Cantina Transalpina
Women and men on the big tunnel construction sites of Switzerland 1870 – 2005.
With the cultural project “Cantina Transalpina”, the Verein Tunnelbau und Gender presents six exhibitions on the social history of tunnel construction in the summer of 2007 in Brig, Göschenen, Kandersteg, Pollegio, on the Gotthard Pass and in the Verkehrshaus Luzern.
What wants to be a right mountain in Switzerland has a tunnel. In 2007, two of these buildings will be the focus of public attention: the Gotthard Tunnel (celebrating its 125th anniversary) and the Lötschberg Base Tunnel.
The history of tunneling so far was mostly a man’s story because it focused on working in tunnels — on engineers and miners. The exhibitions illuminate the environment of the tunnel construction site as a whole, the everyday life in the tunnel villages. This also brings into focus the women and children who moved with the miners and engineers to the tunnel construction site as well as the women and men who worked in the trade around it. Also shown are the interactions between the temporary community and the resident population.