William Favre24.03.2026After Japan was forced to open its economy, Switzerland was keen to establish a commercial foothold in the East Asian country. Yokohama, one of the ports opened to international trade, became the centre of the Swiss diaspora in Japan.
Helmut Stalder27.01.2026Johannes Badrutt sought to offer guests at the Kulm Hotel in St. Moritz a truly exclusive experience. He built Switzerland’s first hydroelectric plant and installed its first electric lighting system in the hotel dining room – and all before Edison had invented the light bulb. An historic event with unexpected results.
Christian Rohr04.11.2025Archaeologist Jakob Wiedmer’s marriage to Wengen hotel owner Marie Stern exposed him to the tourist boom in the Bernese Oberland during the Belle Époque. He expressed his disapproval in his novel Flut, which led to the couple selling the hotel and moving away.
Helmut Stalder30.10.2025There was a public fascination in the 19th century with the idea of building a railway to the top of the Jungfrau. A competition launched in the mid-1880s prompted an animated response from the country’s engineers, with each one trying to outdo the other. Adolf Guyer-Zeller cherry-picked their ideas and got rid of the competition. He also opened up the mountain to mass tourism.
James Blake Wiener30.09.2025Mark Twain (1835-1910) remains the most-celebrated humorist in the canon of American literature. The well-traveled and curious Twain made two personal trips to Switzerland, recording some of the happiest and most-solemn days of his life in and around the environs of Lake Lucerne.
Géraldine Lysser25.09.2025Dutch king Willem III came to Switzerland on several occasions. But one particular sojourn by Lake Geneva in 1875 led to uproar when the king repeatedly exposed himself in public.
Adi Kälin23.09.2025In 1948, a former luxury hotel on Mount Rigi was bought at auction by a garage owner from Zurich. Ten days later, it burned to the ground. The subsequent trial for arson and insurance fraud captivated the nation – not least because a clairvoyant played a key role in the investigations.
