Helvetia

Helvetia () is the female national personification of Switzerland, officially ''Confoederatio Helvetica,'' the Swiss Confederation.

The allegory is typically pictured in a flowing gown, with a spear and a shield emblazoned with the Swiss flag, and commonly with braided hair, commonly with a wreath as a symbol of confederation. The name is a derivation of the ethnonym '' Helvetii'', the name of the Gaulish tribe inhabiting the Swiss Plateau before the Roman conquest.

History

The fashion of depicting the Swiss Confederacy in terms of female allegories arises in the 17th century. This replaces an earlier convention, popular in the 1580s, of representing Switzerland as a bull (''Schweizer Stier'').

In the first half of the 17th century, there was not a single allegory identified as ''Helvetia''. Rather, a number of allegories were shown, representing both virtues and vices of the confederacy. On the title page of his 1642 ''Topographia'', Matthäus Merian shows two allegorical figures seated below the title panel: one is the figure of an armed '' Eidgenosse'', representing Swiss military prowess and sovereignty, the other is a female ''Abundantia'' allegory crowned with a city's ramparts.

Female allegories of individual cantons predate the single ''Helvetia'' figure. There are depictions of a ''Respublica Tigurina Virgo'' (1607), a ''Lucerna'' shown in 1658 with the victor of Villmergen, Christoph Pfyffer, and a ''Berna'' of 1682.

Over the next half-century, Merian's ''Abundantia'' would develop into the figure of ''Helvetia'' proper. An oil painting of 1677/78 from Solothurn, known as ''Libertas Helvetiae'', shows a female ''Libertas'' allegory standing on a pillar.
In 1672, an oil painting by Albrecht Kauw shows a number of figures labelled ''Helvetia moderna''. These represent vices such as ''Voluptas'' and ''Avaritia'', contrasting with the virtues of ''Helvetia antiqua'' (not shown in the painting).

On 14 September 1672, a monumental baroque play by Johann Caspar Weissenbach was performed in Zug, entitled ''Eydtgnossisch Contrafeth Auff- und Abnemmender Jungfrawen Helvetiae''.
The play is full of allegories illustrating the raise of ''Helvetia'' and her decadence after the Reformation. In the 4th act, the ''Abnemmende Helvetiae'' or "Waning Helvetia" is faced with ''Atheysmus'' and ''Politicus'' while the old virtues leave her. In the final scene, Christ himself appears to punish the wayward damsel, but the Mother of God and Bruder Klaus intercede and the contrite sinner is pardoned.

Identification of the Swiss as "Helvetians" (''Hélvetiens'') becomes common in the 18th century, particularly in the French language, as in François-Joseph-Nicolas d'Alt de Tieffenthal's very patriotic ''Histoire des Hélvetiens'' (1749–53)
followed by Alexander Ludwig von Wattenwyl's ''Histoire de la Confédération hélvetique'' (1754). Helvetia appears in patriotic and political artwork in the context of the construction of a national history and identity in the early 19th century, after the disintegration of the Napoleonic Helvetic Republic, and she appears on official federal coins and stamps from the foundation of Switzerland as a federal state in 1848.

Name of Switzerland

The Swiss Confederation continues to use the name in its Latin form when it is inappropriate or inconvenient to use any or all of its four official languages. Thus, the name appears on postage stamps, coins and other uses; the full name, ''Confœderatio Helvetica'', is abbreviated for uses such as the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and vehicle registration code CH, and the ccTLD, .ch.

Notably, translations of the term Helvetia still serve as the name for Switzerland in languages such as Irish, in which the country is known as ''An Eilvéis'', Greek, in which it is known as ''Ελβετία (Elvetia)'' and Romanian, in which it is known as Elveția. In Italian ''Elvezia'' is seen as archaic, but the demonym noun/adjective ''elvetico'' is used commonly as synonym of ''svizzero''. In French, Swiss people may be referred to as ''Helvètes''. The German word ''Helvetien'' is used as well as synonym of ''Schweiz'' and has a higher poetic value. ''Helvetien'' is also more common in Germany; the German-speaking Swiss use simply "Helvetia" or "Helvecia" as poetic synonyms for their country.

Gallery

File:Geneve jardin Anglais 2011-09-13 13 50 00 PICT4755.JPG, Helvetia (right) with "Geneva" (monument in Geneva).
File:Picswiss BS-53-07.jpg, Helvetia auf Reisen ("Helvetia on her travels"), statue in Basel.
File:Bern Bundeshaus Skulpturengruppe.jpg, Statue of Helvetia on the Federal Palace of Switzerland, Bern.
Image:Stamp Switzerland 1881 25c.jpg, Helvetia on a 25 centime Swiss postage stamp, 1881.
File:Switzerland 600th Anniversary Celebration Medal 1891 in France by Dubois, obverse.jpg, Helvetia flying over Lake Lucerne on a medal for the 600th Anniversary of Switzerland 1891 by Alphée Dubois, obverse
File:Stamp Switzerland 1910 10c tb pair.jpg, The Swiss stamps bear the indication "Helvetia" to indicate Switzerland.

See also

* Coins of the Swiss franc
* Historiography of Switzerland
* Name of Switzerland
* National personification
* Postage stamps and postal history of Switzerland
* Vreneli
* William Tell

References

Bibliography

* Gianni Haver, ''L'image de la Suisse'', collection « Comprendre », Éditions loisirs et pédagogie, 2011, 128 pages ().
* Gianni Haver, ''Dame à l'antique avec lance et bouclier: Helvetia et ses Déclinaisons'', in M.-O.Gonseth, B. Knodel, Y. Laville and G. Mayor (editors), ''Hors-champs. Eclats du patrimoine culturel immatériel'', Musée d'ethnographie de Neuchâtel, 2013, pages 274-282.
* Thomas Maissen,
Von wackeren alten Eidgenossen und souveränen Jungfrauen. Zu Datierung und Deutung der frühesten Helvetia-Darstellungen
'' Zeitschrift für schweizerische Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte 56 (1999), 265-302.
*kibre negest (ክብረ ነገስት) dice 'Helvetia e una località di impero Romana.pp347 bid

{{Authority control

Swiss culture
National personifications
Fictional Swiss people
Philatelic terminology
Philately of Switzerland