My first time ... on a virtual tour

Editor Gabriella Alvarez-Hummel

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A virtual tour through the National Museum's permanent exhibition "History of Switzerland". In focus: the history of women.

I remember that virtual museum tours were offered in many places during the pandemic. I don't remember making use of them. And then, of course, when everything was over, I visited museums in person again.

So when I came across the Landesmuseum's virtual tour, the question arose in my mind: Why virtual offerings when the pandemic is long gone? Well, I answered my own question: maybe you don't have the opportunity to visit the Landesmuseum for reasons of mobility? Maybe you live far away? Maybe you just want to stay on the sofa on a Sunday evening and still learn something new? My reason is the latter, so I register for the virtual tour on the National Museum's website and receive a Zoom link by email.

Sunday evening, 5.15 pm, a good two handfuls of people have gathered on Zoom, Bettina Zimmermann welcomes the group through her smartphone camera. The programme includes a guided tour of the permanent exhibition "History of Switzerland" with a special focus on the history of women.

The museum is already closed at this time, the exhibition is deserted. As Bettina Zimmermann unlocks the doors to the exhibition with the key, the screen gives off "Night at the Museum" vibes.

The exhibition begins with Swiss history 550 years ago. The role of women will remain the same for a long time to come, both historically and throughout the tour: children, housework, care. During Zwingli's Reformation, for example, celibacy was abolished, paving the way for the existence of the "Frau Pfarrer", a woman pastor who acted as a role model for other women. Bettina Zimmermann adds from her own life: where she grew up, all the women hung up the washing following the example of the Frau Pfarrer.

At the time of the French Revolution, there were the first women who went down in history as personalities. Madame de Staël, for example, a Swiss author and thinker, feared by Napoleon due to her influence and banished from Paris.

I learnt that Switzerland's now beloved neutrality was an involuntary decree. That women were not included in the first Federal Constitution. And that many French-speaking women emigrated to Russia at the end of the 19th century because there was a great need for governesses with a knowledge of French.

And then the official history of Swiss women begins to unfold: The women's movements, women's suffrage, the first female city councillor in Zurich, the march on Bern - and finally the first female federal councillor.

As Bettina Zimmermann says goodbye, one person writes in the Zoom chat: "Thank you for the exciting tour. A good thing, such an online tour." And the minor technical problems are already forgotten by the end.

> Website virtual tours from the National Museum

The guided tour "Women in Focus" through the permanent exhibition "Swiss History" also takes place on site: