Mountains of Gold – Uncovering the Architecture of Swiss Banking

From a mountain vault inside the Gotthard to the grand hotels of the Bernese Oberland, from the mines of South Africa to a fondue restaurant in London, this book takes readers on a journey through places used by Swiss banks to trade, transport, and hoard gold. Following railways and underground tunnels along the way, it unravels the concerted efforts of bankers, military officers, politicians, and architects to fortify Switzerland as a financial centre. The lucrative market they built is studded with material infrastructures, which throughout the book serve as evidence of a history whose records have remaind inaccessible and contentious until now