Photographing Schwyz
29 November 2008 – 13 April 2009
“Schwyz. Fine view of a perfectly
green landscape scattered with tall fruit trees and dotted with white houses,
the steep, dark rocks rising behind and the clouds reaching down to touch
them.”
This travel diary entry by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, dated 30
September 1797, is evocative more of a rural than an urban scene, but points to
a particular characteristic of Schwyz, the cantonal capital.
Industrialisation brought radical change to Schwyz, even though the vista conjured up by Goethe was not completely lost. During its expansion between 1850 and 1940, the town was linked into a larger regional and national road and rail network, and its infrastructure grew rapidly. It also came to be known as the birthplace of the nation: painted during the 1891 celebrations to mark the 600th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation’s foundation, the murals covering the town hall façade bear eloquent testimony to this.
Photographs provide an insight into this era of transformation. The special exhibition “Photographing Schwyz” examines the legacy of images preserved in various archives. A selection of photographs – notably from the period around 1900 – documents the town’s development. Occasionally, though, the images also contain views of the Rigi or down towards Brunnen.(in German)
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