Felix Frey29.08.2023In 1915, land surveyors realised that the summit of the Rosablanche mountain in the canton of Valais had moved several metres in the space of just a few years. Today, the cause of the movement is more relevant than ever.
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.
Debjani Bhattacharyya13.07.2023The climate-induced melting of Switzerland’s glaciers is not just an environmental issue, the legal implications are also huge. National sovereignty, the cornerstone of fundamental constitutional rights, is suddenly on thin ice (pardon the pun). Climate change impacts a whole host of international human rights. This raises the question of how we in Switzerland can guarantee the next global generation’s right to be cold irrespective of national borders.
Barbara Basting09.03.2023Alexandre Calame is considered one of the fathers of Alpine landscape painting. And it all started, figuratively speaking, with a storm.
Gabriel Heim09.02.2023German theologian Carl August Wildenhahn documented his journey through 19th century Switzerland with humorous observations and comic strip-style pictures.
Julia Hübner01.02.2023It's hard to imagine now, but it actually happened in the winter of 1963. Lake Zurich froze over entirely. The authorities opened the ice on 1 February, and the last public festival on the lake began.
Michèle Seehafer09.01.2023The Baroque period saw increasing numbers of female artists begin to question the social structures of the age. The stories of Anna Waser and Maria Sibylla Merian demonstrate how these female artists fully bore comparison with their male contemporaries.
Michael van Orsouw27.07.2022Opinions were divided on naturopath Arnold Rikli. He delivered his holistic form of treatment, which involved bathing in the nude, at a sanatorium he had set up himself. Not in Switzerland, but in what is now Slovenia. The Monte Verità counterculture group was inspired, ultimately, by many of Rikli’s ideas and practices.