Heidi: pop culture star in Japan, but a wallflower in Switzerland 

Probably Switzerland's most famous female novel character is an orphan girl, and she has fans as far away as Asia. In Japan in particular, Heidi is a pop culture phenomenon; in the 1970s she was the star of an anime-style television series, she graces mangas and the Heidi books have been reprinted countless times.

Unspoilt mountain world

Heidi, the simple, natural girl with a pure heart and googly eyes who grows up with her grandfather in the idyllic and unspoilt mountain world, still shapes the image of Switzerland abroad today. A romantic romanticisation that many Swiss people find rather unpleasant.

In Switzerland, Heidi is mainly marketed as a tourist attraction. At Zurich Airport, she is the ambassador in the Skymetro, the underground railway that connects the airport building with Dock E.

Created in Zurich

In her literary home city of Zurich, however, Heidi has not yet been widely marketed. Yet her creator, the writer Johanna Spyri, wrote her Heidi books in the city. After all, the city has named a street, a square and a footpath after Spyri.

But it is precisely in Zurich's left-wing urban environment that Heidi receives little attention as world literature, to put it mildly. Wrongly so, in Hans Peter Danuser's opinion. For the former long-time spa director of St. Moritz, Johanna Spyri is one of Switzerland's first feminists: as a woman who became a bestselling author at the end of the 19th century, although she had not published a single text until the age of 44.

Heidi centre with selfie spot

That's why Heidi is finally to be given the honour she deserves: with a Heidi Heritage Centre. In Zurich, the Heidiseum is planning a multimedia centre for a broad, international and young audience on around 350 square metres. A place where important documents and artefacts from the Heidi archive will be on display.

But not in a museum-like, dusty environment, but with a room in which the exhibits are brought to life with video projections. The "Grimmwelt" centre in Kassel, which opened in 2015 and is dedicated to the life and work of the Brothers Grimm, serves as a model. The exact location of the centre in Zurich has not yet been decided and the costs are also unclear.

Selfie with Heidi

In any case, the whole thing should be "very instagrammable", which is why a selfie spot is a must. After all, it has literary aspirations: visitors can have their picture taken in a virtual infinite visitor tower.

Source: www.nzz.ch