Thursday 21 March 2013

Removals to Switzerland – A Guide to Some of the Best Swiss Museums

If you are looking for a company to assist with your removals to Switzerland, you will want to find an experienced firm, dedicated to making your move go smoothly. At Hamiltons, we know that every removal is different and that each one requires specific attention to detail. We offer exactly that: a removals service tailored to your individual needs and requirements, which we closely monitor from door to door.

We pride ourselves on our ability to deliver an efficient and cost effective service, whilst maintaining that all important personal touch. So whether you are moving locally, nationally or internationally, our careful forward planning will ensure that your removals to Switzerland is completed to your satisfaction.

Whatever your reasons for needing removals to Switzerland, whether it is for work, or to be closer to family, we are sure that once there, you will want to learn more about this great country and its history. To that end we have gathered together some information about its most famous museums which we hope will be of interest to you.

Removals to Switzerland - click here to read more about our removals to Switzerland service.

Hamiltons Removals’ Top Pick of Museums in Switzerland

The Swiss National Museum in Zurich

Where better to start on our tour of the museums of Switzerland, than The Swiss National Museum in Zurich? Built by Gustav Gull in 1898 and nestled between the city's main train station and Platzspitz Park, it showcases everything from ancient art and crafts, to ordinary everyday objects.

Its permanent exhibitions describe Switzerland's history from as far back as possible, right through to the present day. Split into foursections, it covers the history of migration and settlement, religious and intellectual history, political history and the economic development of the country.

Its Collections Gallery features 20 different displays which are laid out to give an overview of the museum’s 820,000 plus curios - the country's largest cultural history and handicrafts collection.

Another permanent display centres on Swiss homes and furnishings. It features painstakingly reconstructed period rooms, as well as Swiss furniture from the 19th and 20th century. The exhibition illustrates how people’s needs and desires within the home have changed over the years, and how furniture, and rooms, have been adapted to suit.

The Armoury Tower is another permanent display featuring the museum's collection of arms. Arranged by theme, the display features everything from Mediaeval body armour and jousting helmets, to Baroque ceremonial pieces and Swiss Army uniforms of the 19th and 20th centuries. The weaponry, uniforms and equipment are displayed and their usages explained in historical context.

The museum's newest permanent display was installed in April 2012. It's a fully operable television studio where people of all ages can play at being TV presenters and be filmed with a real studio camera. Sat at the presenter's desk, you can change the backdrop to suit whether you're presenting the news, the weather, or a sports item. Visitors can literally create their own TV shows which can be watched live on screen in the auditorium.

The History Museum in Berne

Berne's museum of history is as fascinating to look at on the outside, as it is to look inside. Built in 1894 by André Lambert, it is the second largest historical museum in Switzerland and, like something out of a Swiss fairytale, it's all spires, turrets and arched windows.

There are 11 permanent exhibitions displayed here, covering the Middle Ages and the Ancient Regime, treasure and textiles, the Stone Age, the Celts and the Romans. There are treasures on display from the tombs of Ancient Egypt and artefacts from Asia, the Americas and the Orient.

It’s not all about ancient history and treasures from distant lands though. There's an exhibition entirely dedicated to Albert Einstein and a six room installation entitled Berne and the 20th Century, which brings you right up to date with modern day Berne, its achievements and its place in the world today. It covers a wide range of topics from politics to the economy, society, sport, technology, science, everyday life, and art and design. The exhibition doesn't just champion the great and successful either, in a charmingly self-effacing way, it takes a look at some of Switzerland's less successful inventions too.

The Museum of Art in Zurich


The Kunsthaus in Zurich is THE place to go for big name artists like Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet.  So, when you're done with window-shopping on the Bahnhofstrasse and you've taken enough pictures of Zurich Old Town, if you have the energy and a good two to three hours  spare, head for Heimplatz 1, Zurich 8001. It costs a bit to get in but it’s worth it. This fantastic art museum displays artworks from as far back as the 1600’s and has an especially impressive selection of modern art.

The Kunsthaus regularly features visiting collections and is currently showing pieces by Epaminonda, Chagall, Signac and Hodler, including both versions of Hodler's “The Truth”. Future exhibitions and displays will feature works by Kelly Nipper, Richard Wagner, Lonnie van Brummelen and Edvard Munch with his paintings; ‘The Scream,’ ‘Madonna,’ ‘Melancholy,’ and ‘The Sin,’ taking centre stage.

 Zurich's art museum also has a very impressive line up of “resident” artists including Baselitz, Léger, Giacometti and Fuseli and features photographic works by Max Ernst, Hannah Höch, Marcel Duchamp, Erwin Blumenfeld, Christian Schad, Constantin Brancusi, Robert Frank and Balthasar Burkhard, among many others.

