Christophe Vuilleumier08.10.2026A dancer, a Geneva cabaret and secret weapon plans – under the name ‘Nina’, Italian Virginie Rota moved between the stage and the worlds of diplomacy and intelligence. Her story took place in Geneva at the time of the League of Nations – in a city in which international politics and espionage rubbed shoulders.
Jelica Popović06.10.2026The Swiss public seem to have forgotten the war that broke out in Yugoslavia in 1991. Nonetheless, it did (and still does) affect people living in Switzerland who came from the war zone. They were stigmatised during and after the war, while the influx of people from ex-Yugoslavia has left a mark on Swiss culture and everyday life.
Michael Jucker24.09.2026In the past, many sports clubs encompassed more than one discipline. One example was FC Zurich, whose former rowing section had a particularly eventful and successful history.
Matthias Wiesmann03.09.2026“Feed your savings now or starve in old age” and similarly blunt aphorisms were printed on cards issued to Swiss schoolchildren in 1946 in an attempt to motivate them to start saving. Adults were also encouraged, by various means, to set money aside for the future.
Jose Cáceres18.08.2026In 1939 Hans Erni painted the mural "Die Schweiz, das Ferienland der Völker", which was designed to showcase Switzerland to the world. A year later – during the Second World War – he helped conceal alpine military installations from the enemy. Two commissions, one artistic eye.
Nicole Billeter23.07.2026Melancholy was everywhere in the early modern period: in letters, reports and biographies, but also in medical tracts and theological discourse. A diagnosis is speculative, but in some of the descriptions we can recognise what today is referred to as depression.
James Blake Wiener14.07.2026For nearly a century, no American restaurant stood above Delmonico's in sheer elegance or culinary ambition. Founded in Manhattan in 1827 by Giovanni and Pietro Delmonico, brothers from the Swiss canton of Ticino, Delmonico’s built a legacy of innovation that remains without equal in the history of American fine dining.
Marc Ribeli04.06.2026The Interrail pass, which was launched in 1972, allowed young people to travel by train around Europe for one whole month for the price of CHF 275. Summer after summer, it inspired tens of thousands of Swiss youngsters to travel across the continent. For many, this was also their first ever independent trip abroad.
