![The island of Utopia in a colourised excerpt from the first edition dating from 1516.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/morus-utopia-300x225.jpg)
The search for utopia
The search for utopia and the ideal society, a fairer world and a happy life is as old as humankind itself. Every era produces its own utopias; the concept, created by Thomas More, dates from 1516.
![](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/utopie-def-en-300x86.jpg)
![Illustrated two-page spread from More’s book "On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia", 1518.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/thomas-more-utopia-the-folger-shakespeare-library-300x204.jpg)
![From around 1960, Swiss artist Walter Jonas developed an urban utopia: the inward-facing city of INTRAPOLIS – a new, humane and environmentally friendly urbanism.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/intrapolis-dig-59702-slm-sa-300x200.jpg)
Trailer for the movie "1984" from 1984 by Michael Radford. YouTube
A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias.
Virus– Crisis – Utopia
The idea of Utopia thrives particularly well in times of crises. A new exhibition at the National Museum Zurich explores this phenomenon – past and present. The coronavirus pandemic shows our world that usual normality pushes at its limits. The exhibition sheds light on present visions of the future, setting them in a historical context and linking them with current events.