Cristina Gutbrod25.12.2025Gustav Gull made a double portrait of himself and his wife Lydia for the façade of the National Museum in Zurich. The reliefs were not the only architectural declarations of love made by the star Zurich architect to his wife.
Andrej Abplanalp10.07.2025Guillaume Henri Dufour was a humane military general and an innovative cartographer. But he was also a mobility pioneer, a talented engineer and a reluctant politician.
Helmut Stalder23.01.2025Engineer Maurice Koechlin created some of the icons of engineering prowess: the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and numerous bridges. Yet others reaped the glory.
James Blake Wiener03.12.2024Master James of St. George (c. 1230-1309) was a prolific mason and military architect who lived during the High Middle Ages. Responsible in part for the construction and refortification of imposing castles across what is now Switzerland, France, Italy, Wales, and Scotland, James of St. George is undoubtedly the greatest mason in Swiss history.
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.