Embracing new technologies and moving with the times is at the heart of the Kunsthaus Zurich and this goes to its video art collection. The Kunsthaus has been a collector of video art since 1979. It is seen as an important creative medium and is given deserved space. The video art collection features works by Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Sophie Calle, Fischli/Weiss, Dan Graham, Gary Hill, Hubbard / Birchler, Christian Marclay, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Arnulf Rainer and Dieter Roth, Pipilotti Rist, Richard Serra, Roman Signer, and Bill Viola.

Whilst not being particularly child unfriendly, if you are planning on visiting the museum, it might be best to leave the younger ones at home, especially during the week. However, the museum sometimes runs special programmes for children on Sundays, which is ideal for grandparents to bring their grandchildren to.

For low cost removals to Switzerland,  call Hamiltons Removals. With 20 years of experience in the removals business, we have the ability to deliver your belongings, safely and securely to your new home.

Removals to Switzerland - click here for full information on our removals to Switzerland service or click here for a free European removals quote.

Monday 4 March 2013

Removals to Switzerland: Finest Things to Come Out of Switzerland

Should you require removals to Switzerland, you will already know that the country is known for more than its spectacular and dramatic scenery and as a skiing destination. It is also a country which produces many fine things, chocolate and watches to name a few.

As specialists in removals to Switzerland, we offer high quality European removals for household and business clients. Our removals to Europe are competitively priced and, in addition to removals to Switzerland, we also offer European removals to France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands. Contact us now to find out more about this or any other of our services.

If you are settling in Switzerland and require removals to Switzerland, here is our guide to some of the best things produced in the country.

Removals to Switzerland – click here to read more about our removals to Switzerland service.

Fine Things Made in Switzerland

Watches

Switzerland is famous for its fine watches and has been renowned for its watch making as far back as the 16th century. Some of the world’s leading brands of watches are made in Switzerland including Rolex and Patek Philippe.

If a watch carries the words ‘Swiss Made’ it is the ultimate in quality, and these two words cover the appearance, technical quality, originality of design and craftsmanship. Many people aspire to owning a quality Swiss made watch and prices vary from affordable to the masses, to millions of pounds for an exquisite design. Exports in Swiss watches have continued to rise year after year and now amount to just over $19 billion.

Chocolate

Switzerland is well known for its fine chocolate and many leading brands of Swiss chocolate, such as Lindt and Toblerone, are sold globally. The Swiss are also big consumers of chocolate and consume an average of 23lbs of chocolate per year, per head of population (compared to 17lbs in the UK).

Some of the reasons why Swiss chocolate is so popular is because of the type milk used in the chocolate – from specially bred Swiss cows – only the finest cocoa beans are used, and also the techniques used in making the chocolate (it generally undergoes a much longer folding and rolling process, called conching).

Cheese

Just as chocolate has made a name for itself in Switzerland, so has cheese. Most of the country’s cheese is made with cow’s milk and the remainder are made up of sheep or goat’s milk. The Swiss are estimated to consumer around 47lbs of cheese per year, per head of population.

Some of the most popular names in Swiss cheese are: Emmental (a medium hard cheese which is known to have holes or ‘eyes’ in and is produced in the Bern canton of Switzerland), Gruyère (a hard cheese with Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée status) and Raclette, which is also a Swiss dish as well as a cheese. Both Emmental and Gruyère are used in fondues.

Swiss Army Knife

Swiss Army Knives are known world-wide as small, multi-purpose pocket knives in usually a red casing which house a variety of pull-out options for everyday use from nail files to screwdrivers, bottle openers and scissors.

It has its origins in the latter half of the 19th century after a company producing folding pocket knives gained the contract for the Swiss military. The biggest Swiss Army penknife is The Giant, an 87 multi-functional tool penknife which made its way into the Guinness Book of Records. The most up-to-date and advanced versions include Bluetooth and also a laser pointer.

Musical Boxes

Fine musical boxes have been produced in Sainte-Croix in Switzerland since the early 19th century and a century ago they made up as much as 10 per cent of the country’s exports.

The music box began in the last part of the 18th century when a pocket watchmaker created a musical watch. This caught people’s imagination and Sainte-Croix became the capital of the music box industry. There is even a museum dedicated to musical boxes (including wind up singing birds) in the Canton of Vaud. Swiss music boxes are known for its high quality craftsmanship and attention to detail.

In addition to musical boxes, Switzerland is also known for creating fine quality musical instruments, laces and carved wooden objects. 

About Hamiltons

Hamiltons offer weekly removals to Switzerland and, in addition to our European removals, we are also experts in the removals of specialist items including antiques and high quality musical instruments.

