Switzerland has organised from 1883 to 1964 five national exhibitions, which were supposed to offer to the visitors a true picture of Switzerland and its inhabitants. They had a twofold aim : to offer a showcase of the industrial production, and to bring together Swiss visitors around scenes evoking the imagined nation. Portrait, mirror and reflection are omnipresent metaphors used in the literature which is devoted to them. After having described the ends which are looked after and the means implemented in such mirrorlike performances, the author shows the growing difficulties of such undertaking. With the next exhibition, which is planned in 2002 in four settings in Western Switzerland, the attempt to portray the country and the Swiss people comes to an end in view of the fact that both appear to have no homogeneous and specific identity.