Swiss Road Trip to the H R Giger Museum: Aliens, Albums, and Alpine Views in Gruyères, Switzerland

We stopped in Gruyères while motorhoming through Switzerland. It’s a beautiful little village, with old buildings and stunning mountain views.

Our main reason for visiting was the H R Giger Museum, which is inside the Château St. Germain.

I have always been a big fan of the Alien films, and H R Giger designed the alien creature and the set design for the original 1979 film.

His work on that movie earned him an Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 1980.

I was also a fan of the classical rock band, Emerson, Lake & Palmer in my youth, and Giger famously designed the album cover for their 1973 album Brain Salad Surgery.

His artwork is very dark, so it is definitely not to everyone's taste. Some of it feels very suspect in today's climate, but I really liked the Alien pieces since they are more about science fiction and feel much more accessible to movie fans.

The inside of the museum feels a lot like walking around someone's personal loft space, packed with his sculptures, furniture, and original paintings. It took me nearly an hour to walk around and see everything.

After finishing in the museum, we went for a walk outside around the town. There happened to be a local cycle race going on, with cyclists racing past the old buildings over the cobbled streets.

Gruyères is a historic village up on a hill, dominated by a large medieval castle called Gruyères Castle, which overlooks the surrounding countryside.

We also found out that HR Giger is buried right next door. His grave is located in the small cemetery next to Saint-Théodule Church. His headstone is a flat, dark bronze plate featuring his signature biomechanical artwork, which makes for a fitting marker. It was quite modest, though.

Stopping in Gruyères was an interesting experience on our motorhome trip across Switzerland.