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.
Aaron Estermann04.04.2025The Locarno kiosk was much more than a small booth for the display and sale of goods. At various times throughout its almost 100-year history it was a newspaper kiosk, an information point for tourists seeking adventure and an internet café. All of which makes it a witness to economic and social change in all its facets.
Cristina Gutbrod28.01.2025In 1898, the architect Gustav Gull (1858-1942) created designs for two cups as part of a collaboration with the goldsmith’s workshop run by Johann Karl Bossard (1846-1914) in Lucerne. That same year, the newly built Swiss National Museum in Zurich, also designed by Gull, opened its doors to the public. Gull and Bossard’s impressive networks of contacts came together in the planning and design of the museum.
Barbara Basting03.01.2025After it opened in 1898, the Swiss National Museum in Zurich and its period rooms served as an important model for museums in the United States.
Cristina Gutbrod30.05.2023Gustav Gull’s design for the Swiss National Museum in the late 19th century marked the start of his rise to become a star architect.
Elke Baumann25.05.2023While a museum’s job is to showcase the past, that doesn’t mean it can’t evolve. A trip to the Swiss National Museum to mark the centenary 25 years ago was a very different experience than it is today. Join us on a tour of the museum in 1998.
Beatriz Chadour-Sampson28.03.2023Skeletons and skulls have become cult symbols through artists and rock bands. However, the representation of life and death have a much older tradition.
Fabienne Meyer21.07.2022Schang Hutter, who died in 2021, created a memorial to the Holocaust in 1996. Two years later, his sculpture Shoah stopped many people in their tracks on its journey around Switzerland, but the piece also came in for harsh criticism.
