People, even if they don't have a lot of living space, value sculptures as artistic decoration in their own homes alongside paintings.

In this country, works by sculptors in the home and garden are not as common as in Italy or the USA, for example. What a pity, in Franz and Jean Theiler's opinion. The couple have been collecting artistically significant stone sculptures from Zimbabwe for years and present many works by contemporary sculptors in their gallery in Brienz.

Large and small works of art - all hand-carved from stone - show the extravagant imagination, the magical spirituality and the ingenious creative power of people who have succeeded in reviving and developing ancient cultural heritage in a modern world.

Authentic African art is mostly based on traditional purpose-built cult objects, carvings of ritual masks and fetish statues with an occult and mystical character. In contrast, Zimbabwean stone sculptures are contemporary works of art that are limited to simply being "l'art pour l'art".

"Our involvement in arranging and leading cultural trips to southern Africa (www.africantours.ch) has been helpful in acquiring these unique pieces, some of which are very valuable. We often meet renowned sculptors or get to know the families of old masters," explains Jean Theiler, the gallery owner originally from Zimbabwe.