![View of Thun and the Hotel Bellevue with the steamer ‘Bellevue’ on the left, coloured aquatint by Heinrich Siegfried, circa 1840, publisher Rudolf Dikenmann, Zurich.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/thun-mit-hotel-bellevue-scharf-300x225.jpg)
Showcasing the stunning views of Lake Thun
Tourism was developed in Switzerland in the 19th century through innovation and investment. This was mainly driven by private individuals who recognised the sector’s potential and wanted to tap into it. In the Thun region, these tourism pioneers included the Knechtenhofer family.
![Lower Grindelwald Glacier and the Eiger, etching by Gabriel Lory, circa 1788.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/unterer-grindelwaldgletscher-3-1-300x209.jpg)
![Bellevue Hotel in Thun, Georg Straub, circa 1840, Verlag H.F. Leuthold, Zurich.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/hotel-bellevue-randlos-300x204.jpg)
![This photograph by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey (produced using daguerreotype) must have been taken around 1847 and is probably the first photographic depiction of a Swiss steamer.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/faulhorn-1-1-300x293.jpg)
![Postcard showing the Bellevue complex and chapel circa 1898. Hubacher & Biedermann, Kunstanstalt, Bern.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/postkarte-1-300x191.jpg)
![Pavilion on the ‘Jakobshübeli’, 1912, photographed by Jean Moeglé.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/jakobshubeli-1-300x172.jpg)