Christoph Kummer26.06.2025In the early modern period, many people sought to ‘get rich quick’ by digging for treasure. But they often encountered fraudsters and spirits along the way, leading quite a few of them to end up in court.
Tobias Jammerthal19.06.2025The first public lectures were held in Zurich in June 1525. This marked the beginning of higher education in the city on the Limmat, which would lead to the founding of the university 300 years later.
Claudia Aufdermauer17.06.2025Systematic hunting, changes in habitat and pollution are all contributing to otters dying out, as it says on the label describing an over 100-year-old prepared specimen on exhibit in the Naturama natural history museum in Aarau. The ‘end of the otter in Switzerland’ in 1990 is closely intertwined with the country’s economic history.
Michael van Orsouw13.06.2025Napoleon III, Emperor of the French (1808–1873) grew up in Salenstein in the canton of Thurgau, which is why he spoke the local Swiss German dialect. Although he was French, the people of Thurgau awarded him honorary citizenship. When Switzerland refused to expel him, it almost resulted in war with France.
Michael van Orsouw11.06.2025Louis-Philippe (1773–1850), Duke of Orléans and the man who would eventually become King of the French, spent some time in Switzerland after fleeing the turmoil that followed the French Revolution. He lived in the cantons of Zurich, Zug, Aargau and Graubünden – and his story continues to inspire Swiss novelists to this day.
Dominik Landwehr05.06.2025Johann Philipp Ziegler was a merchant from Winterthur. In the late 19th century, his company was the biggest exporter of Oriental carpets from what is now Iran.
Alice Hertzog22.05.2025Looted from Benin in 1897, a 400- to 500-year-old figurine of a headless horseman found its way to Switzerland through the collector Han Coray. When he was declared bankrupt, the University of Zurich acquired the statuette and attempted to reunite the rider with his missing head. What at first sight looked like a good fit proved to be deceptive.
Tomás Bartoletti20.05.2025In 1858, Swiss naturalist and diplomat Johann Jakob von Tschudi illegitimately appropriated a Pucara-style figure from the sacred place of Tiwanaku. Some 150 years later, the sculpture was returned to Bolivia, a significant event that reflects Switzerland's approach to its colonial legacy.
