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33 unusual facts about Switzerland


1920–21 Swiss National Ice Hockey Championship

The 1920-21 Swiss National Ice Hockey Championship was the 11th edition of the national ice hockey championship in Switzerland.

1921–22 Swiss International Ice Hockey Championship

The 1921-22 Swiss International Ice Hockey Championship was the seventh edition of the international ice hockey championship in Switzerland.

1929–30 Swiss International Ice Hockey Championship

The 1929-30 Swiss International Ice Hockey Championship was the 15th edition of the international ice hockey championship in Switzerland.

Acquarossa

Acquarossa, Switzerland, the capital of the district of Blenio in the canton of Ticino.

Albert IV, Count of Habsburg

Albert IV (or Albert the Wise) (ca. 1188 – December 13, 1239) was Count of Habsburg in the Aargau and a progenitor of the royal House of Habsburg.

Anglo Swiss

Anglo Swiss or Anglo-Swiss describes people or things with joint English and Swiss connections.

Auressio

In 2001 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Berzona and Loco to form a new and larger municipality Isorno.

Baltic LNG

On 15 October 2004, Baltic LNG AG was registered in Baar, Switzerland (later in Zürich) as a joint venture of Gazprom and Sovkomflot.

Bellerive

Bellerive, Switzerland, municipality in the district of Avenches in the canton of Vaud

Beringen

Beringen, Switzerland, a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland.

County of Baden

Upon the merging of the canton of Baden into Aargau in 1803, the district gained the municipalities of Würenlingen, Bellikon, Künten, Remetschwil, Stetten, Mellingen, Wohlenschwil and Mägenwil (from neighbouring districts of the canton of Baden) but had to give up Hüttikon, Oetwil an der Limmat, Dietikon and Schlieren to the Canton of Zurich.

Cresciano

In the 14th Century it was placed, together with Osogna and Claro, under the jurisdiction of a representative of the Visconti.

Engi

Engi, Switzerland, a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland

Felben-Wellhausen

The municipality was created in 1983 by a merger of Felben and Wellhausen.

Fétigny

Fétigny, Switzerland, a municipality in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland

Frauen SHV-Cup

The Frauen SHV-Cup is an annual single-elimination tournament for Swiss women's handball clubs organized by the Swiss Handball Federation (SHV).

Guilé Foundation

This non-profit organization of Swiss private law has been founded in 1997 by the Charles Burrus family headquartered in Boncourt, Switzerland.

Helen Zimmern

She befriended Friedrich Nietzsche, two of whose books she would later translate, in Switzerland in the mid-1880s.

Invicta International Airlines Flight 435

On 10 April 1973 Invicta International Airways Flight 435 was a Vickers Vanguard 952, flying from Bristol Lulsgate to Basel-Mulhouse that ploughed into a snowy, forested hillside near Hochwald, Switzerland.

Isorno

The municipality was created in 2001 by a merger of Auressio, Berzona and Loco.

Libero de Luca

He retired from the stage in 1961, and became a full-time voice teacher in Horn, Switzerland, near Lake Constance, where he died in 1997.

Maximilian Harden

Harden abandoned the publishing of Die Zukunft and in 1923 retired to Montana, Switzerland where he died four years later.

Pays-d'Enhaut District

The main valley runs from the village of La Tine in the direction of Gruyères and Bulle to Rougemont, continuing in the direction of Saanen and Gstaad.

Saint-Luc, Switzerland

An independent municipality before, it merged on 1 January 2009 with neighboring Ayer, Chandolin, Grimentz, Saint Jean and Vissoie to form the municipality of Anniviers.

Samnaun

The exception was maintained even after a road was built in 1905 linking Samnaun to Martina in the Inn valley.

Souvenir d'un lieu cher

The Méditation was written between 23 and 25 March 1878, in Clarens, Switzerland, where Tchaikovsky wrote his Violin Concerto.

Spanisch Brötli

Spanisch Brötli (Spanish bun, also known as Spanisch Brödli, Spanischbrötli or Spanischbrödli) is a speciality pastry from Baden, Switzerland.

Sylviane Berthod

Sylviane Berthod (born 25 April 1977 in Salins) is a female alpine skier from Switzerland, who was Swiss champion in downhill skiing (1997, 1998, 1999) and Giant Slalom (1998).

Tello

He bequeathed his extensive landed and movable wealth, which was concentrated in the lower Surselva between Flims and Trun, to Disentis Abbey, with which he had had close ties.

Tomorrow Blue

Tomorrow Blue is the second album by the Switzerland rock band of the Toad released in 1972.It was the second Toad album engineered by legendary British producer Martin Birch.

Trolleybuses in Geneva

On 11 December 2011, the municipalities of Bernex and Confignon ceased to be served by trolleybuses, when the lines to those communities were converted into tram lines.

Varen

Varen, Switzerland, a municipality in the canton of Valais, Switzerland

Wildberg

Wildberg, Switzerland, a municipality in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland


2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal

Swiss IOC member Marc Hodler, head of the coordination committee overseeing the organization of the 2002 games, accused that a group of members of the IOC had taken bribes since the 1990 bidding process for the 1996 Olympic games.

