| Robert Züblin | 12.05.2026 | 20:57 |
The exhibition explores how the image of the scenically ‘beautiful Switzerland’ of 200 years ago was conveyed in the drawings of many artists – particularly beyond the country’s borders.
Souvenir pictures as promotional ambassadors for ‘beautiful Switzerland’
Towards the end of the 18th century, Switzerland became a destination of choice for an increasing number of travellers from across Europe. The Swiss Alpine landscape impressed with its towering mountain ranges, rugged rock faces, blue-tinged glacier tongues and seas of glacial ice towers (known as séracs).
Visitors to Switzerland were keen to take home a souvenir of these forces of nature. And so a market was created, served by pioneers of Alpine drawing such as Caspar Wolf, Mathias Gabriel Lory and Karl Gotthard Grass.
Some of these painters of early Swiss souvenir art ventured as far as the High Alps themselves, to the most imposing locations in the mountain world, to paint ‘après nature’ on site. But simpler motifs were also produced, for example by Gabriel Ludwig Lory and Franz Niklaus König, who illustrated scenes and objects from rural life.
Glaciers as a ‘delightful horror’
At the time, glaciers were perceived as a ‘delightful horror’. They were both frightening and awe-inspiring. However, the drawings from that era are, above all, an important record – thanks to their documentary value – of the sometimes gigantic scale of the glaciers of 200 years ago, which often extended right down into the valley.
Today, many of the glaciers that were once so imposing have shrunk to a pitiful size or have even disappeared altogether.
Visitor information
Exhibition title: ‘Glaciers & Rapids – Switzerland in Drawings around 1800’
Dates: 1 April 2026 – 5 July 2026
Venue: ETH Zurich Graphic Collection, Rämistrasse 101, 8006 Zurich (main building of ETH Zurich)
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday: 10:00 – 17:00 (Closed: 14 May 2016 (Ascension Day), 23–25 May 2026 (Whitsun), 5 June 2026 (Symposium))
Admission: Free