The Swiss Customs Museum, or Museo doganale svizzero, is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and th ...

located in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

canton of Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

. The museum is sited near Cantine di Gandria, directly across the

Lake Lugano __NOTOC__ Lake Lugano ( it, Lago di Lugano or , from la, Ceresius lacus; lmo, Lagh de Lugan) is a glacial lake which is situated on the border between southern Switzerland and northern Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situat ...

from the village of Gandria, and adjacent to the border with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The museum was formerly a border post on that border, but now forms part of the

Swiss National Museum The Swiss National Museum (german: Landesmuseum)—part of the ''Musée Suisse Group'', itself affiliated with the Federal Office of Culture, is located in the city of Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, next to the Hauptbahnhof. The museum ...

. In the 19th and 20th centuries, smuggling flourished in the mountain valleys of Ticino and Graubünden, and the museum covers the history of this, and the work of customs officers to counteract it. In a modern context, it covers the work of the Swiss Federal Customs Administration and the

Swiss Border Guard The Swiss Border Guard (french: Corps des gardes-frontière, german: Grenzwachtkorps, it, Corpo delle guardie di confine, rm, Corp da guardias da cunfin) was a federal law enforcement agency, which acted as both the border guard and customs ...

. The museum has no road access, and is best reached by boat. Boats of the

Società Navigazione del Lago di Lugano The ''Società Navigazione del Lago di Lugano'' or Lake Lugano Navigation Company (SNL) is a Swiss company operating passenger services on Lake Lugano. The company also operates bus routes in the same area, and is based at Cassarate in the city ...

(SNL) provide several crossings a day to

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

References

External links

*
Swiss Customs Museum pages on the Swiss Federal Customs Administration web site

Swiss Customs Museum pages on the Swiss National Museum web site

Museums in Ticino Law enforcement museums in Switzerland Lugano Culture in Lugano {{Switzerland-museum-stub