Fascinating Facts
• The Swiss Guards who defend the Pope in Vatican City are vestiges of the Swiss mercenaries who served in European armies centuries ago.
• The wildflower edelweiss is an unofficial national symbol of Switzerland.
• In 1999, Switzerland celebrated the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the modern federal state.
• Wilhelm (William) Tell, the legendary Swiss hero, reportedly fought in the fourteenth century
to gain Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire. Manymodern historians, however, doubt that Tell ever existed.