![Chalet under the Chillon Viaduct in Villeneuve (Canton Vaud), 1985.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/chalet-autobahn-asl-300x225.jpg)
How the chalet became a symbol of Switzerland
The chalet symbolises Switzerland more than any other building. But it was visitors from abroad who turned the simple log house into a tourist hit.
Tourism adverts use the chalet to play with kitsch and Swiss clichés. YouTube / Switzerland Tourism
Chic
![Early Romantic depiction of Switzerland with chalet. Gabriel Lory Père, View of the Rosenlaui Glacier with the Wellhorn and Wetterhorn, 1823.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/chalet-gabriel-lory-pere-300x212.jpg)
![A chalet in the UK: The Swiss cottage in Singleton Park, Swansea, was built in 1826 by Peter Frederick Robinson following a trip to Switzerland.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/chalet-singleton-park-swansea-300x225.jpg)
Quaint
![The Swiss village at the 1900 Paris Exposition, photographer unknown.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/chalet-paris-expo-1900-300x244.jpg)
Cosy
![In Flims Georg Nickisch and Selina Walder challenge perceptions with a chalet made of concrete. Refugi Lieptgas, Flims 2012.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/chalet-flims-danuser-300x214.jpg)
Chalet. Nostalgia, kitsch and Baukultur
What exactly is a chalet? Is it simply a symbol of longing for Alpine nature and therefore an invented concept or myth? In the exhibition ‘Chalet’, the Swiss National Library in Bern has teamed up with Gelbe Haus Films to take visitors on a light-hearted, informative and entertaining journey that explores this quintessentially Swiss building. To get a taste, check out the online exhibition. Or to get some background information, listen to Gegensprecher, the exhibition podcast (in German only).