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Cultural life in Switzerland is as rich and varied as its countryside. It feeds on the fertile friction between the four official languages and cultures - German, French, Italian and Romansh, and the added value of foreigners living in the country. The examples below show that Swiss artistic and cultural activities reach far beyond its borders...

Architecture

Switzerland was the birthplace of one of the most influential architects of the 20th century: Le Corbusier (1887-1965). Lugano-based Mario Botta and the Basel-based partnership Herzog and de Meuron are well-known Swiss architects practising today. Herzog and de Meuron were responsible for the prize-winning redevelopment of the Bankside power station into the Tate Modern. Their current work includes the main stadium for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Innovative Swiss-designed structures can be seen in many countries. The sleek Leonard P. Zakim-Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge in the US city of Boston is the work of a Swiss, Christian Menn. Within Switzerland, architectural points of interest include the Thermal Baths in Vals designed by Peter Zumthor.

Art

Well-known artists of the 19th and the start of 20th centuries include Albert Anker, Arnold Boecklin and Ferdinand Hodler. Some of the important figures in 20th century were Alberto Giacometti (1901-66), famous for his sculptures of elongated figures, Paul Klee (1879-1940), and Max Bill (1908-1994) winner of the so-called Nobelprize "Praemium Imperiale" for his sculptures.

Zürich was the birthplace of the nihilistic Dada movement, which grew out of the disgust and disillusionment produced by World War I and was the forerunner of surrealism.

Literature

Famous Swiss authors? Undoubtedly Heidi is more famous abroad than her creator, Johanna Spyri (1827-1901), and, as the main character of one of the most popular children's books ever, has come to be a symbol of Switzerland. The undisputable giants of 20th century Swiss literature are Max Frisch (1911-91), whose works include Homo Faber, Biedermann und die Brandstifter (The Fireraisers), and Stiller (I'm Not Stiller), and Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-90), whose repertoire includes Die Physiker (The Physicists) and Das Versprechen (The Promise), released in 2001 as a Hollywood film.

Films

Switzerland is the venue for one of the major international film festivals, held every August in the southern Italian-speaking town Locarno.

Music

Switzerland is a good place for music festivals of all kinds - the big pop, rock and jazz open-air ones in the summer are venues for bands ranging from the big international acts to established Swiss bands. Annual classical music festival highlights include the Easter concerts at the Lucerne Culture and Convention Centre (attracting 12,000 visitors in 2003), the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad and Snow and Symphony in the resort of St Moritz.

Museums

Switzerland has more than 900 museums, one of the densest museum networks in the world, with one for about every 7,500 people. The number has more than tripled since 1950, with the greatest increase in regional museums, which accounted for 42% of the total.

Come and experience the cultural richness of Switzerland at one of the events at swissnex boston!