Welcome to ViaStoria!

Lane between pastures near Gondo VS

Portrait

ViaStoria was established in April 2003. It developed out of a specialist organisation, the Inventory of Historical Traffic Routes in Switzerland IVS. The purpose behind the establishment of the new ViaStoria was to preserve the considerable amount of specialised knowledge amassed by the IVS once work on the Swiss federal inventory had been completed, and to continue to work on the exploration, renovation and appropriate use of historic traffic routes. As a spin-off company of the University of Bern and in close contact with its Department for Economic, Social and Environmental History at the Institute of History headed by Professor Christian Pfister, ViaStoria is directly involved in university research. This involvement makes an important contribution to the organisation’s activities, as do its varied contacts with administrative bodies at federal and cantonal level.

Through the ViaStoria – Foundation for Transport History which has close relations with the university, ViaStoria conducts research into transport history and supports non-profit making activities all over Switzerland aimed at protecting and preserving historic transport routes.As members of the ViaStoria Promotion Association, private individuals, firms and institutions support its research into transport history and the implementation of projects to preserve historic transport routes. Membership entitles them to benefit from a wide range of excursions, public events and publications.

The commercial side of ViaStoria’s activities – provision of services, commissions, and project management – is carried out by the ViaStoria AG.