Removals to Switzerland – click here for full information on our removals to Switzerland service or click here for a free European removals quote.

Friday 1 March 2013

Removals to Switzerland: Swiss Watch Making

If you require removals to Switzerland, you will already know that the country is renowned for its fine watch-making. For many people, owning a Swiss watch is something to aspire to and, whatever your budget, there are many different types of fine Swiss watches, from affordable ones to time pieces worth several millions.

Before you move to Switzerland, you will need a company to rely on for the safe removals of your possessions to Switzerland. Hamiltons is dedicated to customer service and, whether you require commercial or household moves, you can depend on us for prompt and efficient European removals including removals to Switzerland.

Our removals to Switzerland service is specifically designed to suit the customer and, whether you want storage, transportation, packing, unpacking, the supply of boxes, cleaning or the removal of specialist items, we can help.

Meanwhile, if you require removals to Switzerland and love fine watches, see below to find a brief history of watch-making and some of the leading names who produce these important time-pieces.

Removals to Switzerland – click here to read more about our removals to Switzerland service.

History of Watch Making in Switzerland


Geneva has been at the centre of Swiss watch making from the 16th century thanks to the various restrictions put in place during the Protestant Reformation. Influential pastor Jean Calvin banned people wearing jewels which meant jewellers put their skills into another form of craft – watch making.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the Genevan watchmakers won critical acclaim for their fine quality craftsmanship and the Watchmakers’ Guild of Geneva was founded at the start of the 17th century. A hundred years later, thousands of watches were being exported from Switzerland.

The Swiss brought about a number of innovations including the first wrist watch and the first water-proof watch. Now Swiss watches are sold all over the globe from the colourful fashion accessories to jewelled watches worth hundreds of thousands of Euros. The Swiss export billions of pounds worth of watches a year. And watches that carry the mark ‘Swiss Made’ are seen as the ultimate in quality, beauty and originality of design.

Some Leading Names in Watch Making in Switzerland

If you require removals to Switzerland and want to invest in a Swiss timepiece, there are numerous brands to choose from. We have been unable to include all the leading names here as there are other fantastic Swiss brands that you may also want to consider. So here are our top pick of just some of the best known names.

Rolex – Rolex is the largest luxury watch brand and many people aspire to owning one. The company was founded in England just over a century ago but moved its base to Geneva in 1919.  Some £190 billion of Rolex watches are produced a year and it was the first ever company to produce a water resistant wrist watch. Rolexes have played an important part in certain historic events – the organiser of the Great Escape ordered one while he was still a prisoner of war! His Rolex was to play an important timekeeping role in the escape.

Swatch – The Swatch Group is the largest watch company in the world. The brand was developed in the 1980’s and is known for its brightly coloured line of watches worn as a fashion statement. Swatch watches have less components than other watches and are reasonably priced. Swatch have five product lines.

Omega – This brand has made history as an Omega watch was the first watch that made its way to the moon in 1969! An Omega watch has also been worn by James Bond in films since the mid 1990’s. Omega is owned by the Swatch Group.

Tag Heuer – Tag Heuer watches have been worn by a host of celebrities from Steve McQueen to Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt and Barrack Obama.  The company can trace its roots to the 1860’s and is based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Tissot – The brand was founded in the mid 19th century and is part of the Swatch Group. It produces high quality time pieces at reasonable prices and the watches are sold in about 160 countries world-wide.

Longines – This company was founded in 1832 and is also part of the Swatch Group. It is known for its ‘Aviator’ watches which American aviator Charles Lindberg helped design. A Longines watch was also used in an expedition to the North Pole in 1899.

Chopard – This luxury watch brand was founded in 1860 and initially specialised in developing highly accurate pocket watches. In the mid 20th century it was seen as a benchmark in precision luxury watches.

Zenith - This company specialises in high end watches and these timepieces are well known for their precision and quality. Zenith is a subsidiary of LVMH (Moët Hennessy. Louis Vuitton).

Breitling – Breitling was founded in 1884. In addition to its other product lines, it has an Emergency line of watches designed for pilots who encounter difficulties. In 2003, two British helicopter pilots who crashed in Antarctica were rescued after activating the emergency transmitter on their Breitling Emergency watches.

Baume et Mercia – This company was founded in 1830 and is sold in 75 countries world-wide, with the principal market in Europe. It is known as a manufacturer of sports related chronographs (watches combined with stopwatches).

Patek Philippe – Patek Philippe produces some of the most complicated and expensive watches in the world and some have been auctioned for millions. The company makes its own components and, in the mid 19th century, it supplied watches to Queen Victoria.

Removals to Switzerland  – click here for full information on our removals to Switzerland service or click here for a free European removals quote.