Switzerland

Aar

River

The Aar, or Aare, a tributary of the High Rhine, is the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about 295 km, during which distance it descends 1,565 m, draining an area of 17,779 km², including the whole of central Switzerland.

Jungfrau

Mountain

The Jungfrau is one of the main summits in the Bernese Alps, situated between the cantons of Valais and Bern in Switzerland. Together with the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau forms a massive wall overlooking the Bernese Oberland and is considered one of the most emblematic sights of the Swiss Alps. The summit was first reached on August 3, 1811 by the Meyer brothers of Aarau and two chamois hunters from Valais. The ascent followed a long expedition over the glaciers and high passes of the Bernese Alps. It was not until 1865 that a more direct route on the northern side was opened. The construction of the Jungfraujoch railway east of the summit in the early 20th century made the area one of the most-visited places in the Alps. Along with the Aletsch Glacier to the south, the Jungfrau is part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2001.

Gotthard Pass

Mountain pass

The Gotthard Pass or St. Gotthard Pass is a high mountain pass in Switzerland between Airolo in the canton of Ticino, and Göschenen in the canton of Uri, connecting the northern German-speaking part of Switzerland with the Italian-speaking part, along the route onwards to Milan. Though the pass was locally known in antiquity, it was not generally used until the early 13th century because it involved fording the turbulent Reuss, swollen with snowmelt during the early summer, in the narrow steep-sided Schöllenen Gorge, below Andermatt. As early as 1236, it was dedicated to the Bavarian Saint Gotthard of Hildesheim.

Rhine Falls

Waterfall

The Rhine Falls is the largest plain waterfall in Europe. The falls are located on the Upper Rhine between the municipalities of Neuhausen am Rheinfall and Laufen-Uhwiesen, near the town of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland, between the cantons of Schaffhausen and Zürich. They are 150 m wide and 23 m high. In the winter months, the average water flow is 250 m³/s, while in the summer, the average water flow is 700 m³/s. The highest flow ever measured was 1,250 m³/s in 1965; and the lowest, 95 m³/s in 1921. The falls cannot be climbed by fish, except by eels that are able to worm their way up over the rocks.

Lake Lucerne

Lake

Lake Lucerne is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country. The lake has a complicated shape, with bends and arms reaching from the city of Lucerne into the mountains. It has a total area of 114 km², an elevation of 434 m, and a maximum depth of 214 m. Its volume is 11.8 km³. Much of the shoreline rises steeply into mountains up to 1,500 m above the lake, resulting in many picturesque views including those of Mount Rigi and Mount Pilatus. The Reuss River enters the lake at Flüelen and exits at Lucerne. The lake also receives the Muota Engelberger Aa, the Sarner Aa. It is possible to circumnavigate the lake by road, though the route is slow, twisted, and goes through tunnels part of the way. Steamers and other passenger boats ply between the different towns on the lake. It is a popular tourist destination, both for native Swiss and foreigners, and there are many hotels and resorts along the shores. In addition, the meadow of the Rütli, traditional site of the founding of the Swiss Confederation, is on the southeast shore of the lake. A 35 km commemorative walkway, the Swiss Path, was built around the lake to celebrate the country's 700th anniversary.

Lake Zurich

Lake

Lake Zürich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. It is also known as Lake Zürich and Lake of Zürich. It lies approximately at co-ordinates 47°15′N 8°41′E / 47.250°N 8.683°E. Zürichsee is strictly the name of the part of the lake downstream of the dam at Rapperswil, mostly located within the canton of Zürich. The part upstream of the Rapperswil dam is called Obersee, and is shared between the cantons of St. Gallen and Schwyz.

Zoo Basel

Zoo

Zoo Basel is a non-profit zoo located within the city of Basel, Switzerland. Its official name is Zoologischer Garten Basel — or in English: Basel Zoological Garden. Basel residents, however, call their zoo affectionately Zolli. Its main entrance is just outside of Basel's downtown strip of Steinen and extends in the Birsig stream valley to Basel's city border with Binningen, Basel-Country. Zoo Basel is Switzerland's oldest and largest zoo. With over 1.8 million visitors per year, it is the most visited tourist attraction in Switzerland with an entrance fee. Zoo Basel was ranked as one of the fifteen best zoos in the world by Forbes Travel in 2008, and in 2009 as the seventh best in Europe by Anthony Sheridan from the Zoological Society of London. The zoo had the first Indian rhinoceros birth in a zoo, as well as the first Greater flamingo hatch. It has also had repeated breeding success with animals including cheetahs, okapi, pygmy hippopotamuses, and flamingos. Every Somali wild ass in zoos worldwide is related to the population in Basel, where this species' zoological breeding program was started.

Mount Pilatus

Mountain

Mount Pilatus is a mountain overlooking Lucerne in Central Switzerland. It is composed of several summits of which the highest is named Tomlishorn. Another summit named Esel lies just over the railway station. Jurisdiction over the massif is divided between the cantons of Obwalden, Nidwalden, and Lucerne. The main peaks are right on the border between Obwalden and Nidwalden.

Château de Chillon

Tourist attraction

The Château de Chillon is an island castle located on the shore of Lake Geneva in the commune of Veytaux, at the eastern end of the lake, 3 km from Montreux, Switzerland. The castle consists of 100 independent buildings that were gradually connected to become the building as it stands now.

