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.

From cholera to coronavirus – epidemics have always had an impact on the postal service in Switzerland. A look back at the PTT archives shows how crisis situations were dealt with in the past.

On 1 October 1970, the Shopville shopping centre opened underneath Zurich’s Hauptbahnhof. The underground shopping arcade was a minor sensation.

In 1925, the Schweizerische Maschinen- und Lokomotivfabrik in Winterthur was contracted to build ‘Krokodil’/‘Crocodile’ locomotives for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway.

100 years ago, the automobile set out on its triumphant rise to world domination. But it was a long, hard drive to the open road.

Letting agents, vehicle suppliers, financial services providers: over the past few decades, a colourful profusion of products and services has assembled under the banner of the ‘shareconomy’. Its history runs deep, and has some murky secrets.

Before 1850, people in Switzerland used to pay with fat men, horses or cornutos. The Swiss franc has only been the single national currency since 1850. A peek into the wallets of days gone by.

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