Gruyère Welcome to Alien's (Giger) lair

When you arrive in the peaceful village, you think first of all: cheese. Obviously. And we start the visit to the cheese factory to follow the whole process of making Gruyère. After a small tasting and some shopping, we climb the street to the medieval village and its castle, located on a rocky outcrop. The visit promises to be bucolic, a bit romantic.

And there, surprise: after having passed the porch which leads to the castles, strange creatures indicate the entry of a no less strange museum: that of the Swiss artist Hans Ruedi Giger, creator of Alien. Impossible for the fans of Ridley Scott to continue on their way, it is necessary to enter. The atmosphere plunges them as soon as they enter the somewhat murky universe of Alien, straight out of the overflowing and distressing imagination of its creator. An achievement that earned him a Hollywood Oscar.

The atmosphere is created from the entrance, everything is in black and gray tones. Even the floor and walls are worth a look!

One of the first rooms is dedicated to the work that made HR Giger famous around the world: the alien Alien and his scary universe. While visitors study the extremely detailed drawings intently, a terrifying creature watches them from the ceiling ... Alien fans, however, remain a little on their hunger: a video and / or a sequence of photos are missing on the "making of" of the famous saga. But this is an HR Giger museum and not an Alien ...

Further on, a red curtain conceals a space with very “daring” works. Women also occupy an important place in the works of HR Giger. But behind their seductive silhouettes and beautiful faces often hide evil and destructive beings. The holographic painting of Species, another spooky future universe created by HR Giger for the big screen, is striking. The means of expression and the work of the Swiss artist are immense. Drawings, paintings (in oil, ink, acrylic), sculptures, extraterrestrial furniture reveal a surreal, terrifying, erotic universe. From one room to another, still in the dark, the visit continues, leaving no one indifferent to these paintings which evoke the anxieties of our time, wars, the absurdity of the human condition with all its sufferings.

Giger combines the human body with machines. Two entities so intertwined with each other that new beings result, the biomechanics. But how did these creatures take up residence in this medieval town?

In 1990, Hans Ruedi Giger was invited to exhibit in the Château de Gruyères. The artist fell under the spell of the peaceful village and, a few years later, the little Château St Germain was put up for sale, he bought it. In 1998, he opened his HR Giger museum there. It is also a bit like the realization of a childhood dream: to own a castle.