Ethnographical collection

The ethnographical collection comprises some 63,000 objects from all over the world. It also includes a relatively small collection of objects from ancient Egypt. The initial collections came to Bern as early as the 17th and 18th centuries, where they were stored in the so-called Antiquarium before the Bernisches Historisches Museum opened its doors to the public. Today, the collection is the third-largest of its kind in Switzerland. Following the current collections policy guidelines, however, it is considered to be complete and no further objects will be added to it.