Praising the Industrial Achievements of Switzerland in the Early Twentieth Century: A Mural Painting Cycle for the Federal Polytechnic in Zurich

Authors

Alex Winiger

Keywords

Swiss industry, Zurich Federal Polytechnic, industrial advances

Abstract

The dome of the Swiss parliament’s building, the central part of the so-called “Bundeshaus” in Bern, is framed by four stained glass windows. They represent four pillars of the Swiss economy of around 1900: commerce to the north, textile industries to the east, agriculture to the south, and metal industries to the west. Other important sources of the growing wealth of the country are absent: finance (the banks), science (especially chemistry and its respective productions), and tourism. The latter found abundant representation in the railway stations of the time, relics of them still to be seen in the entrance hall of the Basel main railway station or in the well-preserved station’s restaurant hall of Lausanne. The huge paintings show, in a somehow placative, but also grand way the quiet majesty of the Alps, its peaks and lakes. A sublime version of this genre found its way into the hall of the National Council in the above-mentioned parliament’s building, in the shape of Charles-Alexandre Giron’s “The Cradle of the Confederation” (1901).

Recommended Citation

Winiger, Alex (2024) "Praising the Industrial Achievements of Switzerland in the Early Twentieth Century: A Mural Painting Cycle for the Federal Polytechnic in Zurich," Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 60: No. 2, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol60/iss2/4