Thomas Weibel05.09.2024For 125 years, the 'funiculaire' in the city of Fribourg has been running on a particular kind of renewable energy: wastewater. The 'funi', as the heritage-listed railway is known locally, is an important reminder of Fribourg's industrial past.
Helmut Stalder27.06.2024Pietro Caminada had a simple idea to turn the inconceivable into reality: huge cargo ships crossing the Alps without using self-propulsion. The stroke of genius by the engineer with Graubünden roots was a viable project – at least he thought so.
James Blake Wiener15.04.2024Over a century after her dramatic demise, the Titanic lingers omnipresent in the human imagination. The stories of the Titanic’s Swiss staff and passengers are a rich kaleidoscope of a maritime disaster and an era on the precipice of tremendous change.
Thomas Weibel11.04.2024For generations, the clanking sound of bins being emptied was an everyday morning sound in Switzerland. The noise came from the hot-dip galvanised steel rubbish bins designed by resourceful Zurich entrepreneur Jakob Ochsner.
Michael van Orsouw05.04.2024Johann Bücheler was a regular carpenter from Kloten. In 1836, he was commissioned by the canton of Zurich to build a guillotine. That proved the end of “normality” as he knew it.
Thomas Weibel19.03.2024"Let others tell of storms and showers, I’ll only count your sunny hours" is a phrase that has graced countless poetry albums. Researchers from the University of Basel have now found out that the sundial has been in use for at least 3,200 years.
Dominik Landwehr22.02.2024What were two businessmen from Obwalden doing in Genoa at the end of the 19th century? Building a funicular railway and giving it a familiar name from home: the Righi.