Lake Thun

Lake

Lake Thun is an Alpine lake in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. It took its name from the city of Thun, on its northern shore. Lake Thun's approximately 2,500 km² large catchment area frequently causes local flooding after heavy rainfalls. This occurs because the river Aar, which drains Lake Thun, has only limited capacity to handle the excess runoff. The lake is fed by water from Lake Brienz to the south east, which lies 6 metres higher than Lake Thun, and various streams in the Oberland, including the Kander. Lake Thun was created after the last ice age and was originally part of Lake Brienz. The historic combined lake is called Wendelsee by geologists and historians. Since 1835 passenger ships have operated on the lake. There are ten passenger ships in total, operated by the local railway company BLS AG. In order to enable these ships to serve the towns of Interlaken and Thun, the Interlaken ship canal and Thun ship canal connect the lake to Interlaken West railway station and Thun railway station respectively. Fishing is important enough to keep a handful of professional fishers employed. In 2001 the total catch was 53,000 kg.

Kunstmuseum Basel

Art Gallery

The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the largest and most significant public art collection in Switzerland, and is listed as a heritage site of national significance. Its lineage extends back to the Amerbach Cabinet purchased by the city of Basel in 1661, which made it the first municipally owned museum. Its collection is distinguished by an impressively wide historic span, from the early 15th century up to the immediate present. Its various areas of emphasis give it international standing as one of the most significant museums of its kind. These encompass: paintings and drawings by artists active in the Upper Rhine region between 1400 and 1600 and on the art of the 19th to 21st centuries. The Kunstmuseum possesses the largest collection of works by the Holbein family. Further examples of Renaissance art include important pieces by such masters as Konrad Witz, Hans Baldung, Martin Schongauer, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Mathias Grünewald. The main features of the 17th and 18th centuries are the Flemish and Dutch schools, German and Dutch still life painting. Key works from the 19th century include the Impressionists represented by Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne as well as the paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Switzerland’s Arnold Böcklin and Ferdinand Hodler. In the 20th century, the focus is on works of Cubism with Picasso, Braque and Juan Gris. Expressionism is represented by such figures as Edvard Munch, Franz Marc, Oskar Kokoschka and Emil Nolde. The collection also includes works of art from the periods of Constructivism, Dadaism and Surrealism and American art since 1950. Further highlights are the unique compilations of works from Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti and Marc Chagall.

Lake Brienz

Lake

Lake Brienz is a lake just north of the Alps, in the Canton of Berne in Switzerland. It has a length of about 14 kilometres, a width of 2.8 kilometres and a maximum depth of 260 metres. Its area is 29.8 square kilometres, and the surface is 564 metres above the sea-level. It is fed by the upper reaches of the Aar river at its eastern end and by the Lütschine river, flowing from the valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, at its south-western corner. It flows out into a further stretch of the Aar river at its western end. The village of Brienz, from which the lake takes its name, lies to its eastern end. In the west the lake is terminated by the Bödeli, a tongue of land that separates it from neighbouring Lake Thun. The village of Bönigen occupies the lake frontage of the Bödeli, whilst the larger resort town of Interlaken lies on the reach of the Aar river between the two lakes. The village of Iseltwald lies on the south shore, whilst the villages of Ringgenberg, Niederried and Oberried are on the north shore. The lake is poor in nutritients, and consequently fishing is not very important. Nevertheless, in 2001 10,000 kg fish were caught.

Rigi

Mountain

Rigi is a massif in central Switzerland. It is also known as the "Queen of the Mountains." The highest peak at 1,797.5 meters is the Rigi Kulm, easily accessible by public transport. It offers many activities such as skiing or sledging in the winter, and hiking in the summer.

Swiss Museum of Transport

Museum

The Swiss Transport Museum or Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, in Lucerne, is a museum, opened in July 1959 and exhibiting all forms of transport as well as communications. The museum also maintains a large collection of work by Hans Erni, a local painter and sculptor. There are several other attractions in the museum besides the collection: ⁕Planetarium ⁕IMAX ⁕Swiss Arena, a 1:20,000 scale aerial photograph of Switzerland It also houses EURECA, a 4.5 tonne satellite among the few space objects put into space and returned safely;EURECA and its return to Earth was a cooperative effort between several Western European countries and the United States in the 1990s. A Spacelab Pallet was handed over to the Museum for permanent display on 5 March 2010. The Pallet, nicknamed Elvis, was used during the 8-day STS-46 mission, 31 July - 8 August 1992, when ESA astronaut Claude Nicollier was on board Shuttle Atlantis to deploy ESA's European Retrievable Carrier scientific mission and the joint NASA/Italian Space Agency Tethered Satellite System. The Pallet carried TSS-1 in the Shuttle's cargo bay.

Bernina railway

Railway

The Bernina railway is a single track 1,000 mm metre gauge railway line forming part of the Rhaetian Railway. It links the spa resort of St. Moritz, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, with the town of Tirano, in the Province of Sondrio, Italy, via the Bernina Pass. Reaching a height of 2,253 metres above sea level, it is the highest railway crossing in Europe. It also ranks as the highest adhesion railway of the continent, and - with inclines of up to 7% - as one of the steepest adhesion railways in the world. On 7 July 2008, the Bernina Railway and the Albula Railway, which also forms part of the RhB, were recorded in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, under the name Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes. The whole site is regarded as a cross border joint Swiss-Italian heritage area. The most famous trains operating on the Bernina Railway are known as the Bernina Express.

