The architecture of Switzerland was influenced by its location astride major trade routes, along with diverse architectural traditions of the four national languages. Romans and later Italians brought their monumental and vernacular architecture north over the Alps, meeting the Germanic and German styles coming south and French influences coming east. Additionally, Swiss mercenary service brought architectural elements from other lands back to Switzerland. All the major styles including ancient Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, Modern architecture and Post Modern are well represented throughout the country. The founding of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne in La Sarraz and the work of Swiss-born modern architects such as Le Corbusier helped spread Modern architecture throughout the world.
The relative isolation of villages in the Alpine foothills, the Alps and the Jura mountains as well as different languages led to great diversity in the vernacular style. Due to differing traditions, climate and building materials, villages in each region are distinctly different. The Swiss chalet style, which was popular in the 19th century represents only one of a number of traditional designs. Today, due to historic preservation laws and tourism, large and small communities have retained many of their historic core buildings. Since 1972 the Swiss Heritage Society has awarded the Wakker Prize to encourage communities to preserve their architectural heritage.
Ancient architecture
Some of the earliest known buildings in Switzerland were prehistoric stilt houses which were built by the Pfyn, Horgen, Cortaillod and La Tène cultures between 4000 and 500 BC. A number of these early buildings have been rebuilt near the sites where the ruins were discovered.
Following the defeat of the Helvetii at the Battle of Bibracte of 58 BC, over the next decades much of Switzerland was incorporated into the Roman Empire. The principal Roman settlements in Switzerland were the cities of Iulia Equestris (Nyon), Aventicum (Avenches), Augusta Raurica (Augst) and Vindonissa (Windisch). Evidence has also been found of almost twenty Roman villages (vici) established in the 1st to 3rd century AD, as well as hundreds of villas of varying sizes built in the western and central part of the Swiss Plateau. The Legio XIII Gemina, was based in the permanent camp of Vindonissa (Windisch) and Aventicum (Avenches) was the capital of the Helvetii.
Under pressure from internal and external forces, the Roman Army retreated and Switzerland became a border province in the 4th century. Nyon and Augusta Raurica were permanently abandoned during the 4th century, the stones of their ruins serving to fortify Geneva and Basel.Ducrey, p. 104. Aventicum never recovered from its pillages: Ammianus Marcellinus noted in around 360 that "the city was once very illustrious, as its half-ruined buildings attest."Ducrey, p. 101.
There are a number of excavated or rebuilt Roman sites in Switzerland. Some of the ruins of Roman settlements were later incorporated into houses, churches and city walls. All four of the major Roman cities have some relics of the Roman era. Augusta Raurica has parts of the amphitheater, aqueduct, the main forum and a theater. At Avenches the eastern gates and a tower, a thermal bath, the 16,000 seat amphitheater and temple ruins are still visible. At Nyon, the Roman ruins were lost until their rediscovery in the 18th century, which included the amphitheater and basilica. At Windisch the legionaries camp, an amphitheater and an aqueduct are all visible.
Ancient indigenous architecture includes rock shelters called "splüi", grotti and other anonymous architecture using rock.
Pre-Romanesque
The Pre-Romanesque period is considered to stretch from the emergence of the Merovingian kingdom in about 500 to the beginning of the 11th century Romanesque period, though there is considerable overlap. During the early centuries of this period, the area that would become Switzerland was sparsely populated and almost nothing remains of any buildings from the period between 500 and the late 8th century. During the Carolingian Renaissance of the 8th and 9th centuries, many new monasteries and churches sprung up across Western Europe. Carolingian architecture borrowed heavily from Early Christian and Byzantine architecture and helped lead to the Romanesque style in the following centuries. To begin expanding their power into the deep forests and isolated mountain valleys, the Carolingian kings established several monasteries in Switzerland.
One well preserved example of this style in Switzerland is Saint John Abbey, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was probably founded around 775 either on orders of Charlemagne or his Bishop in Chur. Many of the frescoes in the chapel are from the first half of the 9th century.UNESCO list accessed 12 October 2016 Another well known example of Carolingian architecture is the World Heritage Site Abbey of St. Gall which, while it was rebuilt in the Baroque style between 1755 and 1768, is based on the much older Carolingian monastery. The Abbey library of Saint Gall contains around 2,100 manuscripts from the 8th to the 15th centuries including the Plan of St. Gall, the only surviving major architectural drawing from the 6th to the 13th centuries. The Plan is a drawing of a proposed, but never built, Benedictine monastery.
