Some specific traits of Swiss cultural heritage

2. The country
Lakes, plains, valleys, hills, forests and mountains line the landscape of this country with 8.3 million
inhabitants and a total area of 41,285 km2. Switzerland is a Western European country bordered by
Germany in the North, Austria and Lichtenstein in the East, France in the West and Italy in the
South.

3. The culture of
diversity
Switzerland is divided into 26 cantons with four official languages. 63% of its people speak German,
23% French, 8% Italian and 0,5% Romansh. Some cantons are bilingual. This is the case of Fribourg
and Valais (French and German) and Graubünden (German and Romansh).

4. In 1291, the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden united in order to defend their territory. Their
union formed the Old Swiss Confederacy. Since those times, neighboring territories have joined them
in order to form the current, Swiss Confederation.

5. In blue - French speaking territory
In red - German speaking territory
In green - Italian speaking territory
In yellow - Romansh speaking territory

6. Many nations
The diversity of language and regional cultures is enriched by the resident foreign population. 24%
of the population in Switzerland come from 40 different countries. European countries (EU/EFTA)
are the most represented with Italy, then Germany, Portugal, France, accounting for more than
half of the foreign residents.

8. Popul’art
The Swiss-German author Johanna Spyri, published in 1880 a novel about the events of a young
girl's life in her grandfather’s care. Originally written for children, Heidi became one of the most
popular literary heroines in Switzerland.

9. POP’FIGURES :
Roitschäggättä literally means
“covered with soot”. Lötchental is
known for its tradition of mask
making displayed to full effect in
the week before Ash Wednesday
for the extraordinary
Roitschäggättä, when locals wear
grotesque, shaggy masks for a
series of night-time parades
through the villages in an ancient
Lenten ceremony.
POP’CELEBREATIONS :
Schwingen (to Swing) also known
as Swiss wrestling and natively as
breeches-lifting. It is a style of
folk wrestling native to
Switzerland. Its origins in the
alpine culture can be traced to
the early 17th century. The first
person to pin his/her opponent’s
shoulders to the ground wins the
bout.
POP’SOUNDS :
The alphorn is a labrophone
consisting of a wooden natural
horn of conical bore used by
mountain dwellers. 17th – 19th
century alpine myths suggest that
alphorn-like instruments had
frequently been used as signal
instruments in village communities
since medieval times or earlier
substituting the lack of church.

10. Art and
literature
Swiss artists and novelists who marked history between the 19th and 21th century and who have
contributed, by their talent, to European cultural heritage.

11. Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-1990)
was an author and a dramatist.
The politically active author’s
work included avant-garde
dramas and satire. He wrote
numerous sketches, plays and
novels, alternating comedy and
tragedy played by caricatural
characters. One of his major
successes was “the Physicist” in
1962 which deals with issues
concerning science and its
responsibility for dangerous
changes in the world.
Stephan Eicher is a singer born in
Bern in 1960. His songs are sung
in a variety of languages
including French, German,
English, Italian, Swiss German and
Romansh. Sometimes he even uses
different languages in the same
piece. His international carrier
started with hit songs such as
“déjeuner en paix” in 1991.
Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918)
was a painter whose early
works were portraits,
landscapes and genre paintings
in a realistic style. Later, he
adopted a personal form of
symbolism he called
“Parallelism”. Parallelism
emphasized the symmetry and
rhythm he believed formed the
basis of human society.
Ferdinand Hodler

12. Design and
construction
Architect, designer and sculptor from the 19th to the 21th century contributed to building a vision of
aestheticism and shaping the landscape of Switzerland and far beyond.

13. Mario Botta is an architect who
was born in 1943. His designs tend
to include a strong sense of
geometry, often being based on
very simple shapes, yet creating
unique volumes of space. Among
numerous well-known buildings,
he designed the Museum Jean
Tinguely in Basel.
Mario Botta
Le Corbusier (Charles Edouard
Janneret-Gris 1887 – 1965) was
an architect and a designer. He
began experimenting with
furniture design in 1928. His
creations were mainly chairs,
sofas and long chairs. His pieces of
furniture were inspired by the
idea of subtlety, proportion and
harmony.
Le Corbusier
Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)
was a sculptor who experimented
with cubism and surrealism and
came to be regarded as one of the
leading surrealist sculptors. The
rough, eroded, heavily worked
surfaces representing human
beings typify his technique.
Reduced to their very core, these
figures evoke lone trees in winter
that have lost their foliage.
Alberto Giacometti

14. Myths and
traditions
William Tell is a folk hero. His legend is set in the time of the original foundation of the old Swiss
Confederacy, in the early 14th century. According to the legend, Tell, who was an expert marksman
with a crossbow, assassinated Gessler, a tyrannical reeve of Habsburg Austria located in Altdorf,
canton of Uri. Tell’s shot for liberty sparked a rebellion leading to the formation of the modern
Swiss Confederation.

15. Jean-Henri Dunant (1828-1910)
was the founder of the Red Cross
and the first recipient of the
Nobel Peace Price. During a
business trip in 1859, he was
witness to the aftermath of the
battle of Solferino in Italy. He
recorded his memories and
experiences in the book “A
Memory of Solferino” (1862)
which inspired the creation of the
International Committee of the
Red Cross.
A Confederate army of 20,000
men encountered the military
limits of federal power politics at
the battle of Marignano. Francis I
of France concluded a landmark
peace with the conquered people
in 1516. This peace formed the
contractual basis of Switzerland’s
reticence in foreign policy for
centuries. In the Federal
Agreement of 1815 and ever since,
neutrality has been a central
principle in foreign policy.
Landsgemeinde or “cantonal
assembly” is a public voting
system which constitutes one of
the oldest forms of direct
democracy, dating back to the
late Middle Ages. Even if
nowadays, only Glarus and
Appenzell Inner Rhodes use this
form of voting, it is commonly
acknowledged as the symbol of
the direct democracy at the core
of the Swiss political institutions.

16. Know-How

17. Watchmaking only began in
Switzerland after the Hugenot
refugees brought the
manufacture of portable
timepieces to Geneva in the second
half of the 16th century. Watch-
making production soon spread
over the Jura Mountain in such a
way that during the 20th
century, 90% of the Swiss watch
production was concentrated in
the Jura Arc. The region has since
been known as Watch Valley.
Using hydraulic power is a
long tradition in Switzerland
inspired by its mountainous
topography as well as by its
numerous lakes, streams and
rivers. The first hydroelectric
dam built with concrete in
Europe was Maigrauge
(construction date : 1870-
1872) in the canton of
Fribourg. Since that time, 160
large dams have been built,
mainly in the Alps.
The history of chocolate in Europe
dates back to the 16th century. At
that time, it was a sign of status
and a fashionable drink of the
aristocracy. Chocolate arrived in
Switzerland on a larger scale at
the beginning of the 19th century
with François Louis Cailler who
opened the first mechanized
chocolate production facilities in
Vevey, Canton of Vaud. From that
time and until the first half of the
20th century, 17 renouned
chocolate factories have been
founded in Switzerland.

18. (Animated Slide)
Please let me conclude this visit with Switzerland's time capsule by taking a
look at its pin board… and, as it has always been the tradition, a piece of Alp
Horn musk.