At the end of the 19th century, the British author Arthur Conan Doyle creates the character of Sherlock Holmes, who will become the archetype of the detective. Both the creator and the creation have a connection with Switzerland. Learn more about it through this online exhibition illustrated with photographs from archives.
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Most of the pictures used for this online exhibition come from the Fonds Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (IS 4314) belonging to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation and kept at the manuscript department of the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire – Lausanne since 1975.
“ For a man who suffers from too much dignity, a course of Norwegian snow-shoes would have a fine moral effect. „
Arthur Conan Doyle, “An Alpine Pass on ‘Ski’”, The Strand Magazine, December 1894
Chapters
Arthur Conan Doyle made various stays in Switzerland, first a short and mostly touristic one in the summer of 1893, then longer ones, mainly in Davos, for the benefit of his first wife who suffered from tuberculosis. He will return repeatedly to Switzerland until the 1920’s with his second wife and their children. In the canton of Grisons, Conan Doyle will practice many winter sports, particularly skiing, which he will help to popularize. Decades later, his youngest son, Adrian Conan Doyle, will spend the last years of his life in Lucens, in the canton of Vaud, where he will buy the castle in 1965. Within its walls, he will create the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation and also maintain a museum dedicated to the lif and work of his father.
As to Sherlock Holmes, his passage through Switzerland will be brief but full of significance as the readers of the short story The Adventure of the Final Problem (1893), which is partially set and concludes in Switzerland, will discover. This important moment in the detective’s career will make Switzerland a place of pilgrimage for his devotees.
Most of the pictures used for this online exhibition come from the Fonds Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (IS 4314) belonging to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation and kept at the manuscript department of the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire – Lausanne since 1975.
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Arthur Conan Doyle
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Sherlock Holmes
Learn more about this online exhibition
“ For a man who suffers from too much dignity, a course of Norwegian snow-shoes would have a fine moral effect. „
Arthur Conan Doyle, “An Alpine Pass on ‘Ski’”, The Strand Magazine, December 1894