Author: Maarten Koning

Youth Choir Festival Basel

For its 13th edition, the festival (das Europäische Jugendchor Festival Basel, EJCF) has invited choirs from 11 European countries, a guest choir from the Philippines, seven youth choirs from different Swiss-speaking regions and the choirs of the Musik-Akademie Basel and the Knaben- und Mädchenkantorei Basel.

From 17 to 21 May 2023, around 2,400 young singers will gather for about 50 events in Basel and its surroundings, including 30 concerts, in front of more than 30,000 visitors.

The EJCF opens its five-day programme on Wednesday evening, 17 May, with a choral spectacle in the St Jakobshalle. More than 1,000 young people from 13 countries will present music from their regions of origin and together perform the animated film “Circuit”, a new composition by Balz Aliesch, a film music composer from Basel.

Two hundred twenty singers will perform the multimedia symphony “Nordic Light” for choir, orchestra and pre-recorded sound and video projection at the Stadtcasino on Saturday, 20 May, in the presence of Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds.

(Source and further information: www.ejcf.ch)

Museum of the Reformation in Geneva

The museum (Le Musée International de la Réforme (MIR) in Geneva is dedicated to the Reformation and Protestantism in its historical and international dimension and context. After a renovation of two years, it has recently reopened.

The new MIR, modern and interactive, is situated in a symbolic and historical building, Maison Mallet, on the site of the former monastery of Saint-Pierre, where the citizens of Geneva decided on the Reformation in 1536.

The museum pays extensive attention to Geneva’s international role in the Reformation and one of its most important actors: John Calvin (1509-1564). His contemporaries, opponents and supporters are also featured.

(Source and further information: Le Musée international de la Réforme)

The Constitution of the Cantons

The Constitution of the cantons is an indispensable part of Swiss constitutional law. Like citizens, the cantons are the cornerstones of the Swiss state system.

Almost all the constitutions of the cantons have been (entirely) revised, dusted off, and harmonised over the past 50 years and yet have retained their individuality.

Constitutions show surprising diversity. The trend towards municipal mergers subjects the traditional structure of the cantons to profound changes. Constitutional jurisprudence in some cantons, therefore, also has an astonishing dynamic, sometimes partly due to the jurisdiction of the Bundesgericht in Lausanne.

The book (written in German) provides a comprehensive overview of all relevant aspects, the organisation, jurisprudence, church, civil law, state liability and fundamental rights directly affecting the cantons’ autonomy.

A. Auer, Staatsrecht der schweizerischen Kantone, Bern, 2016

Edward Gibbon and Lausanne

Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) spent more than a third of his life in Lausanne, first for his education during the 1750s (following a stint at Magdalen College, Oxford); then in the early 1760s on a stopover on his way to Rome; and finally throughout the 1780s and early 1790s, when he was already the celebrated author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Recent discoveries in private archives allow for a much richer understanding of his encounter with Lausanne and his engagement with local debates, scholarly and political.

The reconstruction (in the French language) of Gibbon’s Swiss experience sheds, in turn, new light on the variety and intensity of Lausanne’s cultural life, explaining why the city came to be known in the following century as the ‘la ville de Gibbon’.

B. Kapossy, B. Lovis (Réd.), Edward Gibbon et Lausanne. Le Pays de Vaud à la rencontre des lumières européennes  Lausanne 2022

Plima d’aur/Pledpierla

The Romansh writing competition Plima d’aur/Pledpierla (golden plume/twirling word) which the Lia Rumantscha launched this year with the two themes “superforzas” (superpowers) and “7 minutas” (7 minutes), had a record number of participants.

More than 440 texts were submitted. With more than 200 texts, there was also a record number of participants from the Engadine.

For over 20 years, Lia Rumantscha has organised the Plima d’aur/Pledpierla writing competition to encourage children and young people to write in Romani.

The virtual award ceremony occurs on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, from 10.15 to 11.00 am. The winners (1st to 3rd place) will be announced during this event, and a winning text will be read out for each language region.

Lia Rumantscha has cooperated for years with the “Dis da litteratura” (Day of Literature) organising committee in Domat/Ems. The reading of the winning texts of the Plima d’aur/Pledpierla is scheduled for Sunday, November 5.

The virtual award ceremony is open to the public; the link is available at www.liarumantscha.ch.

Swiss episodes from the 20th century

This German-language anthology brings together 50 Swiss episodes from the 20th century, most of which are mere footnotes in Swiss history and already forgotten. It reinterprets these events with today’s knowledge. The result is not only entertaining. The sum of individual events also says a lot about a country.

Some examples include a Russian assassin at the Grand Hotel Jungfrau, birthday wishes from the government to Hitler, a nuclear accident in Lucens, Picasso’s love for Basel, herds of cows being poisoned by the army or the miraculous journey of a Swiss aviation pioneer to the realm of the Ethiopian “King of Kings”. What once occupied the public, politics and the media is largely forgotten today.

(Marc Tribelhorn (ed.), Die Schweiz als Ereignis, Zurich 2017)

Historical Atlas of Basel

The city, prince-bishopric and canton of Basel have always had numerous German-French-Swiss border lines and crossings. Bordered by the Jura, the Black Forest and the Vosges Mountains, this area views the Burgundian Gateway and the Upper and High Rhine.

The German-language “Historischer Atlas der Region Basel” outlines the history of Basel in 64 maps with accompanying texts. The journey starts in modern times and goes back to antiquity. Related topics such as denominational or language boundaries are also covered.

(Christoph Merian Foundation (Publisher.), A. Salvisberg (and others.), Historischer Atlas der Region Basel, Basel, 2010).

Bellinzona City and Region

Bellinzona is the capital of the canton of Ticino. The city and the surrounding valleys and regions ( Biasca and the Riviera, the Blenio Valley and Leventina) have a varied landscape interwoven with distinctive cultural characteristics and numerous historical and architectural monuments.

The Fortress of Bellinzona is the largest and the only example of a medieval structure consisting of three castles and a large defensive wall that once closed off the whole valley, the city and the city’s ramparts.

Photo from UNESCO World Heritage Bill Board

The city has grown over the centuries around the fortress.  The Dukes of Milan built the fort as a defence against the invading Eidgenossen. In vain, they acquired the city, Leventina, the Blenio Valley and Riviera in 1500 after a century of shifting tides of war.

However, the city has more to offer: parks, churches, chapels and monasteries, city palaces, monuments and the country’s longest bridge (Il Ponte Tibetano) across the Ticino River.

The Spazio publico (the public space) is the oldest square in the city, developed between the 11th and 12th centuries. The main transit routes of the roads leading to the St. Gotthard, Lukmanier and San Bernardino passes merged here.

The town hall was rebuilt in 1921-1929 in the neo-Renaissance style to replace the ancient town hall from the 14th century. The 26 artworks in the internal courtyard evoke the history of Bellinzona from the 15th century onwards.

(Source and further Information:www.bellinzona.ch)

The building of the government and parliament of the canton