History of the museum

The Villa Planta, named after its owner Jacques Ambrosius von Planta, was built between 1874 and 1875 as a private residence, by the architect Johannes Ludwig. The neoclassical style and distinct square design give full expression to the splendid front façade, with its portico and supporting columns being a prominent feature. The two sphinxes either side of the steps, the Pompeian art work in the entrance hall and the decorations on the golden dome reminiscent of the Byzantine style, are all proofs of the owner's prolific commercial dealings in the Egyptian world. This strong tendency towards a 'Middle Eastern' style is embodied by the clear half-moon shape at the top of the dome.

In 1898 shortly before his death Jacques Ambrosius von Planta sold the house to the Rhaetian Railway who from 1919 on leased it to the Canton Graubünden for cultural purposes. 1957 the property was finally acquired by the Canton Graubünden.

In 1927, whilst the Villa Planta was being adapted to meet the requirements of an art gallery, the collections of natural history were housed in the new natural history and national park museum, originally designed by the architect Walther Sulser and standing directly next to the Villa Planta. Finally in 1981 the natural history museum moved into its own premises and the simple 2-storey building, the Sulser building as it was called then, was joined to the Villa Planta by a walkway and from that point on was used purely for temporary exhibitions from the art gallery.

At the beginning of the 1960s the Villa Planta was in alarming structural condition. At that time a renovation and reconstruction was considered, and there was even a discussion of totally demolishing the Villa Planta in favour of a new building. At the beginning of the 1980s after numerous political disputes the administration launched an architectural competition for the restoration of the Villa Planta and for a structural extension of the Bündner Kunstmuseum. However, the council did not respond to the suggestions and decided to simply renovate and restore the Villa Planta. The necessary credit was finally granted by a large majority of the voters of Graubünden. After scarcely three years of restoration and renovation of the Villa Planta under the supervision of the architects collective Peter Zumthor, Peter Calonder and Hans-Jörg Ruch the Bündner Kunstmuseum was again opened with a festive inauguration at the beginning of the year 1990.