Schilthorn

Mountain

The Schilthorn is a 2,970 metre high summit of the Bernese Alps, overlooking the valley of Lauterbrunnen in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is the highest mountain in the range lying north of the Sefinenfurgge Pass. The Schilthorn lies above the village of Mürren, from where a cable car leads to its summit. It has a panoramic view which spans from the Titlis, Jungfrau, Mönch, Eiger, over the Bernese Alps and the Jura mountains up to the Vosges Mountains and the Black Forest. Mont Blanc is also just visible. To get to the Schilthorn from the valley floor either of a series of cable cars must be taken. The cable cars begin in Stechelberg leaving to Gimmelwald and then onto Mürren. From Mürren another cable car is taken to Birg, which is the final change before the Schilthorn. This cable airway is the longest and was the most technically challenging airway to be built. The other way up is to take the cable car from Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp and a train to Murren, from where the cable car must be taken. Between Birg and the summit, the cable car passes over Grauseeli, a small lake. It is also possible to hike to the peak, along the myriad of small, but well-marked paths to the top. The hike to the top takes roughly 5 hours from Gimmelwald for an experienced hiker.

Swiss National Park

National park

The Swiss National Park is located in the canton of Graubünden in the east of Switzerland between Zernez, S-chanf, Scuol and the Fuorn Pass in the Engadin valley on the border with Italy. It is part of the worldwide UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. As of 2009, it is the only National Park in Switzerland, though there are plans to create more. It has an area of 174.2 km² and is the largest protected area of the country. It was founded on 1 August 1914, the national holiday of Switzerland. It was one of the earliest national parks in Europe. In the park, one is not allowed to leave the road, make fire or sleep outside the Chamanna Cluozza; the mountain hut located in the park. It is also forbidden to disturb the animals or the plants, or to take home anything found in the park. Dogs are not allowed, not even on a leash. A visitor centre is located in Zernez. The road through the park leads over the Fuorn Pass to South Tyrol in Italy.

Ballenberg

Museum

Ballenberg is an open air museum in Switzerland that displays traditional buildings and architecture from all over the country. Located near Brienz in the municipality of Hofstetten bei Brienz, Canton of Berne, Ballenberg has over 100 original buildings that have been transported from their original sites. In addition to the main attraction of the buildings themselves some of the industrial and crafting buildings still operate to give demonstrations of traditional rural crafts, techniques and cheesemaking. There is also a sizable number of farmyard animals in the grounds.

Olympic Museum

Museum

The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland houses permanent and temporary exhibits relating to sport and the Olympic movement. With more than 10,000 pieces, the museum is the largest archive of Olympic Games in the world and one of Lausanne's prime tourist site draws attracting more than 250,000 visitors each year. The Olympic Museum and the Olympic Park are located at Ouchy. The headquarters of the International Olympic Committee are located at Vidy.

Kunsthaus Zürich

Museum

The Kunsthaus Zürich is an art gallery in the Swiss city of Zürich. It houses one of the most important art collections in Switzerland and Europe, assembled over the years by the local art association called Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft. The collection spans from the Middle Ages to contemporary art, with an emphasis on Swiss art. The museum was drawn-up by architects Karl Moser and Robert Curjel, and opened in 1910. The bas-reliefs on the facade are by Moser's longtime collaborator Oskar Kiefer. The museum's collection includes works from Edvard Munch, Jacques Lipchitz and Alberto Giacometti. Swiss artists such as Johann Heinrich Füssli, Ferdinand Hodler or from recent times, Pipilotti Rist and Peter Fischli are also represented. The gallery is served by a stop on the Zürich tram system, also known as Kunsthaus. This is located on Pfauenplatz, between the museum building and the Schauspielhaus Zürich.

Palace of Nations

Tourist attraction

The Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, was built between 1929 and 1936 to serve as the headquarters of the League of Nations. It has served as the home of the United Nations Office at Geneva since 1946 when the Secretary General of the UN signed a Headquarters Agreement with the Swiss authorities, although Switzerland did not become a member of the UN until 2002.

Albula Railway

Railway

The Albula Railway is a single track metre gauge railway line forming part of the so-called core network of the Rhaetian Railway, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It links Thusis on the Hinterrhein with the spa resort of St. Moritz in Engadine. Construction of the Albula Railway was begun in September 1898, the opening took place on 1 July 1903, and the extension to St. Moritz commenced operations on 10 July 1904. With its 55 bridges and 39 tunnels, the 61.67 km long line is one of the most spectacular narrow gauge railways in the world. On 7 July 2008, the Albula Railway and the Bernina Railway, which also forms part of the RhB, were jointly recorded in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, under the name Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes. The best known trains operating on the Albula Railway are the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express.

Klein Matterhorn

Mountain

The Klein Matterhorn is the second highest peak of the Zermatt-Cervinia ski area in Switzerland, and the end point of the highest cable car in Europe. The peak delimits the area of the Plateau Rosa glacier and is at 3,883 metres, with the cable car terminal at 3,820 metres.

Culture and Convention Center, Lucerne

Tourist attraction

The Culture and Congress Centre in Lucerne is a multi-functional building with a concert hall that is esteemed for its high-profile acoustics. It was built according to the plans of the architect Jean Nouvel and was inaugurated in 1998 with a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Claudio Abbado.

Kapellbrücke

Tourist attraction

The Chapel Bridge is a covered wooden footbridge spanning diagonally across the Reuss River in the city of Lucerne in central Switzerland. Named after the nearby St. Peter's Chapel, the bridge is unique since it contains a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century, although many of them were destroyed along with most of the centuries old bridge in a 1993 fire. Subsequently restored, the Kapellbrücke is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, as well as the world's oldest surviving truss bridge. It serves as the city's symbol and as one of Switzerland's main tourist attractions.

