in 1889 the ethnographic collection of zurich was presented to the public for the very first time. initially the collection was property of the ethnographische gesellschaft zürich [ethnographic society of zurich] (since 1899: geographisch-ethnographische gesellschaft zürich, gegz [geographic-ethnographic society of zurich]); in 1914 the collection was handed over to the university of zurich where it was open to the public in the university's main building till 1979. in 1972, with the introduction of ethnology as a new subject of study at the university of zurich, the former “ethnological collection” was shifted from the faculty of natural sciences to the faculty of arts and renamed as “ethnographic museum of the university of zurich”. in 1980 the collection was moved to its present location.