Swiss Stories

Metavers

Zurich becomes a global hub for the metaverse

Science & Education
Switzerland is playing a key role in building the next dimension of the internet: the metaverse. Thanks to the influence of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Disney Research and Magic Leap have all opened offices or research laboratories in Switzerland's economic capital.
earth from space

A Swiss astronaut on the launching pad!

Science & Education
Fulfilling a childhood dream is the stuff of a story worth telling. As a child, Marco Sieber was fascinated by space travel, reading many a book on the subject, and even building a model rocket with his brother. He could never have imagined that one day he might actually have the chance to experience space travel!

by John Durham

Horse-drawn carriage

Across the Gotthard on foot and by train

Environment
Today's travellers have different ways of getting from one side of the Gotthard Massif to the other: they can either follow the old Gotthard Pass road, as our forebears did, or they can travel through the world's longest tunnel, the new Gotthard Tunnel.
Christmas tree and cookies

Christmas and New Year traditions in Switzerland

Society
December is full of magic, festivities and light – although every now and then something other-worldly can emerge. It is a time of year well known for its particularly abundant end-of-year celebrations, especially Christian traditions such as Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) and Christmas.
Barbara Piatti

by Barbara Piatti

© ECAL / Jean-Vincent Simonet

Swiss photography: its museums and institutions

Society
The ‘Rencontres d’Arles’, the world’s foremost photographic festival, attract many major artists of this field, in particular within the walls of ‘Nonante-neuf’, a 100% Swiss venue successfully launched at the 2015 event. Before opening the doors of the former SNCF workshops where it is housed, first a few words about this Swiss ecosystem, an exceptional fabric of museums, institutions and top schools.
Julien Gremaud

by Julien Gremaud

Project Discovery

MMOS: A Swiss start-up that combines video games and science

Economics
MMOS, a Swiss start-up founded in 2014, develops a platform that connects research data and video games, offering video gamers the opportunity to contribute to proteomics or exoplanet research while being fully immersed in their favourite video game.
Schweizer Mythen und Legenden

Swiss myths and legends

History
The legend of William Tell – the man who skilfully splits an apple on his son's head with his crossbow rather than bowing down to a local dignitary's hat – has come to represent the Swiss people's spirit of independence. It is a story that is known and loved well beyond the Swiss border. But this folk hero from the canton of Uri is only one of the many characters in Swiss legends: alongside William Tell, there is a panoply of fairies, mountain trolls and dwarves, not to mention giant fish and angry witches 'beating' the streams. There is no shortage of Swiss myths and legends – and a new generation of books is generating fresh interest in their revamped stories.