Rochers de Naye

Mountain

The Rochers de Naye are a mountain of the Swiss Alps, overlooking Lake Geneva near Montreux and Villeneuve, in the canton of Vaud. They lie on the range separating the basin of Lake Geneva from the valley of the Sarine, on the watershed between the Rhone and the Rhine. The mountain is partially located in the canton of Fribourg, the border between the two cantons culminating on a lower summit named Grande Chaux de Naye. The Rochers de Naye are easily accessible from Montreux, where the highest railway in the canton, the Chemin de fer Montreux-Glion-Rochers-de-Naye, starts. From the summit station, only a short walk is necessary to reach the summit. In addition, it is also possible to access the summit by driving to Col de Jaman and then making the 2-3 hr hike to the peak. The Rochers de Naye are also known for the Rochers de Naye Via Ferrata considered to be extremely difficult, the Grottes de Naye, and a few enclosures hosting marmots from around the world.

Swiss National Museum

Museum

The Swiss National Museum — part of the Musée Suisse Group, itself affiliated with the Federal Office of Culture — is one of the most important art museums of cultural history in Europe and the world. It is located in the city of Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, next to the Hauptbahnhof. The museum building of 1898 in the historicist style was built by Gustav Gull in the form of the French Renaissance city chateaus. His impressive architecture with dozens of towers, courts and his astonishing park on an island between the rivers Sihl and Limmat has become one of the main sights of the Old City District of Zurich. The exhibition tour takes the visitor from prehistory through ancient times and the Middle Ages to the 20th century. There is a very rich section with gothic art, chivalry and a comprehensive collection of liturgical wooden sculptures, panel paintings and carved altars. Zunfthaus zur Meisen near Fraumünster church houses the porcelain and faience collection of the Swiss National Museum. There are also: a Collections Gallery, a place where there are Swiss furnishings being exhibited, an Armoury Tower, a diorama of the Battle of Murten, and a Coin Cabinet showing 14th, 15th, 16th century Swiss coins and even some coins from the Middle Ages.

Natural History Museum of Geneva

Natural history Museum

The Natural History Museum of Geneva is a natural history museum in Geneva, Switzerland. Louis Jurine’s collections of Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Hemiptera are held by the museum. The museum also contains a collection of fascinating intricate glass models of invertebrates by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka and a two headed tortoise named Janus

Zürich Zoologischer Garten

Tourist attraction

The Zürich Zoologischer Garten is a zoo located in Zürich, Switzerland. It was opened in 1929 and, as of 2004, has 2200 specimens of 300 species. It is located on Zürichbergstrasse, on the lower reaches of the Zürichberg in the Fluntern quarter. One of its popular events is the penguin parade, which is performed daily after noon if the outside temperature is below 10 degrees Celsius. The zoologist Heini Hediger was director of the Zürich Zoo from 1954 to 1973.

Zentrum Paul Klee

Museum

The Zentrum Paul Klee is a museum dedicated to the artist Paul Klee, located in Bern, Switzerland and designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano. It features about 40 percent of Paul Klee’s entire pictorial oeuvre. In the year 1997 Livia Klee-Meyer, Paul Klee's daughter-in-law, donated her inheritance of almost 690 works to the city and canton of Bern. Additional works and documents donated and loaned by the family and the Paul-Klee-Foundation and a further 200 loans from private collections contributed to creating a very large collection of works by the artist. The decision to build the museum in the Schöngrün site on the eastern outskirts of the city was made in 1998, and renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano was contracted the same year. A preliminary project was elaborated in 2000. The building was completed in 2005. It takes the form of three undulations blending into the landscape.

Tomasee

Lake

Tomasee is a lake at the northern face of Piz Badus, above the village of Tschamut in Grisons, Switzerland. Its surface area is 2.5 ha. It is the source of the Anterior Rhine and is deemed to be the official source of the Rhine. It is possible to reach the lake on a path from Oberalp Pass, suitable for most walkers although still a mountain trail.

Landwasser Viaduct

Structure

The Landwasser Viaduct is a single track six-arched curved limestone railway viaduct. It spans the Landwasser River between Schmitten and Filisur, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. Designed by Alexander Acatos, it was built between 1901 and 1902 by Müller & Zeerleder for the Rhaetian Railway, which still owns and uses it today. A signature structure of the World Heritage-listed Albula Railway, it is 65 metres high, 136 metres long, and one of its ramps exits straight into the Landwasser Tunnel.

Basel Minster

Tourist attraction

The Basel Minster is one of the main landmarks and tourist attractions of the Swiss city of Basel. It adds definition to the cityscape with its red sandstone architecture and coloured roof tiles, its two slim towers and the cross-shaped intersection of the main roof. The Münster is listed as a heritage site of national significance in Switzerland. Originally a Catholic cathedral and today a reformed Protestant church, it was built between 1019 and 1500 in Romanesque and Gothic styles. The late Romanesque building was destroyed by the 1356 Basel earthquake and rebuilt by Johannes Gmünd, who was at the same time employed for building the Freiburg Münster. This building was extended from 1421 by Ulrich von Ensingen, architect of the cathedral towers at Ulm and Strasbourg. The southern tower was completed in 1500 by Hans von Nußdorf.

