Glacier changes have been documented since the 19th century. Illustration by Marco Heer.
Internationally coordinated glacier measurements: a lofty challenge

Internationally coordinated glacier observation originated in Switzerland. Maintaining glacier measurements proved difficult during the two world wars. However, Paul-Louis Mercanton from Switzerland kept the research work going amidst the global turmoil.

Zwei Fussballerinnen beim Training hinter dem Zürcher Letzigrund-Stadion, März 1968.
Football for all – but only for the last 50 years

1968 marked a turning point in the history of Swiss football. It was the year the sport finally became accessible to everyone: on 28 February, with the establishment of ‘Damen-Fussball-Club Zürich’ (DFCZ), Switzerland’s first women’s football club was founded.

The Bürgenstock: an idyllic ensemble with hotels, mountains, lake and lift. Postcard from 1928.
Europe’s highest open-air lift

The Bürgenstock has always known how to skilfully attract attention, as it did back in 1905 for example with the spectacular Hammetschwand lift – a marvel of Swiss engineering. Over the years, the lift has been a source of both admiration and rumour.

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“Farewell, dear homeland!”

Jasmin Gauch 15.05.2025 On 17 August 1874, five nuns left Maria-Rickenbach Benedictine Convent in the canton of Nidwalden and emigrated to the American Midwest. Sister Maria Beatrix Renggli (1848–1942) recorded her journey in a detailed travel journal.
Farewell home: five Benedictine nuns travelled to the United States to establish a convent. Illustration by Marco Heer.

A door to another world

Dimitri Hegemann 13.05.2025 The steel door from the Tresor Club in Berlin is an icon of the city’s techno movement. At first it protected the valuables of Berlin’s well-heeled residents in the depths of the Wertheim department store, and later it was a threshold crossed by hundreds of thousands of clubbers.
Steel door of the Tresor club, 1991–2005, formerly part of the safe deposit room of the Wertheim Bank, Berlin, 1927 Private collection of Dimitri Hegemann

How a women’s choir charmed a general during World War Two

Murielle Schlup 08.05.2025 Jegenstorf Castle was used as a command post by General Henri Guisan during the last months of the Second World War. Performances by the local all-female choir provided him with some welcome relief from his military duties.
Clearly delighted, the general holds up the present from the Jegenstorf women’s choir, given to him as an honorary member at his Verte Rive home. Photo edited by Klaas Kaat.

Death of a diplomat

Thomas Quinn Marabello 06.05.2025 In May 1923, Maurice Conradi shot dead a Soviet diplomat in Lausanne. The act itself and the subsequent acquittal of the murderer led to a major diplomatic dust-up.
After the assassination of Vatslav Vorovsky on 10 May 1923, the whole world looked to Lausanne. Illustration by Marco Heer
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Popular posts

Sexuality in the Middle Ages

Valérie Lüthi 13.06.2024 If we hazard a look at the medieval era, we discover a history of sexuality that is far more multilayered than we might at first have imagined. While the Christian church sought to extend its influence into private bedchambers, ‘lascivious’ attitudes and practices stood in the way of its ambitions.
Detail from The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, 1490-1500.

The darkest day in the history of the Swiss Guard

Thomas Weibel 04.05.2023 The Sack of Rome, or ‘Sacco di Roma’, by the leaderless troops of Charles V on 6 May 1527 ended in a bloodbath that also cost the lives of 147 Swiss guards. Traces of that dark day are still being discovered.
During the Sack of Rome of 1527, Pope Clement VII was protected by Swiss Guards as he fled the Vatican. Illustration by Marco Heer

When Chaplin's corpse was kidnapped

Michael van Orsouw 13.06.2023 Celebrated actor-director Charlie Chaplin died in 1977 and was buried in the cemetery at Corsier-sur-Vevey. But then, grave robbers dug up his body and demanded large sums of money from the family for its return. A macabre story that could have come straight from one of Chaplin's films, but did in fact happen.
Stop, the story isn't quite over yet! Charlie Chaplin in front of his house in Corsier-sur-Vevey, circa 1965.

King Albert I: the mountaineering monarch

Michael van Orsouw 10.04.2025 King Albert I of Belgium was a keen and experienced mountain climber. He scaled many Swiss peaks and even completed a first ascent in 1907. Tragically, despite his mountaineering skills, a climbing accident ended his life.
King Albert I enjoyed climbing in the Swiss Alps, where he went almost every year. The picture was coloured using AI by the National Museum.

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