Der Rhein bei Schaffhausen. Foto: TES. 26 December 2021
The Rhine was and is a river of borders and connections simultaneously. The significance of the Rhine for politics, trade, culture, language, religion and conflicts is complex. The Rhine patiently flowed from its source at the Gotthard Massiv to the North Sea for millennia. The peoples and countries on both banks of the Rhine were … Read more » “The Rhine”
Salenstein, Schloss Arenenberg, Bodensee. Foto/Photo: TES. 24 December 2021
Lake Constance (Bodensee) has been an important trade route from east to west and south to north for centuries. The Celtic inhabitants left several settlements of pile dwellings as their heritage. Several museums and replicas of these villages can be visited around the lake. The Romans created the foundation for this region’s economic, religious and … Read more » “Lake Constance is traditionally an international lake”
Jost Vital Troxler (1827-1893), Louis Wyrsch, Alias “Borneo Louis”. Collectie en foto Museum Nidwalden, Stans.
20 December 2021
From the mid-fifteenth to the mid-nineteenth century, soldiers of the Eidgenossenschaft were the most sought-after export product. The prestige of these mercenaries’ fighting spirit, courage, and armament rose to unprecedented heights after the defeats they inflicted on the most powerful armies: Habsburg in 1315, 1386, 1415, 1460 and 1499 and the mighty Duchy of Burgundy … Read more » “Swiss Mercenaries”
Recording of the Concert of Frank Zappa and the Mothers after their last song 'King Kong'. Source: T.U.B.E. 9 December 2021
One of the greatest success stories in the history of rock music was written in Montreux (canton of Vaud) in Switzerland. On 4 December 1971, fifty years ago, at 16.20 in the afternoon, the fire alarm went off in the famous Casino. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention finished their last song when singer … Read more » “Smoke on the Water”
Pumps Koning Beatrix, 30 april 1980. Bally Museum Schönenwerd. Foto/Photo: TES. 4 December 2021
If you want to know what footwear King Beatrix (1936) wore on her coronation on April 30, 1980, you can visit the Bally Museum in Schönenwerd (Solothurn Canton). The collection shows the two pairs of pumps that the company made for the coronation. The quality brand has also supplied the British royal family with footwear … Read more » “Bally, Beatrix and Elizabeth”
Baden, Limmatpromenade. Foto: TES. 30 November 2021
On the other side of the recently opened Fortyseven bathing complex in Baden ( canton Aargau), another opening occurred in November, a revival of a two-thousand-year-old bathing culture. The hot springs in Baden produce thousands of litres a day. In Roman times (15 B.C.-c.400 A.D.), the many bathing houses (thermae) were freely accessible to the … Read more » “Bathing in Baden”
Baden, Thermalbad Fortyseven. Foto/Photo: TES. 21 November 2021
Mario Botta (1943), an architect from Tessin, worked on this project for 15 years. The bathing complex Seventyfour along the banks of the Limmat River is 160 metres long and has eleven saunas and eight water pools. Fourteen springs bubbling from the earth provide the water. The complex is not a water theme park. The … Read more » “Fortyseven in Baden”
St. Moritz Cricket on Ice,, around 1900. Photo: www.cricketswitzerland.ch 11 November 2021
The inaugural meeting of “Cricket Switzerland,” the first Swiss cricket association, was held on 9 March 1980. Around 1 200 members play cricket in Switzerland nowadays. Switzerland is even the birthplace of the very prestigious “Cricket On Ice,” a tournament played every winter on the frozen lake in St. Moritz. In 1985, at the initiative … Read more » “Cricket in the Alps”
Walser Maria Chapel Burgspitz, Ried-Brig. Foto/Photo: Wikipedia. 10 November 2021
Immigrants from Upper-Valais (German-speaking Wallis) crossed the mountain passes to settle in the neighbouring mountain valleys in the second half of the twelfth century. This migration peaked in the thirteenth century and ended in the middle of the fourteenth century. They are called “Walser” nowadays, although they did not call themselves that way then. Some … Read more » “The Walser”
Logo swisstopo. www.swisstopo.admin.ch 6 November 2021
Swisstopo’s standard digital products, such as digital maps, aerial photographs and landscape models, are available free of charge as Open Government Data and are freely usable. These will be made available in such a way that users can acquire them independently from the Internet. The contents of swisstopo refer to leisure maps (hiking- and velo … Read more » “Swisstopo”