Kunsthalle Basel

Museum

Kunsthalle Basel forms a vital part of Basel’s cultural centre and is located next to the city’s theatre and opposite the concert house Stadtcasino,. Kunsthalle Basel is a place for innovative exhibitions that bring together local and international, avant-garde, emerging and contemporary tendencies and offers space for the presentation of new works and unique methodologies as well as for a wide range of public programs that include artist talks, performances, film screenings and music events. Since 2003, Kunsthalle Basel is led by director Adam Szymczyk.

Rietberg Museum

Museum

The Rietberg Museum is a museum in Zürich, Switzerland, displaying Asian, African, American and Oceanian art. It is the only art museum of non-European cultures in Switzerland, the third-largest museum in Zürich, and the largest to be run by the city itself. In 2007 it received approximately 157,000 visitors.

Jungfrau Park

Tourist attraction

Jungfrau Park is an amusement park located near Interlaken, Switzerland. It opened as the Mystery Park in 2003, and closed in November 2006 due to financial difficulties and low turnout. The park was designed by Erich von Däniken, and consisted of seven pavilions, each of which explored one of several great "mysteries" of the world. Von Däniken opened the theme park to present his interpretations of unsolved mysteries involving extraterrestrial life that he believes took place around the world. Since 2009 it has regularly re-opened for the summer seasons as the Jungfrau Park.

Grossmünster

Tourist attraction

The Grossmünster is a Romanesque-style Protestant church in Zurich, Switzerland. It is one of the three major churches in the city. The core of the present building near the banks of the Limmat River was constructed on the site of a Carolingian church, which was, according to legend, originally commissioned by Charlemagne. Construction of the present structure commenced around 1100 and it was inaugurated around 1220. The Grossmünster was a monastery church, vying for precedence with the Fraumünster across the Limmat throughout the Middle Ages. According to legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees over the tombs of Felix and Regula, Zürich's patron saints. The legend helps support a claim of seniority over the Fraumünster, which was founded by Louis the German, Charlemagne's grandson. Recent archaeological evidence confirms the presence of a Roman burial ground at the site.

Rote Fabrik

Building

Rote Fabrik is a former factory in Zurich-Wollishofen, which is now used as a music venue and cultural center. It is so named because the buildings are made of red brick, but also because left-wing parties were part of the campaign to turn the location into a cultural center.

Swiss Vapeur Parc

Amusement Park

The Swiss Vapeur Parc is a miniature park in Le Bouveret, a village on Lac Léman, Switzerland. It was opened on June 6, 1989, by an International Festival of Steam. When the park opened its total surface area was 9000 m², but the park expanded and as of 2007, the park covers a surface area of 17'000 m². In 1989, the park possessed only 2 locomotives. As of 2007, the number of trains running on benzine has sextupled while the number of steam trains has increased to 9 trains. By March 31, 2007, the Park has had 2'126'000 visitors. Every June the park is host to the International Steam Festival.

Wengernalp railway

Tourist attraction

The Wengernalp railway is a 19.091 kilometres long, 800 mm gauge rack railway line in Switzerland, which runs from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald via Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg, making it the world's longest continuous rack and pinion railway. The line is normally operated in two sections, with trains from either direction terminating at Kleine Scheidegg. At the latter station, most passengers transfer to the Jungfrau railway for the continuation of the journey to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch. The line is owned by the Jungfraubahn Holding AG, a holding company that also owns the Jungfraubahn and Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen–Mürren railways. Through that holding company it is part of the Allianz - Jungfrau Top of Europe marketing alliance, which also includes the separately owned Berner Oberland and Schynige Platte railways.

Trummelbach

Waterfall

The Trummelbach Falls in Switzerland are a series of ten glacier-waterfalls inside the mountain made accessible by tunnel-lift and illuminated. The Trummelbach alone drains the mighty glacier defiles of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau and carries 20,200 tons of boulder detritus per year. Its drainage area is 24 km², half of it covered by snow and glaciers. The falls carry up to 20,000 litres of water per second.

St. Pierre Cathedral

Tourist attraction

The St. Pierre Cathedral is a cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, today belonging to the Swiss Reformed Church. It was begun under Arducius de Faucigny, the prince-bishop of the Diocese of Geneva, in the 12th century, and includes an eclectic mix of styles. It is best known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Inside the church is a wooden chair used by Calvin. The area beneath the Cathedral has recently been excavated extensively, revealing a rich history of the site dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. From the 8th to 10th centuries it was one of three cathedrals to coexist on the site. The present building has grown from a cathedral devoted to ecclesiastical use and an early Christian funerary cult; the other two structures, subsumed in the 12th century by the growth of the surviving building, were apparently for different uses, one for public sacraments and the other for church teachings. The German painter Konrad Witz painted an altarpiece, the so-called St. Peter Altarpiece, for the Cathedral in 1444, now in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, which contains his most famous composition, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes.

