FEATURE: Studio Ghibli animator's vision of Switzerland finds lasting home in Alps

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - A Japanese television animation series about a Swiss girl living in the Alps has become an unlikely part of Switzerland's own cultural memory, with a retrospective exhibition on director Isao Takahata drawing visitors eager to revisit his carefully crafted vision of the country.

The exhibition at Lausanne's Mudac museum, which showcases Takahata's career, features a wide range of sketches, animation cels, photographs and other production materials. But at its center is "Heidi, Girl of the Alps," the 1974 anime series based on Swiss author Johanna Spyri's 19th-century children's novel.