 Its creation was due to important personalities, members of the Schweizerischer Kunstverein (Swiss society of fine arts), and its first president was the Genevan painter, Theodore de Saussure, grandson of the celebrated naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure.The vice-presidency was held by the Zurich art historian Johann Rudolf Rahn.The «Patriotic society for the preservation of historic monuments» had as its aim to preserve and restore architectural monuments, but also to save scattered works of art by bringing them together in museums, to arouse a better understanding for the «fine arts» and to support artists, painters and sculptors.