Miniature Limmatquai

Homage to Rudolf Koller in the Rosenhof
 
Heinz Blum, painter, illustrator and creator of Hotel Adler's wall paintings, has transformed the covered Rosenhof-Passage into a bright, colourful place. The murals are particularly appreciated by those tourists experiencing some rainy weather while in Zurich. By depicting the area lining the left and right-hand bank of the Limmat, the murals offer the pleasures of a stroll through the Old Town, without having to walk and without getting wet on a rainy day. 

In the murals, Heinz Blum has reproduced the banks of the Limmat between Bellevue and Central, on one wall the right bank and on the other the left. In a manner of speaking, the passer-by is standing in the water between the Rathaus and Münsterbrücke bridges, looking at the rows of houses lining both riverbanks, while the artistic arrangement accurately reflects every detail.

According to Mariska Beirne of Zurich Tourism, the Rosenhof-Passage makes it possible to stroll through the Old Town without actually having to walk and without getting wet in rainy weather. The murals are however not only a guide for visitors. They are above all a homage to Zurich and to the great Swiss artist Rudolf Koller, animal and landscape painter, who spent his childhood in the Hotel Adler. One painting that made Rudolf Koller famous is the "Gotthardpost," created in 1873 and depicting a mail coach descending the Gotthard Pass at great speed. It is said that, in his childhood, the painter chalked his impressions on the walls and wardrobes of his parent's establishment. The present owner of the Hotel Adler, Peter Krause, is a big Koller enthusiast, and it is he who commissioned the Rosenhof murals.