CULTURE
Switzerland may not rank foremost
among the centres of European culture, the country nevertheless
can boast of an impressive list of contributors to the arts and
sciences. On the one hand, because of limited opportunities at
home, some of Switzerland's creative minds have chosen to live
elsewhere. This has been especially true of architects. On the
other hand, Switzerland's traditional neutrality and its laws
of political asylum have made the country a magnet for many creative
persons during times of unrest or war in Europe. The mid-19th
century was such a period, as were the 1930s and '40s, when the
rise of fascism caused a number of German, Austrian, and Italian
writers such as Thomas Mann, Stefan George, and Ignazio Silone
to seek harbour in Switzerland.
Swiss culture has contributed
notably to literature, art, and music. It is an amalgam of the
German, French, and Italian cultures embodied in the Swiss linguistic
regions; however, it is separated from these parent cultures,
for example, by Swiss dialects and cultural cross-pollination.
From early times Switzerland has been exposed to many foreign
influences, and as early as the Middle Ages the country had achieved
a high cultural level. Carolingian culture, particularly painting
and Romanesque architecture, flourished, and the Saint Gall monastery
was a brilliant center of Western culture. Since then most European
cultural trends, such as humanism and the Reformation, have been
assimilated. Calvin and Huldreich Zwingli.
Much of modern cultural life
has been influenced by television. The three networks, French,
German, and Italian, while portraying their respective cultures,
include many programs from France, Germany, and Italy. French-language
television also includes shows from Canada and Belgium, whereas
the German network presents programs from Austria. All of the
country is influenced by American movies and television programs.
Cable television, reflecting the Europeanization of Switzerland,
has brought a wide variety of additional programs to the large
urban centres.