Schaulager

Museum

The Schaulager is a museum in Newmünchenstein, a sub-district of Münchenstein in the canton of Basel-Country, Switzerland. Built in 2002/2003 under commission of the Laurenz Foundation, is was designed by the renowned architectural office of Herzog & de Meuron, the Schaulager opened in 2003. The Schaulager was conceived as an open warehouse that provides the optimal spatial and climatic conditions for the preservation of works of art. The institution functions as a mix between public museum, art storage facility and art research institute. It is primarily directed at a specialist audience but is also open to the general public for special events and the annual exhibitions. The special annual exhibitions to date are: ⁕2003: Roth-Zeit. A retrospective on Dieter Roth ⁕2004: Herzog & de Meuron. Number 250. An exposition ⁕2005: Jeff Wall. Photographs from 1978–2004 ⁕2006: Tacita Dean. Analogue: Films, Photographs, Drawings 1991–2006 and Francis Alÿs. "The Sign Painting Project": A revision» ⁕2007: Robert Gober. Work 1976–2007 ⁕2008: Andrea Zittel, Monika Sosnowska. 1:1 ⁕2009: Holbein to Tillmans. Prominent guests from the Kunstmuseum Basel ⁕2010: Matthew Barney. Prayer Sheet with the Wound and the Nail

Historical Museum of Bern

Museum

The Historical Museum of Bern is the second largest historical museum in Switzerland. It was built in 1894 by the Neuchâtel architect André Lambert. As it was first conceived as the Swiss National Museum the architect took as model various historic castles from the 15th and 16th centuries. The museum contains collections related to the history of Berne from prehistory to the present and other permanent exhibitions from Asia and Egypt. It is a heritage site of national significance.

Monte Brè

Mountain

Monte Brè is a small mountain east of Lugano on the flank of Monte Boglia with a view of the bay of Lugano and the Pennine Alps and the Bernese Alps. It is considered one of the sunniest points in Switzerland. Since 1912, the Monte Brè funicular has led from Lugano Cassarate to Monte Brè.

Fraumünster

Tourist attraction

The Fraumünster Church in Zurich is built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratical women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zurich, Uri, and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority. Today, it belongs to the Swiss Reformed Church and is one of the three main churches of Zürich, the other's being the Grossmünster and St. Peter's church.

Basel Historical Museum

Museum

Opened in 1894, the Basel Historical Museum is one of the largest and most important museums of its kind in Switzerland, and a heritage site of national significance.

Lausanne Cathedral

Tourist attraction

The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Lausanne was built between 1170 and 1240 in the gothic style, with the western portal completed later in the flamboyant style. It belongs to the Swiss Reformed Church. The medieval architect Villard de Honnecourt drew the rose window of the south transept in his sketchbook of 1270. Restoration was carried out in 1874 by Viollet Le Duc. ⁕ The Cathedral, from Le Flon ⁕ South rose window ⁕ Inside, from the chancel ⁕ View from the tower

Museum of Cultures

Museum

The Museum of Cultures in Basel is a Swiss museum of ethnography with large and important collections of artifacts, especially from Europe, the South Pacific, Mesoamerica, Tibet, and Bali. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Natural History Museum of Basel

Natural history Museum

With a heritage dating back over 300 years, the Natural History Museum of Basel in Basel, Switzerland, houses wide-ranging collections primarily focused on the fields of zoology, entomology, mineralogy, anthropology, osteology and paleontology. Its mission is to expand, conserve, explore, document and communicate the over 7.7 million objects in its holdings, which are conceived as an “Archive of Life”. It regularly presents special exhibitions on current topics, offers special events, guided tours and excursions and contributes to various national and international research projects. The museum is a heritage site of national significance.

Monte San Salvatore

Mountain

The Monte San Salvatore is a mountain in the Lepontine Alps above Lake Lugano and the city of Lugano in Switzerland. The Monte San Salvatore funicular links the city with the summit of the mountain.

Staubbach Falls

Waterfall

The Staubbach Falls is a waterfall in Switzerland, located just above Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland. The waterfall drops about 300 metres from a hanging valley that ends in overhanging cliffs above the Lütschine River. The stream, on reaching the verge of the rocky walls of the valley, forms a cascade so high that it is almost lost in spray before it reaches the level of the valley. After rain, and early in the season when fed by the melting snows, the Staubbach Falls is a very striking object. The force of the stream above the fall at such times is sufficient to carry the water clear of the precipice, and the whole mass descends in a condition of liquid dust, between spray and cloud, that sways to and fro with the gentlest breeze. In a dry summer, when the supply of water is much reduced, the effect is comparatively insignificant. The height of the cascade is between 800 and 900 ft, one of the highest in Europe formed of a single unbroken fall. The falls were featured on the Swiss 3-centime postage stamp of the 1930s.

Schauspielhaus Zürich

Tourist attraction

The Schauspielhaus Zürich is one of the most prominent and important theatres in the German-speaking world. It is also known as "Pfauenbühne". The large theatre has 750 seats. The Schauspielhaus also operates three stages in the Schiffbau in the western part of Zurich, the Schiffbau/Halle, the Schiffbau/Box and the Schiffbau/Matchbox.

Polish Museum, Rapperswil

Museum

The Polish Museum, Rapperswil, was founded in Rapperswil, Switzerland, on October 23, 1870, by Polish Count Władysław Broel-Plater, at the urging of Agaton Giller, as "a refuge for [Poland's] historic memorabilia dishonored and plundered in the [occupied Polish] homeland" and for the promotion of Polish interests. Except for two hiatuses, the Museum has existed to the present day—an outpost of Polish culture in Switzerland, a country which, over the past two centuries, has given refuge to generations of Poles.

Polybahn funicular

Tourist attraction

The Polybahn, also known as the UBS Polybahn, is a funicular railway in the centre of the city of Zürich, Switzerland. Previous names for the line include the SBG Polybahn and the Zürichbergbahn. The line is owned by the banking group UBS AG, and operated on their behalf by the municipal transport operator Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich. The line operates out of Zürich Central-Hochschulen, and carries passengers up to the terrace by the main building of ETH Zürich, which was formerly called Eidgenössisches Polytechnikum, and from which the railway derives its name. The Polybahn is one of two funiculars within the city of Zürich, the other being the Rigiblick funicular in the city's northern suburbs. Additionally, the city's Dolderbahn rack railway was originally a funicular, until its conversion to rack working in the 1970s.

