There have been children’s ski camps in Switzerland since 1940. The origins of these camps go back to World War II, and there were serious reasons for them: the camps were intended to prepare young people for a winter campaign.

Empress Elisabeth ‘Sisi’ of Austria-Hungary was also a poetess. Why her personal notes are in Switzerland’s Federal Archives, and why they remained unpublished until 1984…

In 1893, Zurich became the largest city in Switzerland. This jump in status happened overnight – the growth was achieved through the incorporation of 11 outlying districts.

In December 1602, the Duke of Savoy attempted to take the city state of Geneva with a surprise attack. Referred to as the ‘escalade’ because of the wooden ladders used to scale the city walls, the attack was thwarted and the city finally became independent.

We spend around a third of our lives in bed. It’s the item of furniture we use most often, and it has a past and a history of its own.

In some parliaments things get rough now and then; they even turn violent from time to time. Not in Switzerland. In this country, mutual respect and a spirit of compromise are usually the order of the day. That hasn’t always been the case, though, as an example from 1848 shows.

On 18 October 1940 in Sarnen, the last death sentence under civil law in Switzerland was carried out. Although Hans Vollenweider had killed three people, he was convicted of only one murder.

In 1856, the Neuchâtel deal brought the fledgling Swiss nation to the brink of war with Prussia. The reason for this was the peculiar position of the Canton of Neuchâtel.