At first glance, Switzerland’s Stein-am-Rhein seems like a place lifted straight from a storybook. Small boats bob in the Rhine’s blue waters, a miniature Liliput Railway trundles through town, and centuries-old timber buildings are covered in Renaissance frescoes so vibrant they appear freshly painted.
Home to just 3,000 residents, Stein-am-Rhein is one of Europe’s finest open-air art galleries. Most of its façade frescoes were commissioned between 1520 and 1530 and are protected by ownership conditions that require them to be maintained in their original form.
The colourful paintings depict biblical scenes, mythology, historical events, moral tales, local life, vineyards and death. A recurring motif is St George slaying the dragon, also featured on the town’s coat of arms. The legend of the knight rescuing a princess from a dragon symbolises triumph over evil.
Between 1499 and 1525, Abbot David von Winkelsheim commissioned early Renaissance frescoes for the abbey. Wealthy merchants and an emerging middle class soon followed suit, using art to display their status and prosperity, much as their counterparts were doing in Renaissance Italy.
Because Stein-am-Rhein largely escaped major conflicts, most of its frescoes have survived remarkably well.
These frescoes also preserve several historic artistic techniques: Buon fresco involved applying pigments directly onto fresh plaster. Sgraffito required scratching through an upper layer of plaster or pigment to reveal a contrasting colour beneath. Trompe l’oeil created the illusion of three-dimensional objects on flat surfaces.
One of the most remarkable features is a striking red ox, indicating that the building once belonged to a butcher. The giant painted signboard is a proof that outdoor advertising existed long even before neon signs and billboards.
The colourful frescoes depict biblical scenes, mythology, historical events, moral tales, local life, vineyards and death
The building, dating to 1446, is recognised as one of Switzerland’s oldest taverns and among the town’s finest examples of mural-covered architecture. Alongside the red ox are scenes of everyday medieval life: women chatting in the town square, merchants conducting business, a knight arriving on horseback with his sword raised, and curious onlookers watching events unfold. One particularly intriguing image shows a woman speaking with God, who raises a hand in response. It leaves you wondering what conversation the artist imagined centuries ago.
Today the Red Ox Wine Tavern, serves Swiss-German cuisine, local wines, and the best vantage points to admire the surrounding frescoes of the old town.
Among them is the White Eagle building, famed for illustrating stories from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. The work follows seven women and three men who flee plague-ravaged Florence and pass the time telling stories. The frescoes include bold depictions of love, lust, and seduction—surprisingly daring subjects for public art of the period.
Elsewhere, frescoes depict episodes from Greek mythology, including the philosopher Diogenes asking Alexander the Great to step out of his sunlight. Another tells the story of Baron von Schwarzenhorn, who returned home in 1664 after being captured and enslaved in Istanbul before eventually securing his freedom.
Together, these paintings offer one of the closest glimpses into Renaissance life available today. Just an hour by train from Zurich, Stein-am-Rhein feels less like a town and more like a beautifully illustrated history book. Don’t miss the chance to step inside its pages.