Lavaux District

Tourist attraction

Lavaux District was a district located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Geneva in the Swiss-romand canton of Vaud between Lausanne and Vevey. The capital of the district was Cully, but used to be Lutry. The district is part of the World Heritage Site listed region of Lavaux. It consisted of the following municipalities: ⁕Chexbres ⁕Cully ⁕Epesses ⁕Forel ⁕Grandvaux ⁕Lutry ⁕Puidoux ⁕includes the village of Treytorrens ⁕Riex ⁕Rivaz ⁕Saint-Saphorin ⁕Savigny ⁕Villette

Caricature & Cartoon Museum Basel

Museum

The Cartoonmuseum Basel is devoted to cartoons, parodies and pastiches of works of art and artists, comics and caricatures. The Basel museum is the only one of its kind within a radius of 500 kilometers. Encompassing some 3,000 original works by over 700 artists from the 20th and 21st centuries from over three dozen countries, the collection’s holdings are shown in thematic and monografic temporary exhibitions. The museum is a heritage site of national significance. It resides in a historical building dating from the late Gothic period, which has been extended by a new wing designed by the architects Herzog & de Meuron who also restyled the foyer and art shop in 2005.

Dollhouse Museum

Museum

The Dollhouse Museum in Basel is the largest museum of its kind in Europe. The museum is located at Barfüsserplatz in the city center.

Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

Museum

Founded in 1961, the Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig is one of the many museums in the Swiss city of Basel and a heritage site of national significance. The museum is devoted exclusively to the art of ancient civilizations from the 4th millennium BC to the 7th century AD. The only one of its kind in Switzerland, the museum shows works of art from the Mediterranean region, predominantly from the period from 1000 BC to 300 AD. A central position is occupied by the collection of Greek vases and sculptures and the Ancient Egyptian section. Further objects are from the Near East and Cyprus.

Foundation E.G. Bührle

Art Gallery

The Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection was established by the Bührle family in Zürich, Switzerland to bring to public viewing Emil Georg Bührle's important collection of European sculptures and paintings. The Foundation's art museum is in a Zurich villa adjoining Bührle's former home.

Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts

Tourist attraction

The Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts is a museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Music Museum

Museum

The Music Museum of the Basel History Museum in the former Lohnhof prison houses Switzerland’s largest collection of musical instruments. The Music Museum is a heritage site of national significance. It was opened in 2000 and presents five centuries of music history with three areas of emphasis: 650 instruments from the 16th to 20th Centuries; concerts, choral music and dance; parades, festivals and signals. Visitors can also hear how the instruments sound via a multimedia information system.

Cornaredo Stadium

Structure

Cornaredo Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Lugano, Switzerland. It is used mostly for football matches. It is a home ground of AC Lugano. The stadium is able to hold 15,000 people and was built in 1951. The stadium has 5,000 seats and 10,000 standing places. During the 1954 FIFA World Cup, it hosted one game. During the spring 2008, the political authorities of Lugano announced a plan to renew the stadium to fulfil the Swiss Football League requirements for Super League stadiums. The new stadium is due to be completed by 2011.

Breithorn

Mountain

The Lauterbrunnen Breithorn is a mountain in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, situated at the western end of the Lauterbrunnen Wall.

Church of St. Leodegar

Tourist attraction

The Church of St. Leodegar is the most important church and a landmark in the city of Lucerne, Switzerland. It was built in parts from 1633 to 1639 on the foundation of the Roman basilica which had burnt in 1633. This church was one of the few built north of the Alps during the Thirty Years War and one of the largest and art history rich churches of the German late renaissance period.

Swiss Architecture Museum

Museum

Through its program of temporary exhibitions and events, the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel contributes to international debates on architecture and urban development as well as related sociopolitical aspects. In addition, the museum issues publications and holds special events in conjunction with the exhibitions. Its premises are located within the Kunsthalle Basel.

Laténium

Museum

The Laténium is an archeology museum located in Hauterive, a suburb of Neuchâtel. Its name refers to the La Tène culture. The Laténium is composed of a 2 500 m² parc, and a museum building which also harbours the archaeological section of the University of Neuchâtel. The parc features dolmens and erratic stones, reconstitutions of prehistoric and antique devices, and modern works of art. The museum displays the Bevaix boat, a 20-metre gallo-roman ship found in Bevaix. Items from periods comprised between the paleolithic to the Roman empire are on display, including the remains of a Magdalenian hunting camp. ⁕ Reconstitution of a Celtic bridge ⁕ Experimental reconstitution of a gallo-Roman ship ⁕ Reconstitution of a fisher's house with pirogue

Cathedral of Saint Lawrence

Tourist attraction

The Cathedral of Saint Lawrence is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland. It was founded in the High Middle Ages but rebuilt in the late 15th century, with the façade completed in 1517. It is dedicated to Saint Lawrence of Rome.

Lac de Sauvabelin

Lake

Lac de Sauvabelin is an artificial lake in the Sauvabelin forest, above Lausanne, Switzerland. The city of Lausanne authorized the construction of the lake in 1888.

