Switzerland may not rank foremost among the centres of European culture, the nation nevertheless can boast of an impressive list of contributors to the arts and sciences. On the one hand, because of limited opportunities at home, some of Switzerland's creative minds have chosen to live elsewhere. This has been particularly true of architects. On the other hand, Switzerland's orthodox neutrality and its laws of political asylum have made the nation a magnet for many creative persons during times of unrest or war in Europe. The mid-19th century was such a time, as were the 1930s and '40s, when the rise of fascism caused a number of German, Austrian, and Italian writers such as Thomas Mann, Stefan George, and Ignazio Silone to seek harbour in Switzerland.

Swiss culture has contributed notably to literature, art, and music. It is an amalgam of the German, French, and Italian cultures embodied in the Swiss linguistic regions; it is separated from these parent cultures, for example, by Swiss dialects and cultural cross-pollination. From early times Switzerland has been exposed to many foreign determines, and as early as the Middle Ages the nation had achieved a high cultural level. Carolingian culture, particularly painting and Romanesque architecture, flourished, and the Saint Gall monastery was a brilliant center of Western culture. Since then most European cultural trends, such as humanism and the Reformation, have been assimilated. Calvin and Huldreich Zwingli.

Much of modern cultural life has been determined by television. The three networks, French, German, and Italian, while portraying their respective cultures, include many programs from France, Germany, and Italy. French-language television also includes shows from Canada and Belgium, whereas the German network presents programs from Austria. All of the nation is determined by American movies and television programs. Cable television, reflecting the Europeanization of Switzerland, has brought a wide mixture of additional programs to the large urban centres.