Museum of famous Swiss icons, brands, landmarks

I can't believe such a small country (that has no Hollywood of its own) has so many:

1. cheese
2. chocolate/Toblerone
3. watches/many famous brands
4. the Matterhorn
5. Swiss alpine architecture
6. edelweis flower
7. fleur de lis
8. cuckoo clocks
9. alphorns
10. Davos forum
11. Calvinism
12. Swiss knife
13. Swiss military
14. Swiss neutrality
15. banking
16. pharma
17. corporations/NGOs/agencies like UN, WTO, Red Cross, FIFA, IOC, CERN, Glencore, Nestle, Roche, Novartis, Holcim, ABB, Adecco, Swissair now Swiss.
18. persons/characters like William Tell, Le Corbusier, Einstein, Rousseau, Chevrolet, Federer, Heidi.
19. Whatever else I am missing.
20. here are two I almost forgot: St Bernard dogs and trains.

Is there an "all things Switzerland" museum that covers multiple of those Swiss icons? What are some above average museums or place that tell the story of at least one?

Although not famous to the same level, is there one or more museums/monument/football stadium that memorializes the 1954 World Cup?

Hi Travel2Life,

There used to be a Museum of Swiss Brands in Bern which had permanent exhibits of famous Swiss brands and inventions. Unfortunately, this museum is no longer open. Most organisations or corporations now somehow prefer to run their own exhibitions or visitor centres. So for watches, there are museums for different brands - Omega, Patek Phillipe, IWC, etc. Chocolates - the famous ones are Maison Cailler in Broc and Lindt in Zurich, but there are also smaller ones such as Alprose in Calsano and House of Laderach in Bilten. The FIFA Museum in Zurich would be a good place to find exhibits and information about past and current world cups. Also you might interested in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

You can find a list of other Swiss museums and landmarks here: www.myswissalps.com/activities/culture

Fyi, the Swiss Travel Pass also works as a Swiss Museum Pass, allowing you to enjoy free entry to hundreds of museums in Switzerland. You can find further details here: www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/details

Regards,

Anna

Thank you Anna for your suggestions and for the link. Balenberg Museum and Museum of Transport look absolutely fantastic, great to learn about Maison Cailleur near Gruyere, Swiss Miniature in Lugano, Cite du Temps in Bienne and so much more. I have work to do...

Hello Travel2Live,

For the history side of things, the Landesmuseum in Zurich ? There are some permanent exhibitions featuring and focussing on all things Swiss: https://www.landesmuseum.ch/en

Kind regards,

Yolanda

This is what I have researched so far:

(BTW, anybody knows of any world famous Swiss icon from the italian linguistic region?=

1. Cheese: National Dairy Museum in Kiesen (midway between Interlaken and Bern) and many cheese factory the most famous being La Maison du Gruyère.
2. Chocolate/Toblerone: Lindt Home of Chocolate near Zurich, Cailler Chocolate Factory near Gruyeres. Toblerone is now owned by Mondelez, is manufactured in Dundee, Scotland or Bratislava, Czeck Republic and has no museum and offers no factory tour in Switzerland.
3. Watches/many famous brands: Too many brands to list. Cite du Temps (Omega and Swatch) in Biel/Bienne is one of the most notable. The many famous watchmaking towns in the Jura include Neuchatel, Les Chaux de Fonds and Le Locle.
4. the Matterhorn: Zemantlantis Museum in Zermatt
5. Swiss alpine architecture: Ballenberg Museum near Brienz
6. Edelweiss flower: don’t know
7. Fleur de lis: not a Swiss icon
8. Cuckoo clocks: more representative of the Black Forest in Germany, however the Sammelausstellung (Woodcarving Museum) makes the cut at least for me.
9. Alphorns: Bernatone Alphornbau near Interlaken (8km in the opposite direction of the Jungfrau valleys).
10. Davos forum: don’t know
11. Calvinism: don’t know
12. Swiss knife: Wenger Factory Tour in Delemont. Wenger was Victorinorix sole competitor until their 2005 merger. Victorinorix is HQ’ed in Schwyz (35km East of Luzern) but has no factory tour, just flagship store in Schwyz and some 10 other cities in Switzerland and abroad.
13. Swiss military: don’t know
14. Swiss neutrality: don’t know
15. Banking: Schweizer Finanz Museum in Zurich
16. Pharma: don’t know
17. Swiss corporations/NGOs/agencies like UN, WTO, Red Cross, FIFA, IOC, CERN, Glencore, Nestle, Roche, Novartis, Holcim, ABB, Adecco, Swissair now Swiss: FIFA and Nestle have world class museums and UN, Red Cross, CERN and probably others offer tours.
18. Swiss famous persons/characters like William Tell, Le Corbusier, Einstein, Rousseau, Chevrolet, Federer, Heidi.

• Tell Museum in Burglen, near Lake Constance
• Ville Le Lac in Vevey
• Einsteinhaus in Bern
• Maison Rousseau in Geneve
• Heididorf in Maienfeld, Heidi Blumenweg (Flower Trail) near St Moritz,

19. St Bernard dog: Barryland in Martigny

20. Swiss trains: Swiss Museum of Transport

21. All things Alps: Alpines Museum der Schweiz in Bern

One more

16. Pharma: Pharmazie-Historisches Museum der Universität Basel in Basel (HQs of most swiss pharma incl Roche and Novartis)

Hi Travel2Life,

You've done solid research! Your list looks pretty complete to me.

As for Swiss chocolate (#2 on your list), this page provides more details about Swiss brands and chocolate excursions: https://www.myswissalps.com/activities/culinary/chocolate. More about Cailler and its umbrella brand Nestlé is here: www.myswissalps.com/maisoncailler.

I'm not sure about well-known icons from the Italian-speaking regions. I do know about the chestnuts that are typical for the Bergell Valley (Bregaglia). There's a yearly festival too: www.bregaglia.ch/en/our-pearls/discover-val-bregaglia/the-chestnut-the-fruit-of-our-valley. Typical for cuisine in the Ticino are the "grotto" restaurants: small restaurants in/near the rock walls, often on the lakes or rivers.

Thank you Arno!!!

BTW, I just found significant information about William Tell, the story/legend and the sites in Altdorf, Sisikon, Hohle Gasse and Rutli that relate to him.

Personally, I find it fascinating (my take) and that all details should be in this website (I understand they are not). Very willing to share the little I uncovered as appropriate.