On 13 January 1878, a decision was made at the Hotel Hecht in St. Gallen to found a geographical and commercial society. Its purpose was to «cultivate geographical science and promote scientific and commercial Swiss enterprises and interests ... ». To strengthen relations across all continents, the society appointed a worldwide network of «corresponding members». Reports from these «correspondents» appeared regularly in the «Mitteilungen», which the society published annually since its foundation.

The Ostschweizerische Geographisch-Commercielle Gesellschaft used its worldwide connections to collect ethnographic objects from all over the world. In this way, the society became the founder of the Museum of Ethnology. The collection was donated to the local community of St. Gallen in 1917. In 1921, it was given a permanent home in the Historical and Ethnological Museum. Since 2016, the permanent ethnographic exhibition «Welten sammeln» has highlighted, among other things, St. Gallen's global dimension in the embroidery boom. Recently, two bronze objects from what is now Nigeria sparked a debate in St. Gallen about colonial looted art. The OGG thus has an eventful past that is by no means entirely glorious.

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Contact:

Ostschweizerische Geografische Gesellschaft St. Gallen
ogg-sg.ch