Kurt Messmer03.10.2024Small towns are rich in cultural history, remnants of which leave their mark on the public space and shape our historical awareness. Willisau is no exception: a small town that wears its biography openly, with an enticing mix of the typical and the unusual that is both instructive and appealing.
Jacqueline Perifanakis27.08.2024In antiquity and the Middle Ages, people used stones from old buildings in new structures, a practice that even continued into the modern era. Many things were destroyed by this practice – while others only exist today because of it.
James Blake Wiener22.08.2024In 1812, the Swiss adventurer and explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784-1817) traversed the ancient Nabataean city of Petra. He was the first European to set his eyes upon the ruins since the time of the Crusades. His life is a curious story of research and unexpected high adventure.
Kurt Messmer16.05.2024We humans are predisposed to brood over the changing nature of luck. The wheel of fortune has been turning since ancient times, and remains popular today. Around 1220, a rose window at Basel Cathedral was designed to resemble a wheel of fortune, homage was paid to the goddess Fortuna in a Bavarian monastery in the form of the Carmina Burana. Yet, undeserved luck plays no part in the Christian world view. Heavenly salvation is something that has to be earned.
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.
Benno Schubiger22.12.2023The French invasion 225 years ago not only brought about major political upheaval in Switzerland, but also death and destruction. Vestiges of acts of vandalism to cultural property can still be seen today.
Jean-Luc Rickenbacher27.10.2023The first attempts to harness the power of water date far back. Water used to provide the energy to run flour mills and looms. However, the resource only realised its full potential when hydropower began supplying the country with electricity.
Reto Bleuer25.10.2023Religion and the church used to be prominent in people’s lives. Church attendance was nigh on obligatory. For rural folk, the ‘Predigtgang’ (the journey to church) often involved a long walk, as was the case for the inhabitants of Buchholterberg.
