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.

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.

A view of Aarmühle in the 1860s (on the left bank of the Aare) – better known as Interlaken.
The birth of Interlaken

Aarmühle was a place in the Bernese Oberland. As a name it was rather uninspiring and thus unlikely to appeal to potential visitors from all over the world. Hence the renaming of Aarmühle as Interlaken in 1891, which turned the town into a tourist destination of international renown.

Latest posts

Around the world on doctor’s orders

Matthieu Péry 08.07.2025 Heinrich Schiffmann (1872-1904) was an avid traveller who voyaged around the world twice. Believe it or not, these lengthy voyages were supposedly prescribed by his doctors. The Swiss globe-trotter’s visits to far-flung places reflect a fascination of the era, bordering on mania, for round-the-world trips.
Illustration for Jule Verne’s adventure novels, which helped feed globe-trotting mania. Maybe they also inspired Heinrich Schiffmann?

The rise of women’s football in Switzerland

Michael Jucker 02.07.2025 The Swiss women’s football team has improved beyond all recognition since 1970. Their football has become more physical, dynamic and tactically refined. However, their greatest challenge possibly lay in gaining acceptance.
The Swiss women’s football team is still fighting for acceptance and spectators.

Eric Bachmann: the intrepid photographer and how he found fame

Manuel Walser 30.06.2025 Photographer Eric Bachmann (1940-2019) shaped the perception of many events in recent Swiss history through his pictures and themes. One of his standout projects was his coverage of the 1968 Globus riots in Zurich and the unique way it combined informative value with aesthetic quality.
The Zurich police cordoned off Bahnhofbrücke in the evening of 29 June 1968. Facing them were about 2,000 people demonstrating for an independent youth centre in the temporary Globus building. Eric Bachmann’s photo was coloured by hand by photographer Barbara Davatz about ten years later.

Of greed and ghosts

Christoph Kummer 26.06.2025 In the early modern period, many people sought to ‘get rich quick’ by digging for treasure. But they often encountered fraudsters and spirits along the way, leading quite a few of them to end up in court.
The dream of getting rich quick is almost as old as humanity itself. Illustration by Marco Heer.
All posts

Find blog posts on the map

The number in the circle shows how many blog posts are in the corresponding region. Zoom in with the +/- keys on the right or with Ctrl and the mouse wheel to display the individual articles. Click on a circle without a number to select the blog article.

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.

Heitersberg: a short railway line with a big impact

Marc Ribeli 27.05.2025 In 1975, the SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) opened its first new route in a long time: the just under eight-kilometre-long Heitersberg line between Limmattal and Lenzburg. The new inter-city Swiss Express train became an eye-catching feature on this new stretch of railway.
The Swiss Express crossing the Reuss bridge on the Heitersberg railway line.

The royal philanderer

Michael van Orsouw 11.06.2025 Louis-Philippe (1773–1850), Duke of Orléans and the man who would eventually become King of the French, spent some time in Switzerland after fleeing the turmoil that followed the French Revolution. He lived in the cantons of Zurich, Zug, Aargau and Graubünden – and his story continues to inspire Swiss novelists to this day.
The future king Louis-Philippe, incognito as a teacher in Reichenau, points at the globe.

Emperor Haile Selassie, God of the Rastafarians

Murielle Schlup 28.01.2022 Emperor Haile Selassie (1892-1975), who was crowned ‘King of Kings’ in Addis Ababa in 1930, was believed in Ethiopia to have been chosen by God. The Rastafarians in Jamaica even ‘recognised’ him as their Messiah and God. A look at the dual ‘careers’ of a 20th-century figure who was as remarkable as he was controversial.
Haile Selassie I in his limousine during his state visit to Bern on 25 November 1954. His headdress is decorated with a lion’s mane.

Suggest a topic

Do you know an exciting story or would you like an article on a specific topic? Write us! If possible, we will implement your suggestion.

Write us at blog@nationalmuseum.ch