Journey filmed in Swiss towns
There are plenty of exciting journeys to choose from. Along the way, they illustrate in a light-hearted manner the historical roots of Swiss place names in all their richness.
Some visitors will recall the pyramid of flags at the previous national exhibition held in 1964 and others may even remember the flagbedecked Höhenweg at the 1939 Expo, popularly known as the Landi. Onoma builds on this tradition. Researchers have sought to explain the names of all Switzerland’s towns and villages. There are some astonishing revelations.
Did you know, for instance, that Yverdon-les-Bains, Kloten and Rhäzuns all derive partly from the same Celtic word for a castle (dunum)? Sit down, enter any postcode or place name in the system, and you are off on one of 143 mystery tours created by 39 film-makers in some 600 villages all over the country.
The complete inventory can be accessed on computer terminals – you can peruse the key particulars, read an explanation of the name, study a map showing related names and watch an interview. And if there is no interview for your home town or village, you can rectify matters by submitting its name, traditions and particularities to one of the Onoma journalists.
Words of the curator
"Certain vanished peoples have left a last trace in the name of a place. This category also includes the memory of certain minorities who settled in regions with a different language, in particular certain Alemannic groups in French-speaking Switzerland. Ethnic names seem to be particularly common in Alpine regions where small pre-Romanic populations had retreated."
selected from the onomastic study by Professor Andres Kristol "The Journey of the Disappeared Peoples".
www.onoma.ch
Arteplage
Yverdon-les-Bains
Visitor capacity per day
6'160
Total visitors
576'890
Partner
Swiss Post Ltd, Berne www.post.ch
Swiss municipalities www.schweizer-gemeinde.ch
Swiss cities www.staedteverband.ch
Idea
Expo.02
Université de Neuchâtel (Prof. Andres Kristol), Neuchâtel www.unine.ch
Scientific study
Université de Neuchâtel (Prof. Andres Kristol), Neuchâtel www.unine.ch
Project management
Urs E. Gröflin
Artistic supervision Films
Christoph Schaub www.schaubfilm.ch
Production Management Films
Amka Film Production SA (Tiziana Soudani), Savosa www.amka,ch
Architecture
Burkhalter Sumi Architekten GmbH (Marianne Burkhalter,Ivo Bertolo), Zurich www.atelierburkhaltersumi.ch
Scenography
Burkhalter Sumi Architekten GmbH (Trix Wetter), Zurich www.atelierburkhaltersumi.ch
Project management construction
Archobau AG (Peter Diggelmann), Zurich www.archobau.ch
IT
Pine Point Systems AG (Rolf Zemp), Alpnach Dorf
Forum Informatik AG (gelöscht) (Jens Lassau), Zurich
Coordination municipalities
TextCom AG (Silvio Weilenmann), Rüfenacht
Swiss Association of Municipalities (Sigisbert Lutz), Berne www.schweizer-gemeinde.ch
Swiss Association of Cities (Dr. Urs Geissmann), Berne www.staedteverband.ch
Coordination Swiss Post
Thomas Küffer
Reiny Schnyder
Coaching Expo.02
Sergio Cavero (Head)
Deborah Rozenblum
Guides
Sandra Bigler, Barbla Etter, Célia Francillon, Roger Huber, Michel Kaenel, Marisa Mattey, Jacqueline Meisser, Thierry Muller, Michel Remy, Salomé Schardt, Reto Siffert, Pierre-Alain Sonderegger, Jürg Thomi, Caroline Wirz, Tamara Zehnder
Photos: Press kit Onoma; © Martin Lüchinger
