This laboratory was started in 1959. It comprises 8 rooms with 230 sq. metres of laboratory space. The present staff under the author include an assistant in technical research and a general assistant. It is intended to build up a staff of possibly 8 members in the next few years so that the laboratory can serve Swiss organisations outside the Landesmuseum. Among other analytical instruments there are absorption spectrophotometers covering the range from the ultra-violet to the infra-red, an emission spectrophotometer, apparatus for x-ray diffraction, spectrography, and x-ray photography, and complete facilities for optical microscopy and photography. -- AATA