Romanesque architecture
Some of the defining characteristics of Romanesque architecture is solid walls with few, small, semi-circular, paired windows, groin vaults and in religious architecture rows of columns that separate the nave from the aisles. In the 11th and 12th centuries, architecture in Switzerland can be roughly divided into three zones of influence, the Lombards in the south, Burgundy in the west and Germanic in the north and east, though there is significant overlap. The Lombard and Burgundian craftsmen experimented with barrel and groined vaults and carved capitals and friezes. In the Germanic parts of Europe, the ecclesiastical Romanesque style often included an apse on both the eastern and western ends of the nave, such as was shown in the Plan of St. Gall. The western apse was often flanked by two symmetrical, square towers which may include a westwork.
When the Cluniac reforms spread through Switzerland in the late 10th and 11th centuries, it triggered a wave of church and monastery construction. All five Bishops in the area (Basel, Chur, Geneva, Lausanne and Sion) built Romanesque cathedrals, which included a full range of Romanesque and later Gothic elements. Romainmôtier Priory and Payerne Priory were both daughter houses of Cluny and were built in the Cluniac inspired Romanesque style. Romainmôtier was built by Lombard trained craftsmen by Odilo of Cluny around the end of the 10th century and has remained generally unchanged since then. The central nave features pillars with simply carved capitals and a groined ceiling.
The cathedrals at Basel and Constance and the monasteries at Schaffhausen and Einsiedeln were all built with two symmetric square towers flanking the main portal like Cluny. Though all four of these examples were later rebuilt in other styles, the Romanesque floor plan is generally still visible. The Grossmünster in Zurich also shows Lombard elements despite being firmly in the Germanic zone.
In addition to church and monastery construction, a number of Romanesque forts and castles were built throughout the country side. In German Switzerland wooden forts were replaced by stone towers, though in the French and Italian areas stone castles had remained common since the Roman era. These new castles featured a large, multi-story tower with thick, heavy walls. The central tower was then surrounded by a ring wall with towers and a gate house. As long-distance trade increased, the castles were placed along rivers and mountain passes to collect tolls and regulate movement. The Counts of Savoy built castles with square ring walls and towers on the corners such as Grandson and Yverdon. The Counts of Zähringen built large donjon like residence towers such as Thun Castle. The Counts of Kyburg built their castles with massive stones, visible in Kyburg Castle.
Gothic architecture
Originating in 12th-century France and lasting into the 16th century, its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault (which evolved from the joint vaulting of Romanesque architecture) and the flying buttress. Today, the style is known mainly from numerous Gothic churches and cathedrals scattered across Europe. In Switzerland many Romanesque churches and monasteries were built in the bishop's seat or were supported by the bishops. In contrast, Gothic churches were often built in growing towns and cities as a symbol of their wealth and power. The newly founded mendicant orders built Gothic churches, plague houses and hospitals for much the same reason. By the late Gothic era a number of smaller Gothic parish churches were being built across the country.
The style spread quickly into French-speaking Switzerland with the construction of Lausanne Cathedral beginning around 1170–90. The rose window (1210) and the statue decorated portal (1230), had come from France and in the following centuries would be widely copied throughout Switzerland. Around 1215, the Gothic upper part of Geneva's Cathedral was completed on the Romanesque lower part. From there Gothic spread gradually throughout the region driven by trade and the growing wealth of the mendicant orders. Between 1270 and the 14th century the Franciscans built Gothic churches or monasteries in Lucerne, Fribourg and Basel, the Dominican Order built two in Basel along with complexes in Bern, Zurich and at Königsfelden Monastery and the Augustinians built one in Fribourg.
As the population grew during the 13th to 16th century, a number of new parishes were established. For example, around Zurich in the period between 1470 and 1525 over half of the approximately 100 parishes had a new Gothic church. Many of these new churches included a polygonal choir, lit with large windows and topped with a ribbed roof. The basilica nave had smooth walls and was topped with a flat roof. Many of these new parish churches included rich stained glass windows, some of which are still in place today. A French trained school of fresco painters developed in Waltensburg/Vuorz and decorated churches throughout Graubünden with Gothic frescos.
After the 1356 Basel earthquake, the damaged choir of Basel's cathedral was rebuilt in a Gothic Rayonnant style. The towers and west façade were rebuilt in Gothic style during the 15th century. In 1421 construction began on the Bern Minster, one of the most important late-Gothic buildings in Switzerland. Its size and ornate design were a testament to the growing wealth and power of the new city-state. Throughout Zurich, Graubünden and Valais a number of new Gothic parish churches sprung up throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. However, in Inner Switzerland, the only new construction was the parish church of St. Oswald in Zug.
In contrast to the ornate and distinctive Gothic churches, Gothic secular buildings tended to be understated and include only a few Gothic elements. Wealthy traders and patricians built houses with pointed arch windows or other Gothic decorations. The city halls of newly powerful cities such as Bern, Fribourg and Basel include a few Gothic elements (the ceiling in Bern, the star-ribbed vaulting in Fribourg) but lack a unified motif.
Renaissance architecture