The Thirty Years’ War devastated Europe. Though not involved in the war, Switzerland also suffered. Many people left the country, moving north, and also eastwards. Some emigrants, such as goldbeater Heinrich Schlatter, found a happier future in their new homelands.

In the 18th century, straw-weavers and hatmakers had a bad reputation in Switzerland. They were condemned as lazy. A century later, hat-making became a flourishing business.

The biography of Johann Jakob Meyer from Zurich reads like an adventure novel: womaniser, confidence trickster, and up to his eyeballs in debt. How could such a man become a Greek hero?

For decades, the Katzensee near Zurich was used as a dumping ground for glass. A look into bottles from days gone by.

The great names in global history weren’t the only ones who dreamed of flying. Even in the Zürcher Unterland, people were designing and building. Lack of money and scarce resources gave rise to some exceedingly creative aircraft.

It’s one of nine quarry sites in the Canton of Zurich, and certainly the most eccentric. The silica sand quarry at Buchs in Zurich was created by chance in 1898, and hit the headlines in April 1910.

In Niederweningen, Zurich, the basement of the schoolhouse was once used as a prison. Not everyone was happy about it.