Microcosm

Museum

Microcosm is a museum of particle physics located at CERN in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, near the town of Meyrin. It covers a broad range of particle physics topics, as well as the entire history of CERN. Exhibits include: ⁕explanations of the purpose of CERN and particle physics research in general. ⁕a mock-up, hands-on version of Rutherford's gold foil experiment ⁕a real-time cosmic ray detector ⁕a mock-up of the Large Hadron Collider tunnel ⁕models and explanations of current and future CERN experiments ⁕equipment from old experiments, including a large part of the UA1 detector, which ran at the Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN from 1981 to 1984, and helped discover the W and Z bosons.

Château Saint-Maire

Tourist attraction

Château Saint-Maire is a castle in Lausanne, Switzerland, that serves as the seat of the cantonal government, the Council of State of Vaud. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Basel Paper Mill

Museum

The Basel Paper Mill, also known as the Swiss Museum for Paper, Writing and Printing in Basel, is primarily dedicated to papermaking, the art of book printing and writing in general. Through a combination of pictures and objects, visitors gain insights into the old artisanal techniques of dipping paper, printing and bookbinding. The museum is located in a carefully restored building that began its life as a paper mill 500 years ago. It is a heritage site of national significance.

Musée et jardins botaniques cantonaux

Tourist attraction

The Cantonal Botanical Museum and Gardens in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, comprises the museum and botanical garden in Lausanne, as well as the botanical garden, La Thomasia, in the Alps near the town of Bex. Administered under the Service of cultural affairs of Vaud, the museum and gardens engage in the study and protection of local flora, as well as in promoting public awareness in biodiversity and nature education in general. The museum, as well as the two botanical gardens are listed as cultural assets of national importance.

Barbier-Mueller Museum

Museum

The Barbier-Mueller Museum, founded in 1977, is located at 10 rue Jean-Calvin, in Geneva, Switzerland. Its collection contains over 7,000 pieces and includes works of art from Tribal and Classical antiquity as well as sculptures, fabrics and ornaments from "primitive" civilizations around the world. Its goal is to preserve, study, and publish the collection begun by Josef Mueller in 1907 and carried on by his daughter Monique and son-in-law Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller. The museum has gained international acclaim through itinerant exhibitions, the loans to other museums, and the publication of numerous catalogues and art books. Twenty years later, in 1997, the Museu Barbier-Mueller d'Art Precolombí was inaugurated in Barcelona, Spain. It is located in the Nadal Palace, opposite to the Picasso Museum, in Montcada Street.

Museum of Contemporary Art

Museum

Museum für Gegenwartskunst is an art museum.

Pista La Resega

Sports Facility

Pista La Resega is an arena in Lugano, Switzerland. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of Hockey Club Lugano and HC Porza. It holds 8,000 people. The stadium has also a conference room, a restaurant and a buvette.

Lauterbrunnen railway station

Transit Stop

Lauterbrunnen is a railway station in the village and municipality of Lauterbrunnen in the Swiss canton of Bern. The station is on the Berner Oberland Bahn, whose trains operate services to Interlaken Ost. It is also the valley terminus of the Wengernalpbahn, whose trains operate to Kleine Scheidegg via Wengen, and of the Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren, whose hybrid cable car and rail link runs to Mürren. The BOB and WAB lines use different gauges, and there is no physical connection between them. However the trains operate from adjacent platforms within the same station. Trains of the BOB enter the station from the north, whilst trains of the WAB enter from the south. The lower, cable car, stage of the BLM departs from a terminal across the street from the main station. The depot and workshop of the WAB lies to the south of the station. The station is served by the following passenger trains: Post bus services connect Lauterbrunnen station to other local places, including a half-hourly service to Stechelberg via the Trümmelbach Falls. A large multi-story car park is situated to the east of station, intended for the use of travellers to the car free resorts of Wengen and Mürren, who must complete their journey by train.

Matterhorn Museum

Museum

The Matterhorn Museum in Zermatt is a cultural-natural museum whose main theme is the Matterhorn. The museum is in the form of a reconstituted mountain village consisting of 14 houses, and relates the history and development of tourism in the Zermatt area, including the story of the first ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper and party. The museum displays one of the two stones that Claude Nicollier took from the summit and brought with him on the Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-61 mission in 1993. The other stone was put back on the summit.

Sunnegga Paradise ski area

Tourist attraction

The Sunnegga Paradise is a ski area that forms part of the Zermatt ski resort, in Valais, Switzerland. The area relating to skiing is found on the Rothorn mountain, above the town of Zermatt. The trails extend to the valley floor between the Rothorn and Gornergrat mountains, and includes the ski runs directly down to the Oberhausern area of the town of Zermatt, terminating at the passenger lift that takes skier directly down inside the funicular train station in the area. The Sunnegga area catches a large amount of sun due to its unique topography, often despite the rest of Zermatt being submerged in cloud.

Henry Dunant Museum

Museum

The Henry Dunant Museum is a museum in the Swiss town of Heiden, to preserve the memory and legacy of Henry Dunant, the Founder of the Red Cross Movement, who died in Heiden in 1910, after receiving the first-ever Nobel Prize for Peace in 1901. The Museum is situated in the nursing home where he lived from 1892 until his death.

Irchelpark

Tourist attraction

Elektrizitätsmuseum

Museum

The Elektrizitätsmuseum is in Münchenstein, in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. The Elektrizitätsmuseum belongs to the electric utility Elektra Birseck Münchenstein, and was opened in 1997. Exhibits explore the history and development of power production and its use. The collection contains rare historic equipment and is complemented by a laboratory in which visitors can experiment with electric power.

Monte Diggelmann

Mountain