← 1855 1854 1853 1856 in Switzerland → 1857 1858 1859
Decades:	1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s
See also:	History of Switzerland Timeline of Swiss history List of years in Switzerland

The following is a list of events, births, and deaths in 1856 in Switzerland.

• Federal Council:
  • Jakob Stämpfli (President)
  • Jonas Furrer
  • Josef Munzinger
  • Constant Fornerod
  • Friedrich Frey-Herosé
  • Wilhelm Matthias Naeff
  • Stefano Franscini

• November 7 – Eterna is founded
• Ernest Borel is founded
• Carl Meissner discovers Conospermum mitchellii
• A revolt by Neuchâtel royalists sparks the Neuchâtel Crisis.^[1]
• Credit Suisse is founded
• Gregory Haas and John Frey, two Swiss diocesan priests, arrive on Mt. Calvary after leaving Switzerland and establish a Capuchin Order in the United States
• The first part of the Olten–Lausanne railway line is opened
• Samuel Francis is relocated to Geneva to oversee the emigration of Latter-day Saints to the United States from Switzerland
• Switzerland opens a diplomatic consulate in Melbourne, Australia
• Arnold Escher von der Linth becomes a professor of geology at the École Polytechnique in Zurich^[2]

• April 7 – Ferdinand Schiess, recipient of the Victoria Cross (d. 1884)
• May 23 – Hermann Sahli, internist (d. 1933)
• December 6 – Louise Catherine Breslau, artist (d. 1927)
• December 9 – Ernst Brenner, politician (d. 1911)
• December 11 – Paul Sarasin, naturalist (d. 1929)

• William Bally, sculptor (b. c. 1799)