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.

Illustration for Jule Verne’s adventure novels, which helped feed globe-trotting mania. Maybe they also inspired Heinrich Schiffmann?
Around the world on doctor’s orders

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.

Farewell home: five Benedictine nuns travelled to the United States to establish a convent. Illustration by Marco Heer.
“Farewell, dear homeland!”

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.

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High heels: from the battlefield to the height of fashion

Murielle Schlup 07.08.2025 High heels are a perennially popular fashion accessory. Nowadays, it’s usually women who wear them as the days of men going into battle on horseback with heeled footwear are in the past. The cultural history of the high heel is a mixture of myth, modishness and might.
High heels from Switzerland for the American market: a gleaming selection of Bally shoes from the 1930s.

A Cold War witch-hunt

Rea Köppel 05.08.2025 Following a trip to the Soviet Union in September 1953, Helene Bossert, a poet from the Basel area, was reputed to be a communist. Given the anti-communist spirit prevalent in Switzerland in the 1950s, the suspicion cast upon her would almost ruin her life.
A fateful journey: Swiss dialect poet Helene Bossert being greeted by locals in Armenia in 1953.

1 August 1975 – from Bern to Helsinki

Thomas Bürgisser 01.08.2025 Back in 1975, on Swiss National Day of all days, Switzerland’s president Pierre Graber signed the Helsinki Final Act (also known as the Helsinki Accords), concluding the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in the Finnish capital. It marked an easing of tensions in the midst of the Cold War.
A historic signing marathon: on 1 August 1975, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was signed.

Judith Müller – the forgotten artist from Bern

Rachel Huber 29.07.2025 Born into an artistic milieu, Judith Müller influenced Bern’s art scene for decades. Despite producing public murals, taking part in numerous exhibitions and working to raise the profile of female artists, her work has disappeared from the public consciousness.
Europa by Judith Müller, oil and acrylic on canvas, 1952.
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Does Switzerland really date back to 1291? A fresh look at the country’s origins

Kurt Messmer 31.07.2023 Young nations need long histories. In 1891, the Federal Council of Switzerland, a 43-year-old state at the time, somewhat arbitrarily decided the country went back 600 years, even assigning its foundation to a specific day, 1 August. Without delving too much into the dogma, the story goes something like this.
Switzerland’s family tree

The emperor who spoke Swiss-German

Michael van Orsouw 13.06.2025 Napoleon III, Emperor of the French (1808–1873) grew up in Salenstein in the canton of Thurgau, which is why he spoke the local Swiss German dialect. Although he was French, the people of Thurgau awarded him honorary citizenship. When Switzerland refused to expel him, it almost resulted in war with France.
Louis-Napoleon, who was later to become Emperor Napoleon III, grew up in Thurgau and spoke fluent Swiss-German. Illustration by Marco Heer.

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.

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.

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