Probably the smallest museum in the city

Editor Gretta Bott

Follow Gretta

Curtain up: The locker once used by Albert Einstein is on display at the ETH, and interested visitors can browse through it to their heart's content.

Are you also one of those people who every now and then resolve to consume more culture? I am one of them. But now that summer is beckoning: swimming pools, friends, sun, outdoor concerts. I don't necessarily want to go to the museum.

BUT: It's cool in the museum! Perfect to refresh your head for a short while. And if you really mean "briefly", visit what is probably Zurich's smallest museum: the former locker of Albert Einstein. Finding it in the main building of the ETH Zentrum is like a little treasure hunt. The second one follows as soon as you open the locker.

Ob dieser Spind tatsächlich derjenige von Albert Einstein war, ist nicht ganz sicher. Heute auf jeden Fall ist er ihm gewidmet.

Whoever finds this locker at the Federal Institute of Technology gets to open it. Be brave.

Inside the locker is a glimpse into Einstein's private life. On display are (at least to me) previously unknown photographs of Albert Einstein. But also fun facts about the genius - did you know that he never wore socks and that he was a small, rather insensitive heartbreaker - as well as sound recordings, books and written documents of the famous ETH alumnus. A wonderful little smorgasbord, beautifully gathered in a no less pretty wooden locker. Right in the middle of the ETH's day-to-day operations!

A look inside: Unknown photos of Albert Einstein, who studied at the ETH for a long time and lived in Zurich.

Not visible here: Many of these findings can be opened, rotated and unfolded to obtain more information on Einstein behind, below or on top of them.

The genius all happy and relaxed on a sailing trip. Although Einstein could not swim, he refused to wear a life jacket.

Fun facts about one of the most famous people in science.

The house rules are studiously ignored here and the locker remains wonderfully untidy.

Albert Einstein entered the ETH in 1896 at the age of 17. He would have liked to have started his studies at the age of 16, but failed the entrance exam. At that time ETH counted 840 students. Many of them had a locker on the premises of the university. With 24,000 students today, that is of course no longer possible! Einstein lived for about 8 years at 6 different addresses in Zurich, met his first wife here - Mileva Marić was his fellow student and one of the first women to study mathematics and physics - and received Swiss citizenship in 1901. in 1909 he taught theoretical physics at the University of Zurich and later, after a professorship in Prague, at the ETH Zurich from 1912.

By the way: I found the locker using the app ETH Tours app to discover and browse through the locker myself. On the app you can find the tour on Albert Einstein as well as one on female science.

ETH Zürich

Models – Shaping Knowledge

Models shape our understanding of the world. They make knowledge visible, translate complex issues and concepts into comprehensible forms, and enable us to ...

until 27.06.2027

ETH Zürich

Exploring the sky

Rudolf Wolf, the first director of the ETH Observatory and a pioneer of sunspot research, collected everything related to astronomy, including sundials, ...

Permanent exhibition

Published from Gretta Bott on June 08, 2023.

More from our scouts

To the Magazine

15.05.2025

Roman Signer’s whimsical world

The Kunsthaus Zürich is honouring one of Switzerland’s most significant contemporary artists, Roman Signer, with a solo exhibition.

Simone Liedtke

19.01.2023

Theatre ABC, Act 2

All just theatre? Not at all. With this theatre ABC, you’ll be ready to take to the stage.

14.05.2026

31 Questions for the Literaturhaus Zürich

The Literaturhaus takes a critical view of AI-generated novels, doesn’t count followers when it comes to emerging writers, isn’t interested in your unpolished work, and is ready to ...