Kurt Messmer12.03.2024Swiss cities such as Lucerne experienced an epochal transformation around 1900. Its medieval centre was expanded to include prestigious residential and commercial buildings, stations, postal and administrative offices, school buildings, hotels and villas. However, architecturally this modernisation bore the hallmarks of the past. Time for a virtual tour of Lucerne.
Barbara Basting29.02.2024Who paints older women? A look at art history shows that painters have always struggled with the subject matter and that they usually needed a pretext to even depict them at all.
Michael van Orsouw27.02.2024Alberik Zwyssig (1808–1854), the musical monk from Uri who composed the Swiss Psalm, had an unhappy life. And then, after his death, his remains were dug up and reburied during the Second World War.
Denise Tonella01.02.2024Praesens-Film, founded in Zurich in 1924, is the oldest film company still in existence in Switzerland. Since the late 1920s, it has been producing films that tell a piece of Swiss cultural history and reflect the times, politics and society.
Dominik Landwehr30.01.2024In 1971, two young creatives captured the world’s attention with a free book. They distributed the work throughout German-speaking Switzerland with the backing of prominent literary figures.
Michèle Wannaz25.01.2024An Academy Award: sign of triumph, success and recognition? Not always. In the case of "The Search" by Zurich-based Praesens-Film, the award was more a symbol of frustration and pain. It even ruined half the life of one of its recipients.
Barbara Basting28.12.2023The Reformation brought stricter social mores to many places in Europe, and artists had to adapt if they didn’t want to lose commissions. But these social mores were not popular with everyone – as revealed by this painting by Hans Bock in Basel’s Kunstmuseum.