Art guides
Switzerland’s cultural heritage brims with stories waiting to be discovered. Keep your eyes open and set off on your own journey of discovery. With our diverse range of art guides, we will accompany you every step of the way as you explore Switzerland’s built environment..
The SHSA Art Guides
Swiss Heritage Guides
These handy brochures will guide you through picturesque towns and villages, opening the door to historical treasures such as medieval castles and monasteries, bridges, streets, magnificent grand hotels and modern architecture and industrial buildings. Even movable and intangible cultural heritage, such as steamships, historic sailing ships and church organs, is brought to life in dedicated volumes. With over 1,000 volumes, this renowned series breathes life into the history of these places and objects, helping you to recognise what makes them special. The guides are incredibly versatile, whether as a knowledgeable guide on site, a reliable reference work or a lovely souvenir. You can purchase them directly at the location, via the GSK office, from bookshops, or by subscribing.
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in the series in our online shop
Other art guide series
The four-volume «Art Guide to Switzerland» is an inspiring travel guide and a valuable reference work. It provides an in-depth overview of Switzerland’s architectural monuments and their interior features, from antiquity to the present day. The work is enriched by numerous black-and-white illustrations, plans and maps, while a comprehensive index helps readers locate specific places and objects. Additionally, volumes 1–3 include a CD-ROM containing PDF files that can be searched by keyword across the entire volume.
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The regional art guides are a valuable resource when you want to quickly and easily find out everything worth knowing about the cultural history of a particular region of Switzerland. They provide accurate information, including brief historical overviews and specialist knowledge about individual towns, valleys and cantons. They lay the foundations for a journey of discovery through Switzerland's most beautiful regions.
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Beyond our own ranks ...
The SHSA strives to present the history of art and architecture in the most vivid and relevant way possible. To this end, we publish occasional monographs that encourage readers to engage more deeply with particular genres, periods, figures, or notable works in Swiss art history. Depending on the subject, these special publications are aimed either at a general audience with an interest in the subject or at specialists in the history of art, architecture, engineering and design.
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Inventory of Modern Swiss Architecture 1850–1920
Diaries of Urban Development
The «Inventory of Modern Swiss Architecture 1850–1920» (INSA) documents the rapid development of forty major Swiss towns and cities during a period of great contrast. Through wide-ranging overview chapters featuring historical photographs and plans, the eleven INSA volumes present a comprehensive picture of settlement history and Swiss building culture.
Architecture and Urban Planning 1850–1920
INSA – City by City
In the «Architecture and Urban Planning 1850–1920» series, individual INSA cities are published in their own volume. The city monographs in this series are each supplemented by an index of individuals, facilitating targeted research into specific architects or figures. Attractively designed, these volumes contain a wealth of information on the city's history, urban development, and individual buildings.
The entire INSA collection is also available online
As part of the retro.seals.ch project, academic journals are being retrodigitised and made accessible online. The «Inventory of Modern Swiss Architecture 1850–1920» has been included in this extensive project and has been digitised. Notably, all issues, including out-of-print editions, can be viewed digitally.
retro.seals is an innovation and cooperation project run by 'E-Lib.ch: Electronic Library of Switzerland' and is supported by the Swiss University Conference and the ETH Board.
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