Alessandro Mendini

As architect, he designed several buildings; for example the Alessi residence in Omegna, Italy; the theater complex "Teatrino della Bicchieraia" in the Tuscan city of Arezzo; the Forum Museum of Omegna, a memorial tower in Hiroshima, Japan; the Groninger Museum in The Netherlands and the Arosa Casino in Switzerland.

Alf Bonnevie Bryn

He made several first ascents in Switzerland, Corsica and Norway, including the first successful ascent of Stetind in 1910 (together with Ferdinand Schjelderup and Carl Wilhelm Rubenson).

Arsham Parsi

Less than 3 years later, he was asked to speak publicly in Geneva, Switzerland, at the 2nd session of United Nations Human Rights Council and on 4th anniversary all international media published some articles about Iranian queers.

Athena Xenidou

After receiving a Diploma in Music from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London, Xenidou went on to study English Literature, Music and Theatre for two years at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

Bernard Fellay

After his ordination, he was named Bursar General of the SSPX and was stationed at Rickenbach, the headquarters of the SSPX in Switzerland.

Brünig

The Brünig railway line, a railway line in Switzerland linking Interlaken and Lucerne

Brunstad Christian Church

From the 1950s, the church began to spread throughout Western Europe, most notably in Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, after several church leaders were invited to participate in the Pentecostal conferences held at Leonberg during the 1950s.

Bungee jumping

Several major movies have featured bungee jumps, most famously the opening sequence of the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye in which Bond makes a jump over the edge of a dam in Russia (in reality the dam is in Switzerland: Verzasca Dam, and the jump was genuine, not an animated special effect).

Chemins de fer du Jura

The Chemins de fer du Jura (CJ), the railways of the Jura canton in northern Switzerland, came about as the result of an amalgamation, in 1944, of four independent companies connecting Porrentruy to Bonfol, Saignelégier to La Chaux-de-Fonds, Glovelier to Saignelégier and Tavannes to Tramelan and Le Noirmont.

Crossair Europe

Crossair Europe (European Continental Airways) was an airline headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut Rhin, France, near Basel, Switzerland.

Dennis Embleton

They journeyed to Paris, Strasbourg, Baden, Switzerland, over the Simplon Pass, Milan, Genoa, Rome, Bologna, Pisa, Florence, Venice, Trieste, Vienna, The Tyrol and back to Paris, All the time, in addition to seeing the sights, they visited numerous medical establishments, and at Pisa they petitioned the university, sat the examination for doctorate of medicine, passed and were granted diplomas on 14 September 1836

Echo Eggebrecht

Eggebrecht has held solo exhibitions at Horton Gallery, New York; Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York; Ter Caemer Meert Contemporary, Kortijk, Belgium; Sixtyseven, New York and Sixspace in Los Angeles as well as group exhibitions at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; ICA; Nicole Klagsburn; and White Box in New York; Groeflin Maag Gallery in Basel, Switzerland; Poets on Painters at the Ulrich Museum.

Fort Montecchio-Lusardi

The main function of the fort was to control the roads of Spluga, Maloja and Stelvio, in case the Central Powers decided to invade northern Italy, violating the neutrality of Switzerland.

Franz Anatol Wyss

Franz Anatol Wyss (born Fulenbach, May 1, 1940) is a Swiss painter.

Friedrich Frey-Herosé

Friedrich Frey-Herosé (12 October 1801, Lindau - 22 September 1873) was a Swiss politician.

Health insurance premium index

In Switzerland the Health insurance premium index is compiled by the Federal Social Insurance Office (for the basic health insurance) and by the Federal Statistical Office (for the field of supplementary insurances).

Hürlimann Brewery

Hürlimann Brewery is a former brewery in Zürich, Switzerland, now owned by the Rheinfelden, Aargau based brewery Feldschlösschen, which is owned by Carlsberg.

Initiatives of Change

Mountain House, formerly the Caux-Palace Hotel in Caux, near Montreux, Switzerland is the Institute's conference center.

Interoute

Interoute's offices: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, plus a Network Operations Centre in Sofia and a Customer Service Centre in Prague and Luleå.

Jean Rénald Clérismé

Clérsimé was ambassador of Haiti to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Trade Center (ITC), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2001 to 2003.

Jean-Marie Londeix

Some famous saxophone players that have studied with him include Richard Dirlam, Perry Rask, Russell Peterson, Ryo Noda, James Umble, Robert Black, Ross Ingstrup, Juan Carlos Mazás, William Street, Christian Lauba and Jack Kripl - Winner of the prize for Saxophone at the International Competition for Musical Performers in Geneva Switzerland, 1970.

Jennifer Nicks

The pair won gold at the 1953 World Championships in Davos, Switzerland.

Josy Gyr-Steiner

Josy Gyr-Steiner (10 October 1949 – 18 April 2007) was a Swiss politician from the Canton of Schwyz and member of the Swiss National Council (2003–2007).

