Basis and synthesis

Street scene at Andelfingen ZH, 1958

Transport History of Switzerland (PDF document in german, 560 kB)

Research

The research department of ViaStoria developed in the mid 1990’s out of the need to give a theoretical basis to the empirical results gained on the history of traffic through the activity of the IVS and to incorporate the specific professional knowledge of ViaStoria workers in a scientific network.

The research emphasis of recent years has been supported in part by the Swiss National Foundation and lies on the traffic system of the Roman period and on the transformation of the traffic from the 18th to the 20th century. To the first topic belong the studies of Sabine Bolliger on the local changes of the road system in Roman times and in the early Middle Ages and also the work of Guy Schneider on cart ruts and the problem of their dating.

Regarding the second topic, Hans-Ulrich Schiedt participates in two research projects, one that investigates the accessibility of regions over a longer period of time, and another study of the general development of traffic from the mid 18th century until 1910, a study that raises questions about the widely held idea of a ‘Transport revolution of the 19th century. The results of these research projects are flowing into the project of a complete Transport History of Switzerland that determines the activities of ViaStoria’s research sector.

	Current Projects G
	Completed Projects G
	Research Report 2009 (PDF 1 MB)

Contact:

Dr. Hans-Ulrich Schiedt, Research Manager

Tel. +41 (0)44 240 34 05, hans-ulrich.schiedt@viastoria.ch