Swiss Banknote Series: 50 Franc Note

Sophie Täuber-Arp (1889-1943)

The first woman in our series, Sophie Täuber-Arp is a female artist born in Davos, Switzerland in 1889. She married the Dada artist Jean Arp in 1922. She studied art in Munich and France, as well as in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Her art is highly geometric in nature with influences of Cubism. She was skilled in textile techniques, sculpture, paint, and dance. Samples of her artwork can be viewed online through the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

She died in Zurich in 1943 when a gas stove in her home malfunctioned while she was sleeping.

Today, the Swiss bill carrying her image will buy you a Skross World Adapter PRO+ at melectronics. It is, quite honestly, the best travel adapter Swiss Francs can buy. I own two of them (and it only cost me “a pair of Sophie’s” as they say in Switzerland).

September 14, 2011September 11, 2011

Swiss Banknote Series: 20 Franc Note

Arthur Honegger (1892 – 1955)

Born in 1892 in Le Havre, France to a Swiss family, Arthur Honegger would become a celebrated composer with significant Swiss connections. He studied music in Paris and Zurich. Among his many compositions is one entitled “Pacific 231” a symphony that attempts to recreate the sounds of a steam locomotive that goes by the same name.

He lived in Paris for most of his life, and died of a heart attack after a protracted illness in 1955. His last composition was a Christmas cantata. Below is a YouTube video featuring some of his music.

Nowadays, 20 Francs will buy you a case of Feldschlossen Bier at Coop.

September 7, 2011September 5, 2011

Swiss Banknote Series: 10 Franc Note

Charles Edouard Jeanneret (1887-1965)

Known as Le Corbusier (a pseudonym), Jeanneret was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland (in Canton Neuchâtel). Though he become a French citizen later in life, he was honored by the Swiss National Bank for being a well-known architect and pioneer of modern architecture. He was particularly interested in using architecture to provide better living conditions for people in crowded cities.

His most well-known project was the planning and implementation of the Indian city of Chandigarh. He was commissioned by the Indian government to develop the city as a new capital of the Indian state of Punjab. Of note, he also designed the stadium that was to become Saddam Hussein Stadium in Baghdad. He also designed a number of private homes, including one called “Villa Schwob” in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

He died at the age of 77 while swimming in the Mediterranean sea near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France.

Today, the banknote bearing his image will buy you two coffees, and two gipfeli at Migros Take-Away.

September 5, 2011

Swiss Banknote Series: Introduction

It feels like almost everyday I end up going to an ATM machine to withdraw my hard-earned American Dollars as Swiss Francs. We’ve mentioned before on this blog how expensive things can be here, but it is more than just the expense that makes me look at Switzerland’s money in a different light. Certainly Switzerland is a world financial powerhouse and daily updates from the newspapers detail the complex policy-making issues within the Swiss National Bank.

But living here has given me the opportunity to really examine the issued notes that make up the money. It’s not something we usually think about in America, but maybe that’s because I know who George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Benjamin Franklin are (not to mention Sacajawea), but who are the people on the Swiss Currency, and what did they do to get immortalized like this?

Part of this interest has been prompted by the recently publicized Swiss Franc New Banknote Project. In 2012 the Swiss National Bank will start printing new currency whose design was the result of a contest. So for a few posts over the next several weeks, I was going to look at who was on each Swiss Franc Banknote (10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 1000 – never seen that one), and find out a little about them. And if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll throw in a bonus post about the coins if you’re lucky.