Barbara Basting24.01.2023Artists were among the many to draw inspiration from the opening of the Gotthard railway tunnel 140 years ago. Prominent Ticino sculptor Vincenzo Vela created a contemporaneous memorial to those lost during its construction, entitled Victims of Labour. This key work was not particularly well received at the time, however.
Urs-Beat Frei11.01.2023There is benefit for the church in rivalry between king and emperor. As in Oberägeri and Unterägeri in the canton of Zug, which each acquired an extraordinary baroque monstrance – with a political message attached, mind you.
Michèle Seehafer09.01.2023The Baroque period saw increasing numbers of female artists begin to question the social structures of the age. The stories of Anna Waser and Maria Sibylla Merian demonstrate how these female artists fully bore comparison with their male contemporaries.
Julia Burbulla28.12.2022In France the layout of the Baroque garden was subject to strict rules, and its purpose was to illustrate power and wealth. Here in Switzerland, too, members of the aristocracy and the wealthy merchant classes constructed their gardens based on the French model – albeit with good Swiss simplicity.
Kurt Messmer03.11.2022A walking tour of Obwalden’s principal town. A connection, a story, emerges from the juxtaposition of locations and features. It recounts the history of a dynasty, typical for Central Switzerland, embodied in buildings. Four generations of Imfelds.
Barbara Basting07.10.2022Humanist, reformer and freedom fighter Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523) died on the island of Ufenau in Lake Zurich, to which he had fled as a victim of religious and political persecution. The urge to dedicate a monument to him has inspired poets and artists alike.
Nicola Navone29.09.2022Some of the most important buildings in the Black Sea city were designed by architects from Ticino. From its founding in 1794, the work of these Swiss architects has given the city a Mediterranean flair.
Kurt Messmer15.08.2022The Greek myths are a treasure chamber of human possibilities and limits. A little foray into the life of Heracles, the greatest hero of them all, provides ample evidence of this. The setting is archaic and mythical; the knowledge gained is ageless.
