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10 events in Switzerland you shouldn’t miss this January

From New Year’s celebrations to food markets and sporting competitions, here are the top events you shouldn’t miss out on this January in Switzerland.

Published: 27 December 2023 11:01 CET
10 events in Switzerland you shouldn't miss this January
Lucerne's firework show is a highlight every year. Photo by rovenimages.com from pexels.

New Year Fireworks

To mark the New Year, Lucerne will be illuminating the sky with a spectacular firework show – Neujahrszauber – from 8.15pm on January 1st 2024.

For the best view, head to the pier along the quay to view the display in all its glory.

Most towns and villages around Switzerland will have some sort of event – often with fireworks – on New Year’s Eve (although this year some local authorities have decided against them due to cost and environmental impact). Check your canton’s website for details of events near you. 

Touch The Mountains

If you like to ring in the new year with song and dance, we recommend swinging by the Touch The Mountains open-air festival held in Interlaken on January 1st 2024. The event will feature local talent, including popular singer and songwriter Bastian Baker, from 2pm.

Hurry and snag a (still available) ticket for 40 Swiss francs. Note that children aged 12 and under pay 30 francs, however, strollers are not allowed in the Golden Circle area.

New Year’s Eve Ceremony

Lugano’s New Year’s Eve festivities will begin with a procession, organised by the city’s authorities and associations, at 11am on January 1st. The procession will start from Piazza della Riforma in the direction of Piazza Manzoni and be followed by an address by the city’s mayor Michele Foletti and citizen Marco Solari at 11.30am and an aperitif at 12.30pm.

Harder-Potschete

Every year on January 2nd, Interlaken is haunted by the Hardermann – the Harder Kulm Mountain spirit – his wife (Wyb) and his many followers (Potschenen). If you’re brave enough to cross their path, head to Markplatz (starting point) to witness this decades-old procession, rich in culture and tradition, yourself.

PhotoSchweiz

Switzerland’s largest public photography event will take over Zurich’s exhibitions halls at Halle 550 in Zürich-Nord from January 6th to 10th. The event, which sees some 28,000 visitors each year, will include outstanding artwork from over 250 photographers and feature a market where photography companies can present their latest products.

Lilu Light Festival

Lucerne’s 5th Lulu Light Festival will once again light up the city with 20 creative light installations by a selection of global artists. The show will take place from January 11th to 21st in the Lucerne’s old town and around the city’s lake basin.

Old New Year’s Eve

Did you know that Switzerland’s Appenzellerland celebrates the turn of the year not once, but twice? The region commemorates the new year according to the Gregorian calendar on December 31st and again according to the Julian calendar on January 13th.

The tradition, which was first mentioned in 1663, includes three Silvesterchläuse (masked persons): the Schöne (pretty), Schö-Wüeschte (pretty-ugly) and Wüeschte (ugly). The trio set out in the early hours of the morning and go from home to home to wish every resident a happy new year.

If you happen to reside outside of Appenzell, you can still travel to the region to catch a glimpse of the trio making their rounds about town or head to a local pub to engage with them in person. For the latter, we recommend booking at a pub table early.

Paint in the Dark

Whether you fancy yourself a bit of an artist who’s up for a challenge or a newbie with a flair for art, Paint in the Dark guarantees fun for everyone. The pop-up event – where you will be painting, you guessed it, with luminescent pigments with the help of special lighting – will take place in Geneva on January 19th (6.50pm-8.50pm). The event is bilingual in English and French.

Cross de Lausanne

On January 27th, you get the chance to join Switzerland’s largest national cross-country event in Lausanne.

The sporting event will see some 800 runners – from top athletes to casual joggers – as well as several national teams run around a 1-kilometre circuit within the grounds of Bourget Park.

Olive Oil Special Market

If you’re on looking for something different to do come January, we have good news. On January 27th (10am-3pm), Basel’s Markthalle will host its Olivenöl-Spezialmarkt dedicated to one of the oldest foods in the world. There, you can chat with olive oil producers and find out what makes great oils while sampling top quality products.

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CULTURE

Swiss museum to remove five paintings linked to Nazi looting

The Kunsthaus Zurich, one of Switzerland's most prestigious art museums, has announced it will remove five paintings after a review of their provenance under new guidelines for dealing with artworks looted by the Nazis.

Published: 15 June 2024 12:30 CEST
Swiss museum to remove five paintings linked to Nazi looting

A sixth painting also came in for additional scrutiny, the foundation responsible for the Emil Buhrle Collection said, though it did not believe the new guidelines applied to the work.

The foundation’s namesake was a German-born arms dealer who made his fortune during World War II, and there have long been suspicions about the Nazi-era origins of one of Europe’s most prestigious private art collections.

“The Kunsthaus Zurich has been informed by the Foundation E.G. Buhrle Collection that the Foundation is seeking solutions with the legal successors of former owners for six works in the collection,” the museum said in a Friday statement.

“The Kunsthaus welcomes this approach, but in the interests of visitors very much regrets that five of the paintings will be removed from the Kunsthaus premises” by the foundation on Thursday, it added.

The paintings in question are by Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.

In a statement of its own, the foundation explained it had “subjected its artworks to a further assessment” of their provenance based on new best practices from the US State Department for dealing with Nazi-looted art.

For the five works being removed from the museum, “the Foundation will seek just and fair solutions with the descendants or other legal successors of the former owners.”

The foundation determined that “based on established facts”, a sixth painting by Edouard Manet “does not fall under the scope of the ‘Best Practices'”, though the case still merited “particular attention”.

“Due to the overall historical circumstances relating to the sale, the Foundation is prepared to offer a financial contribution to the estate of Max Silberberg in respect to the tragic destiny of the former owner,” it said.

The Kunsthaus has previously run into trouble showing the Buhrle collection, with critics last year saying its attempt to put the works in context did not focus enough on the fate of the art’s former Jewish owners.

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