Since the 15th century, Saint Idda of Toggenburg has been venerated at Fischingen Abbey. Her legend was invented to make the monastery more attractive.

Too young, too foreign, too different? Fifty years on from the introduction of voting and electoral rights for women, the issue of political participation is still a hot topic. A historical overview of disenfranchisement in Switzerland.

Around 1880, women here and there in Switzerland picked up boxing gloves for the first time. With their efforts initially dismissed as circus sideshows, women battled until the 1990s to be allowed to box competitively.

I learned late that my grandmother, whom I never met, was a staunch Nazi. After reading hundreds of letters, I realised with horror how much guilt she had incurred.

On 29 August 1935, Queen Astrid of Belgium dies in a car accident on Lake Lucerne. Just one day later, the whole world knows. Thanks to a resourceful Swiss photographer and the help of a well-known aviation pioneer.

New York-born Hélène de Pourtalès (1868-1945) of Geneva won gold at the 1900 Olympic Games. Largely unknown today, this pioneering yachtswoman paved the way for other women to compete at the Olympics.

Germaine de Staël was a Swiss author and thinker during the French Revolution. Even Napoleon feared the strong and well-connected personality and banished her from Paris.

The last representative of the Ottoman Empire was Rachid Osman. He spent his twilight years in a small village in Glarus. His wife Rosa Osman-Keller earned a living as a village hairdresser to support herself and her once fabulously wealthy husband.