How It All Began

The history of Technorama is closely linked to the former industrial city of Winterthur. Many of the company names like Rieter Machine Works, the Hard Mechanical Spinning Mill or the Johann Jacob Sulzer Iron Foundry, which subsequently became the major Sulzer enterprise, are only now known as bus stops.

Today Technorama is the first science centre in Switzerland and one of the largest in Europe. Its unique offer of exhibitions, shows and labs fosters interest in natural phenomena with amazing experiences. Enthusiasm and understanding for scientific and technical issues.

1947

As early as 1947, an organisation was established for the foundation of a technical museum for Switzerland. Objects of historical interest were collected primarily from the stocks of industrial companies located in the city of Winterthur and the "golden triangle" of Swiss mechanical engineering – Winterthur, Zurich and Baden.

1969

On 26 June 1969, a foundation called TECHNORAMA OF SWITZERLAND was set up with the intended purpose of establishing "an educational institution which would present science and technology in a living exhibition (…)" in the form of a museum exhibition. The aim was, in turn, to enable the public at large to have direct experimental contact with these themes.

1982

1982 saw the opening of an exhibition in Technorama, modelled after conventional, technical museums and comprised of sundry industrial artefacts, ranging from steam engines and devices for testing materials to music boxes. The collection was supplemented with information panels and an audio-visual "superstructure". With it, Technorama achieved a certain degree of fame, for instance, with the "Spitlight", the world's largest slide projector.

1984

In 1984, the "Phenomena" science exhibition was held in Zurich. Following the didactic principles of the German educationalist Hugo Kükelhaus, the exhibition presented approximately 200 natural phenomena and experiments involving water, mechanics, acoustics, light and colour, many of which were in the form of sensory hands-on exhibits. Due to its success, the exhibition was subsequently presented in South Africa, in the Netherlands, in Germany and then again in Zurich and attracted more than 5.4 million visitors.

1985

But even this 18-metre-long monstrosity designed by the Ticinese tinkerer and aircraft engineer Gianni Andreoli was not able to circumvent the fact that fewer and fewer visitors were interested in obsolete installations and machines. In 1985, as the number of visitors continued to decline almost completely, Technorama faced serious financial troubles and bankruptcy.

1990

The former director of Technorama Remo Besio (1940 -2016) was also enthusiastic about phenomena. In June 1990, a new mission statement was adopted which, on the one hand, was based on Hugo Kükelhaus's principles and, on the other hand, took up the idea behind the Anglo-Saxon science centres, in particular the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Inspired by Frank Oppenheimer (USA), Richard Gregory, Steven Pizzey (both UK) and based on the comprehensive collection of technical reports and evaluations from the American Association of Science and Technology Centers ASTC, steps would be taken to gradually transform Technorama into an interactive science centre.

2000

By 2000, the technical museum was systematically transformed into a science center. In November 2013, the name was officially changed from "Foundation Technorama of Switzerland, Science and Technology in a Living Exhibition" to the "Swiss Science Center Technorama". Since then Technorama has been a diverse and atmospheric experimental exhibition dedicated to learning with a strong element of play.

2003

This reorientation led not only to an encouraging increase in the number of visitors, but also to a sharp increase in the number of youth visiting, including pre-school age children. The Youth Lab, which canton Zurich had furnished and operated in 1982 as a supplement to the Technorama museum, was organizationally affiliated with Technorama in 2003.

2012

In a further stage of development, this Youth Lab was refurbished in 2012, allowing for a significant expansion of its exisiting offerings. In the Swiss Science Center, there are now seven labs – two each for biology, chemistry and physics labs, supplemented by an atelier with workbenches for workshops geared towards a more constructive approach. Some 70,000 students visit Technorama within the framework of a class trip every year, making it the largest out-of-school learning institution for the sciences in Switzerland. With its offerings in the exhibitions and labs, it shapes the manner in which the sciences are appreciated, learned and taught in Switzerland.

2021

On 18 April 2021, the gates opened for the new outdoor area «Technorama Outdoors» with the impressive Wonder Bridge. With natural phenomena under the open sky and in XXL format, Technorama is now also positioning itself as a unique fair-weather destination.