614 – Apiary

Wooden posts rest on a stone foundation and form a framework with cross beams upon which boards were nailed. A tile roof covers the hut. A door on the rear admits the beekeeper into a small but protected workspace. As simple as the architecture may be, aesthetics were not forgotten: the barge boards on the gable front have fretwork, the boards in the upper row are rounded, the lathing is toothed and the holes for 21 swarms of bees are marked with bright colours – details which make this cabin of two and one half by three and one half metres (eight feet by eleven) look attractive.

This bee house or apiary belonged to the Sonnenhof, a farm and craft enterprise in the community of Mettmenstetten. It was built in 1894–1895 by the master carpenter Johannes Hägi for the knifesmith and farmer August Huber (1845–1930). Huber’s sons used the bee house until 1963 – it was dismantled in 1991.