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1963 in Interlaken: An amateur theatre group play out Thomas Cook's 1863 visit to the country in "The First Conducted Tour of Switzerland". (RDB/SI/Siegfried Kuhn) Keystone

Workers erect the biggest flag in Switzerland on the Säntis mountain in July 2009. (Keystone/Ennio Leanza) Keystone

St Gallen, March 2010. (Keystone/Ennio Leanza) Keystone

Ski fans at the World Championships in 2001 in St Anton, Austria. (Reuters/Michael Leckel) Keystone

Japanese television covers a Swiss flag thowing competition in 1968. (RDB/Blick/Felix Aeberli) RDB

Artist Laurent Veuve shows 771 portraits of the Swiss flag in an exhibition in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 2002. (Keystone/Sandro Campardo) Keystone

Frédéric Bussy, leader of the Elisabethians sect that believed Britain's Queen Elizabeth would rule the world in the new millennium, pictured here in 1958. (RDB/ATP/Grisel) RDB

Switzerland beat Latvia in a football match on October 11, 2008. (Keystone/Alessandro Della Bella) Keystone

Rally by rightwing Swiss People's Party strongman Christoph Blocher on National Day, August 1, in canton Schwyz in 2008. (Keystone/Arno Balzarini) Keystone

Preparation for Swiss-Sino talks in Beijing on October 27, 2007. (Keystone/EPA/Adrian Bradshaw) Keystone

Swiss supporters show their colours during the football World Cup in 2006 in Hannover, Germany. (Keystone/Steffen Schmidt) Keystone

Traditional flag throwing and alphorn playing in Nendaz, canton Valais, 2007. (Reuters/Stefan Wermuth) Reuters

National Day festivities on August 1, 1954 in Champéry, canton Valais. (RDB) RDB

Rifle shooting competition in 2007 on the Rütli meadow, where Switzerland was believed to be founded. (Keystone/Gaetan Bally) RDB

The Swiss national football team head to the 1994 World Cup in the United States. (Keystone) Keystone

Swiss donations for victims of war, tractors for Luxembourg, 1945. (RDB/ATP) RDB

General assembly of the rightwing Swiss People's Party in Boudevilliers, canton Neuchâtel, in July 2007. (Keystone/Martin Rütschi) Keystone

Tourists on the Jungfraujoch in July 2010. (Keystone/Marcel Bieri) Keystone

The rightwing Party of Nationally Oriented Swiss (PNOS) campaigns in October 2010 in Langenthal against minarets ahead of a national referendum on the issue. (Keystone/Peter Schneider) Keystone

Swiss flowers for the British Queen: a promotion for the opening of the film "Because you're mine" with Mario Lanza in London in 1952. (RDB/ATP/Weiss) RDB

Lake Neuchâtel, May 2010. (Keystone/Gaetan Bally) Keystone

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When a flag becomes iconic.

The striking Swiss flag with its red background and white cross can be seen not just fluttering above buildings and allotments, but on T-shirts, mugs, knives and belts.