Switzerland in pictures 1840-1960

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Giorgio Sommer, a serac (block or column of ice) of the upper Grindelwald glacier, around 1880. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog.

August Haegler, "The amateur photographer", 1925. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog.

Shoe factory of the C.F. Bally company of Schönenwerd near Aarau, around 1900. (Photoglob Zurich and Swiss National Library) ©Slg. Photoglob-Wehrli, EAD / Graphische Sammlung, Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek

Ernst Winizki-Weber, Soldier's luck, 1942. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog.

Anonymous, Winterthur, Sulzer Foundry, 1919. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen

Anonymous, Children's home, Bertigny Cloister. "We are waiting for the driver!", 1944-45. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog.

Anonymous, Bern, the bear pit keeper with a young resident, 1910-20. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog.

Willy Schrader, Girl, 1911. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog.

Wehrli brothers, pack-horses near the summit of the Faulhorn, 1900. ©Slg. Photoglob-Wehrli, EAD / Graphische Sammlung, Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek.

Theo Frey, a truck owned by retailer Migros in the workers' area of the Tösstal, 1942. ©Fotostiftung Schweiz; (Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog)

Anonymous, Camping area, 1955. © Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog.

C. Jäger, Ploughing a Field, around 1915. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog.

Karl Egli, photographer in the basket of a hot-air balloon, 1935. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen

Wilhelm Felber, coach trip, around 1950. ©Wilhelm Felber / Fotostiftung Schweiz; (aus: Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog)

Anonymous, Trudi Fuhrimann, the winner of the first national skating championship on the Orion rink in Zurich, 1938. ©Schweizerische Landesmuseen, Sammlung Herzog.

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A formative time for the country and photography.

The exhibition begins with photos of the then-untouched mountains in the 19th century. These pictures of an untamed, romantic Switzerland were fascinating for the tourists of that time and have permanently shaped the way the country is perceived. The following pictures document the gradual conquest of nature by tourism and agriculture, and the transition from an agrarian economy into a modern industrial state.