Katrin Brunner14.03.2024Gripped by religious hysteria, a group of believers killed two women in Wildensbuch in 1823. The blood-soaked deed still has the power to shock today.
Joël László08.03.2024Members of the Anabaptist movement in and around Zurich were persecuted and executed for their convictions during the Reformation. They continue to be disparaged and stereotyped to this day. But a look at the historical sources reveals a different picture ‒ that of a defiant movement in which women also played a key role.
Barbara Basting29.02.2024Who paints older women? A look at art history shows that painters have always struggled with the subject matter and that they usually needed a pretext to even depict them at all.
Michael van Orsouw27.02.2024Alberik Zwyssig (1808–1854), the musical monk from Uri who composed the Swiss Psalm, had an unhappy life. And then, after his death, his remains were dug up and reburied during the Second World War.
Dominik Landwehr22.02.2024What were two businessmen from Obwalden doing in Genoa at the end of the 19th century? Building a funicular railway and giving it a familiar name from home: the Righi.
Noah Businger08.02.2024Nowadays, the canton of Ticino is considered as Swiss as anywhere else in Switzerland. However, it wasn’t always like that: putsches, revolutions and independence movements once posed serious challenges to the status of the south-lying canton as part of Switzerland. So, how is it that Switzerland’s borders ended up south of the Alps?
James Blake Wiener06.02.2024It’s often forgotten that Locarno was a hotspot of confessional strife. The Locarnese Protestants and their subsequent expulsion in 1555 precipitated significant comment and a high degree of interconfessional distrust among the Swiss Confederates.
Christophe Vuilleumier16.01.2024Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was famous in the 17th century for travelling as far as India. The adventurer and author wanted to retire in Aubonne. But his settled life did not last long.