake Silvaplana, which gave direction to his further philosophizing: that “idea of eternal return” that in So Zarathustra spoke should play an important role. The pyramid stone is marked on current hiking maps and Google maps, so that even today everyone can check the aura of this rock while walking.

The 200-year-old house in the historic town center of Sils Maria, where Nietzsche lived as a regular summer guest, was acquired in 1959 by the “Nietzsche House Foundation in Sils Maria”, which was founded specifically for this purpose, and furnished with exhibits. On August 25, 1960, on the sixtieth anniversary of Nietzsche's death, the Foundation opened a museum in the house. The concept of the foundation, which is still the owner of the house today, is based on two pillars: On the one hand, an exhibition provides information about the life and work of the philosopher, and on the other hand, the house is intended as a living place of living, working and research. The Munich Nietzsche Forum awards a “Werner Ross Scholarship” every year. This is aimed at young academics, writers and authors who work on texts and projects on the extended subject area of Nietzsche. The scholarship offers a free four-week stay in the Nietzsche House in September with final participation in the Nietzsche Colloquium, which takes place annually at the neighboring luxury hotel Waldhaus.¹ The 14 scholarship recipients so far came from Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Finland and China. This shows that international scientific interest in Nietzsche has therefore stabilized and the Nietzsche scientific community is constantly rejuvenating. But scholarship holders are not the only ones who can live in a room in the house to write in an inspiring environment. Other guests, i.e. “civilians”, also have the option of renting a room in the house. The aim of this mix of users is to promote dialogue and networking among researchers, Nietzsche readers and tourists. In addition, the Foundation has been holding exhibitions of contemporary art related to Nietzsche in the house since the mid-1980s; after all, Nietzsche, like no other thinker before, had repeatedly strongly inspired artists and encouraged them to engage productively with his ideas and person. After guest performances by Gerhard Richter and Helmut Federle, among others, the Graubünden artist Not Vital was also a guest: A monumental white plaster moustache was his main exhibit, which he deposited on Nietzsche's bed.

Since 2021, the Nietzsche House has been showing a renewed presentation of Nietzsche's life and work, which was curated by Matthias Buschle and Wolfram Groddeck. In addition to biographical and chronological facts, important terms from Nietzsche's world of thought are explained to an audience that consists not only of Nietzsche experts, but also of curious people and random visitors to tourists. Over the decades following the opening, this audience has become noticeably more international. In addition, during the corona years, an increasing number of Swiss people, including many French-speaking French-speaking Swiss from Western Switzerland, discovered the house. For this reason, a multilingual concept of the memorial site was necessary, which included the digital dimension and met the contemporary public's need for easy-to-process and well-portioned information.

The exhibition rooms were designed in 2021 in a uniform design, on the background color of the original Zarathustra books, i.e. in a subtle turquoise. The sequence of showcases follows Nietzsche's life chronologically. Rarities such as various first editions and a small, regularly changing selection of valuable original manuscripts from the important Rosenthal-Levy Collection are on display. The individual exhibits are rather concisely labelled — due to the current reading habits of a predominantly tourist audience — and the explanations in four languages can be read in a text booklet or on a mobile website. Panels integrated in the display cases provide information on basic concepts and important keywords in Nietzsche's thinking.

You can stay overnight in simple double rooms with historic flair (minimum three nights, maximum three weeks, for groups one week) during the two seasonal opening hours from mid-June to mid-October and from mid-December to mid-April. Unfortunately, the room that Nietzsche himself lived in is excluded; it is part of the museum presentation. The building also houses a reference library for Nietzsche research, which comprises around 4,500 titles. A kitchen is also available for house guests to enjoy lively conversations around the fireplace.²

In less than half an hour from the Nietzsche House, you can reach the Chastè peninsula, which was visited by Nietzscheans from all over the world in the past and today. Some expect an encounter with the recurring spirit of the philosopher there. For example, the renowned Belgian architect and designer Henry van de Velde. He told of a vision that came over him on August 25, 1918, the 18th anniversary of Nietzsche's death, while visiting the Chastè peninsula: “There I felt a shiver as if I were suddenly standing in front of a temple, a mausoleum, where I would come into contact with Nietzsche himself. ”³ The aura of the place is unwavering: Anyone who is on the rocky peninsula today will repeatedly meet contemporaries who, reading or pondering, linger on benches and in the countryside and are also ready for an appearance of Nietzsche's spirit.

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Article Image Information

View of Chastè, photo by Christian Saehrendt, 2024

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Footnotes

1: See also https://www.nietzsche-forum-muenchen.de/.

2: Cf. https://nietzschehaus.ch/das-nietzsche-haus-i/wohnen/.

3: Letter from Henry van de Velde to Elisabeth Foerster-Nietzsche, August 25, 1918, National Research and Memorial Center of Classical German Literature in Weimar. Goethe and Schiller Archive, collection by E. Förster-Nietzsche = signature 72.