15. April 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

18. April 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

. . . with two local, tuned-cowbell groups doing the ringing.

Make every step count. The starting gun for LiveEarth’s Run For Water is sounded at Ballenberg on April 18 at 11 in the morning. The finish line for the six-kilometre walk or run is in the town of Brienz. The same event is staged on this day all over the world. We meet from 10 a.m. at the west entrance car park. For more information and to register, go to

Live Earth

05. to 09. May 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Konolfingen’s Geissbühler Filigree Studio demonstrates silver jewellery-making.

08. May 2010 | 10.30 am - 12.30 pm

Bygone Switzerland without its traditional costumes and music? Hard to imagine. Colourful regional costumes, traditional everyday clothing and typically Swiss folk music are quintessential parts of old-time Switzerland and at Ballenberg, in 2010, we celebrate these traditions by making them our annual theme. Chalet Schafroth has graced Ballenberg for close to two decades and from 2010 its doors open to visitors for the first time. You get a close-up view of the fascinating world of its well-to-do, 19th-century inhabitants, learn more about the origins of Swiss regional costumes and how they’re made, and you’ll see and hear a variety of musical instruments used in Swiss folk music.

The exhibition "Swiss traditions: chalets - costumes - folk music" at the Burgdorf/BE house (No. 361) is open every day from May 8, 2010.

09. May 2010 | 10 am - 4 pm

This year features costume and dance associations from all over Switzerland. Watch them entertain with traditional song, dress and dance throughout the day all over the Ballenberg grounds.

15. to 16. May 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Which wrestlers will earn the victors’ laurels? Powerful Bernese wrestlers, other athletes or Alpine cattle herders? Watch the typically Swiss sport up close as powerfully built competitors engage in this unique, exciting and – we hope – accident-free short-pant-grabbing style of wrestling.

16. May 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

The small farmyard animals, rabbits, poultry, pigeons, caged birds and their offspring run the gamut of colours, shapes and behaviours at our Bernese Midlands settlement, while the competitors in the 5th Swiss cock-crowing championship try and beat the current record of 126 cockcrows in an hour.

30. May 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Bygone Switzerland without its traditional Swiss folk music? Hard to imagine. A dozen or so folk music groups from the cantons of Aargau, Bern, Basel Land, Basel Stadt, Solothurn and Valais entertain our guests according to a fixed schedule at different locations around the Ballenberg grounds.

02. to 06. June 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

13. June 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Bygone Switzerland without its traditional Swiss folk music? Hard to imagine. A dozen or so folk music groups from the cantons of Fribourg, Geneva, Jura, Neuchatel, Bern, Vaud and Valais entertain our guests according to a fixed schedule at different locations around the Ballenberg grounds.

14. June to 08. August 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Fascinating traditional silk production takes place once again in the 2010 season at the Novazzano/TI estate (No. 851). Watch mulberry leaves being harvested and fed to our silkworms, their cocoons being unravelled, and dyeing and weaving of silk fabrics. Guided all-day tours are available to school groups and shorter guided tours to other groups. Please book in advance.

19. to 20. June 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

The canton of Fribourg and its rich traditions, handcrafts, treasures of food and drink, music and dance are featured on one glorious weekend.

26. to 27. June 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Do not fret – this is not an alien invasion: The shimmering discs flying through the air are part of the ancient Swiss sport of Platzgen.

28. June to 18. July 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Watch Ballenberg’s charcoal burners produce a batch of the black fuel the old-fashioned way: In an impressive, sod-covered mound, during ten to twelve days, 60-70 cubic meters of firewood are turned into three to four tons of usable charcoal – once everything’s cooled down, of course.

03. to 04. July 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

This is the time of year our kitchen and medicinal herb and dye-plant gardens are in full bloom. The traditional meeting place for enthusiasts of natural medicine and therapy is our historic pharmacy, where salves and herbal tea mixtures are concocted before your very eyes and free guided tours of the gardens start.

04. July 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Coiffure Suisse and theatre hairstylists give your children facial makeovers at our annual face-painting day.
From 11am to 4pm your kids can choose the face of a hedgehog, a cat, a mouse, or some other favourite animal.

07. July to 21. August 2010 | 8.15 pm

From Wednesdays to Saturdays, watch the outdoor play Farinet, der Falschmünzer, or Farinet the money forger by Markus Keller, with Reto Lang directing. Tickets are available from May 3, 2010. Phone +41 (0)33 952 10 44 from 9am-11am and 2pm-4pm, Monday to Friday.

07. to 11. July 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

01. August 2010 | 9 am - 13 am

There’s no better place to celebrate our national holiday than with a relaxing breakfast at the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum. At the Ostermundigen House, from 9am to 1pm, you can enjoy some of Ballenberg’s sumptuous specialities. The official programme, with music and addresses by national politicians from all four language regions, starts at 10.30 in the morning.

11. to 15. August 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

29. August 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Bygone Switzerland without its traditional Swiss folk music? Hard to imagine. A dozen or so folk music groups from the cantons of Lucerne, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Schwyz, Ticino, Uri and Zug entertain our guests according to a fixed schedule at different locations around the Ballenberg grounds.

01. to 05. September 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

12. September 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Bygone Switzerland without its traditional Swiss folk music? Hard to imagine. A dozen or so folk music groups from the cantons of Appenzell Innerrohen and Ausserroden, Glarus, Grisons, St.Gallen, Schaffhausen, Thurgau and Zurich entertain our guests according to a fixed schedule at different locations around the Ballenberg grounds.

25. to 26. September 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Market stalls displaying home-made Ballenberg products are set up around Restaurant Degen, located in the midst of our Central Switzerland settlement. Also on sale is produce from Ballenberg’s own vegetable gardens and products from the Ballenberg Course Centre and the historic pharmacy.
We demonstrate handcrafts daily throughout the museum grounds and you can watch our very own cider press in operation.

Then there are the mules and donkeys from all over Switzerland. Learn about keeping and breeding these companionable animals, and let demonstrations of especially talented four-legged friends delight you at the Ballenberg Arena throughout the weekend. Mule rides are available for children and adults alike. The weekend’s uncontested highlight is no doubt the donkey parade.

02. October 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

New impulses in Swiss folk music (in german)

Kurszentrum Ballenberg

03. October 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Welcome to Viva il Ticino! The impressive Novazzano estate features every aspect of a traditional Ticino-style festival, from music and dancing to delicious food and drink. *One week later in case of inclement weather. Please check at www.ballenberg.ch, or phone +41 (0)33 952 10 30

06. to 10. October 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

16. to 17. October 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

Turning pretty flax plants into sturdy linen takes a lot of work. At our Madiswil House you can watch flax being rippled, roasted (yes, roasted!), scutched, heckled, spun and woven into fine linen. And while you’re there, pick up a bottle of our traditional scutching schnaps and some fresh produce from Ballenberg’s vegetable gardens.

Don’t miss wool processing, with craftswomen demonstrating dyeing, carding, spinning, weaving and fullering wool at our East Mittelland settlement.

24. October 2010 | 10 am - 5 pm

The Open-Air Museum Ballenberg has organized a show of the dog breeds Bernese, Appenzell, and Great Swiss Mountain and St. Bernhard on October 24. In the course of this unique opportunity to learn more about how people’s best friends interact with us humans, you’ll be acquainted with family activities involving dogs, obedience training, teaching tricks – even the right way to take your dog for a walk. The dogs and their owners will join a parade through Ballenberg’s grounds several times during the day.