Local history in Switzerland.
22 September 2022
The artist Balthus (1908-2001), pseudonym of Balthasar Klossowski, bought the famous ‘Grand Chalet’ in the village of Rossinière (canton of Vaud, le Pays-d’Enhaut) in 1976. Since his death, the house has been called Chalet Balthus. The chapel, a little further away, has been the visitor centre dedicated to this artist since 2007. The Balthus Chapel … Read more » “Chalet Balthus in Rossinière”
20 September 2022
Gstaad is part of the municipality of Saanen (Canton of Bern). The Counts of Gruyère (Greyerz in German) ruled over an area from the source of the Saane (Sarine in French) to Lake Gruyère (today the canton of Freiburg). Gstaad and Saanen lie on the language border. Rougemont (canton of Vaud) is a French-speaking area. … Read more » “The beau monde and the Square”
12 September 2022
There is always something to discover in Switzerland. For example, every hamlet, village and town has its particularity, the village of Mund (canton of Valais). In Gondo (Kanton Valais), there was a real gold rush in the nineteenth century, but in Mund, the (culinary) precious Saffron, the ‘Queen of Plants’, has been cultivated for centuries. … Read more » “The Saffron Village of Mund”
9 September 2022
Geneva is more than a city of diplomacy, international organisations, markets, banks, the watch industry, and the lake’s fountain. It was the first territory conquered and governed by the Romans (120 B.C.) in present-day Switzerland, one of the country’s first bishoprics, the capital of Calvinism, an independent republic until it was annexed by Napoleon in … Read more » “Two Thousand Years Geneva, Vienne, Allobroges and Gallia Narbonensis”
7 September 2022
The Neuchâtel Public Library and University Library (La Bibliothèque publique et universitaire de Neuchâtel) in the former Latin College (Collège latin) presents a world-famous exhibition dedicated to the writer and philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). The former Latin College (Collège latin) in Neuchâtel. Photo: TES Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the greatest thinkers of the Enlightenment and … Read more » “Espace Rousseau Neuchâtel”
27 August 2022
Pratteln is the site of the oldest evidence of human presence on Swiss territory. The hand axe discovered in 1974 is at least 100,000 years old. The name Bratello was first mentioned in 1103. It can be traced back to the Latin word pratellum (small meadow). The village dates back to a dinghof of the … Read more » “Pratteln”
26 August 2022
The village of Simplon (Simplon-Dorf), the namesake of the famous pass in the canton of Valais, has about 300 inhabitants today. The architecture of the place has Italian features, but German-speaking Walser emigrants mark the language. They settled in this region and the villages of Simplon and Gondo, today’s border town with Italy, from Oberwallis … Read more » “Simplon-Village, Gondo and the Simplon Pass”
31 July 2022
The Italian-speaking village of Casaccia (Canton of Graubünden, Val Bregaglia) was first mentioned around 1160. It lies at the foot of the Piz Lunghin at the intersection of two crucial connecting roads, one to the north over the Septimer Pass (Il Settimo), the other to the Engadine and Austria over the Maloja Pass (Il Maloja). The village was … Read more » “Casaccia and the Via Panoramica”
30 July 2022
Bergün, Bravuogn in Romansh (Canton of Graubünden), is mentioned in documents in 1209. The pass over the Abula was already an essential north-south connection to the south. The Romanesque tower was built in the 13th century and converted into a belfry at the beginning of the 17th century. The construction of the new road over … Read more » “Bergün, the Albula Railway and UNESCO”
25 July 2022
The Romans built the first bridges between Lake Constance and Strasbourg on the Upper Rhine. The Zähringers built the first wooden Rhine bridge in Rheinfelden shortly after the town’s foundation in the 12th century. The rocks in the Rhine served as a natural pillar for the bridge construction. Rheinfelden soon became an important trading and … Read more » “The Rhine bridge of Rheinfelden”
