The Stuff of Fairy Tales in St. Moritz – Mili Weber’s Castle Chronicle

"This is by far my favourite place on earth", Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in 1881 about the Engadin. In addition to the philosopher, the high Alpine valley in Graubünden also attracted writers such as Herrmann Hesse, Thomas Mann and Friedrich Dürrenmatt. In the shadow of these literary giants, a woman in St. Moritz created a life's work in which literature, painting and music were to become light and love: Mili Weber (1891-1971).

Having grown up in Biel/Bienne, Mili Weber attended Heinrich Knirr's painting school in Munich, where artists such as Paul Klee or the spa doctor Peter Berry II from St. Moritz had been trained. In 1917 Mili Weber moved to St. Moritz, where her brother Emil built a log house for her, which the artist transformed into an all-round work of art with fairytale-like figures. In this environment Mili Weber painted, composed music and looked after a tame little roe deer – and it was here that the artist also created a doll’s castle. And to the inhabitants of this castle, she dedicated a comprehensive chronicle.

This multi-volume chronicle, titled "Chronique du Château Cantate-Dôme Saint-Amour", tells the story of an aristocratic French family. The fictional nature of the story soon fades into the background because of the exquis-ite handwriting, the numerous watercolour paintings and music sheets for songs. The story becomes even more real as one views the doll's castle in Mili Weber's fairytale house. And that is certainly possible: the house is now a museum.