The small square named Gigerplatz in Chur's old town holds a public fountain decorated with designs by H.R. Giger, the Swiss artist born in Chur in 1940 who went on to create the visual language of the Alien film franchise. The fountain's carved reliefs are unmistakably Giger: biomechanical forms that blur the boundary between organic and mechanical, unsettling in their beauty and impossible to mistake for anything else.
It is a modest monument to one of the most influential visual artists of the 20th century, but it works well as a landmark and a place to refill a water bottle — Swiss fountain water is uniformly excellent and this one is no exception. The square is easy to miss if you are not looking for it; it sits in the upper old town, a short walk from the cathedral.
Giger fans wanting more should visit the HR Giger Museum in Gruyères, about two and a half hours west by train, which holds the most comprehensive collection of his original paintings and sculptures.