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.
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.
Simon Engel15.02.2024Sport always reflects gender roles and images. Ice hockey being a rather extreme example. This is largely due to the way in which the sport has evolved.
Michael van Orsouw24.08.2023Sisi, the famous Empress Elisabeth, was a much more frequent visitor to Switzerland than previously known. She visited the Bernese Oberland in 1892, where she very much enjoyed a local product normally used as pig feed...
Noëmi Crain Merz19.08.2023In 1960, feminist Iris von Roten drove all the way to Turkey on her own. It was a trip that would straddle the boundaries between conservative role models and an exotic sense of freedom.
Peter Egloff10.08.2023Coachman Emmanuel Schmid from Graubünden regularly drove his famous passenger Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen around the Alps in the late 19th century.
Reto Bleuer08.08.2023Tourism was developed in Switzerland in the 19th century through innovation and investment. This was mainly driven by private individuals who recognised the sector’s potential and wanted to tap into it. In the Thun region, these tourism pioneers included the Knechtenhofer family.
Michael van Orsouw11.05.2023César Ritz was not only a pioneering Swiss hotelier, he also established a luxurious way of life that was immortalised in a song. ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’ became a global hit after Ritz himself had sadly died following a decades-long battle with depression.