Kola Adedoyin

Disaster again struck a couple of weeks later when he ruptured ankle ligaments in Geneva, Switzerland 6 weeks before the World Junior Championships.

Léman Manhattan Preparatory School

Léman Manhattan has two sister schools, Léman International School in Chengdu, China and Collège du Léman in Geneva, Switzerland.

Len Shackleton

His one goal was scored with a chip against the then World Champions West Germany in December 1954, the last England goal scored by a Sunderland player until Darren Bent's goal against Switzerland in September 2010 .

Lucienne Bloch

Bloch was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the youngest child of composer and photographer Ernest Bloch.

Margrit Mondavi

A native of Appenzell, Switzerland, Margrit was raised in her family home overlooking Lake Maggiore, in the canton of Ticino.

Marie de Sales Chappuis

Venerable Marie de Sales Chappuis, was born Marie-Thérèse Chappuis (16 June 1793 in Soyhières, today in the Canton of Jura in Switzerland and at that time in the Département du Mont-Terrible in France – 6 October 1875 in Troyes, Aube, France) was a Roman Catholic nun and a spiritual leader in the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary.

Max Arias-Schreiber Pezet

He studied at Colegio Sagrados Corazones Recoleta (Lima) and Institut Le Rosey (Switzerland).

Melchior Lussy

Melchior Lussy (1529–1606) was a Swiss Catholic statesman who represented the Catholic cantons of Switzerland in the Council of Trent.

Melide causeway

The Melide causeway, sometimes called the Melide bridge or Melide dam, is a causeway and bridge across Lake Lugano in the Swiss canton of Ticino.

Monte Hill Davis

Davis has toured and performed in Europe, Brazil, Peru, Balzano, Italy (the Busoni), Geneva, Switzerland, and Munich, Germany.

Nikolaos Mavridis

He is also an active member of the Horasis think tank based in Switzerland, whose purpose is to "enact visions for a sustainable future" through new platforms for cooperation and knowledge-sharing, particularly between developed countries and emerging markets.

Operation Green

Operation Tannenbaum, the planned invasion of Switzerland, known earlier as Operation Green

Pinus cembra

Pinus cembra, also known as Swiss pine, Swiss stone pine or Arolla pine, is a species of pine tree that grows in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains of central Europe, in Poland (Tatra Mountains), Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia (Tatra Mountains), Ukraine and Romania.

Robert Pearsall Smith

The following year, after preaching in front of royalty and taking breakfast with Gladstone they travelled to Germany and Switzerland, where they preached in several major cities.

Semir Tuce

He lives today in Switzerland but is preparing to return home to Mostar.

Solar handbag

These components were developed through a joint research effect between Forster Rohner AG and the University of Applied Science Rapperswil and the NTB Interstate University of Applied Sciences of Technology, Buchs, Switzerland.

Stefan Constantinescu

The exhibition incorporates a cardboard installation with a series of video works by Hungarian artist Péter Forgács, Poland’s Zuzanna Janin, UK-based collaborators Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, Lithuanian Deimantas Narkevičius and Switzerland’sYves Netzhammer, sound-work by Liliana Moro, a sculpture by Via Lewandowski and Constantinescu's own film My Beautiful Dacia.

Switzerland–Uruguay relations

Since 1947, Switzerland has a diplomatic representation in Montevideo.

Sydney Thompson Dobell

Next year he travelled through Switzerland with his wife; and after his return he formed friendships with Robert Browning, Philip Bailey, George MacDonald, Emanuel Deutsch, Lord Houghton, Ruskin, Holman Hunt, Mazzini, Tennyson and Carlyle.

The Friend of God from the Oberland

Jundt Les Amis de Dieu (1879) This book shared Preger's view that the Friend was a great unknown who lived in or near Chur (Coire) in Switzerland.

Theology of Anabaptism

Reportedly, one of the first adult baptisms was publicly performed in Zürich, Switzerland, in January 1525.

Varese railway station

As from 2013, Varese railway station will become international, upon the opening of the new Varese–Arcisate (I)–Stabio (CH)–Mendrisio railway, which will branch off at Arcisate from the Varese-Porto Ceresio line, and then enter Switzerland at Stabio.

Victor of Solothurn

He and Ursus of Solothurn are patron saints of the Cathedral of St. Ursus and St. Victor in Solothurn, Switzerland.

Vollenweider

Hans Vollenweider, criminal and last person to be sentenced to death and executed in Switzerland

Wafah Dufour

Her father, Yeslam bin Ladin (half brother of Osama bin Laden), is Saudi Arabian (father of Yemeni origin and mother of Iranian origin) and her mother, Carmen bin Ladin, is of Swiss father and Iranian mother from a noble family (mothers name: Mirdoth/Sheybani).

Yvonne Farrell

Farrell has taught at University College Dublin since 1976 and has been visiting professor at the Architecture Academy in Mendrisio, Switzerland, since 2008.