Across its four sites, the Swiss National Museum houses more than 870,000 exhibition objects. In order to be as representative of Swiss history as possible, the institution’s mission is to adapt its collections and highlight forgotten themes.
French-speaking Switzerland has long been under-represented in the collections of the Swiss National Museum, which brings together the Landesmuseum in Zurich, the Château de Prangins, near Nyon, the Forum de l’histoire suisse in Schwyz and the Center des collections de Affoltern am Albis.
“The Swiss National Museum, when it was founded at the end of the 19th century, received basic collections which were fundamentally Swiss German collections,” explains its director, Denise Tonella, in La Matinale de la RTS. “As a National Museum, it is very important for us that we really have a representation of all of Switzerland, so we have focused in recent years on the history of French-speaking Switzerland.”
It is very important for us to have representation from all of Switzerland, so we have focused in recent years on the history of French-speaking Switzerland.
Other themes have also been neglected in the past. The National Museum rectified the situation, but was not responsive enough, according to Denise Tonella, who underlines the importance of “intervening immediately to have traces”. “The last major exhibition where I was curator was on the history of women’s rights and we were looking for objects from all the demonstrations that took place in the 60s, 70s, etc.,” she says. “There was almost nothing left, because usually, we make objects for the day of the demonstration and then we throw them away.”
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Neutrality impossible
Another subject ignored so far, colonialism will be at the heart of an exhibition which will open in September. If Denise Tonella regrets the shortcomings of the Swiss National Museum, she specifies that the theme only began to be addressed in a general way recently. “The big publications on this subject have come out in the last 25 years. And that’s when we really started to question the historical narrative as it relates to colonialism,” she says.
“As the National Museum, we have contributed to this silence also because we have not strategically brought colonial history into the collection,” she admits, “but we actually have a lot of objects that tell this story. Now we just have to start asking new questions about these objects.
We are not bearers of the truth. There is no truth to the story, but it is important to give a basis for the audience to form their own opinion of the story
Denise Tonella’s mission is to tell the history of Switzerland to its inhabitants through the eyes of the 21st century, but without rewriting it. The National Museum always strives to show different perspectives, but it is impossible, according to her, to be neutral and completely detach ourselves from our current values, “because we always look to the past starting from the present.”
“We are not bearers of the truth. There is no truth to history, but I believe that what is important is that we create the possibility of debate and that we give a basis for the public to form their own opinion of history,” she says.
Looking to the future
Denise Tonella’s work also consists of enriching the collections already present, as well as observing present events which could be part of the history of Switzerland. “Our mission is also to preserve today’s history for tomorrow’s generations,” she explains, specifying that it is “about collecting cultural heritage for the generations that will follow and therefore guaranteeing the possibility of telling the story in the future.”
Our mission is also to preserve today’s history for tomorrow’s generations
It is therefore a question of evaluating the relevance of certain themes and of trying to collect artifacts to integrate them into the collection of the Swiss National Museum. Certain objects linked to the Covid-19 pandemic have, for example, already been added. The strong pro-Palestinian student mobilization currently taking place in several Swiss universities could also be taken into account.
Comments collected by Pietro Bugnon
Web adaptation: Emilie Délétroz
