Not far away (1.8km) from the Torre Belvedere Nature Centre (Maloja, Canton Grisons), is the only triple watershed in Europe. The Piz Lunghin lies at 2,780 m. The Lunghin Pass is a special place: each drop of rain can run off in three directions:
Northwards with the Julia and the Rhine into the North Sea, southwards via the Maira and the Po into the Mediterranean, or eastwards via the Inn and the Danube into the Black Sea.
(Source: Torre Belvedere Nature Centre, Maloja).
The area is a cultural landscape rooted in a 1,000-year-old tradition. The theme paths and the geological Steinpark provide information about the forests, alpine economy, fens, flora, and fauna in this unique landscape.
Straw meadows are reed meadows only mowed at the end of summer when they are already sclerotised. The biodiversity of the meadow plants is thus preserved.
The moors on the Schwägalp, Lütisalp, Säntisalp and Potersalp terraces are very impressive. In the forested parts of the landscape, the raised bogs and fens are scattered in countless smaller and larger open areas. Outside the marshes, the peat landscape shows a great diversity of biotopes.
The neighbouring area in the southwest is a valuable alpine cultural landscape with various natural and cultural elements. The habitation of the peat landscape has largely been preserved in its typical structure, consisting of buildings with centuries-old architecture and traditional use.
(Source: www.naturerlebnispark.ch)
Around 850, A monk of St. Gall mentioned the Säntis in a letter. The Benedictine monk Desiderius Wetter (1702-1751) reported in his chronicle that on 14 November 1680, two clergymen and a naturalist from Zurich climbed the Säntis with a guide from Appenzell Innerrhoden.
Today, the Säntis is a tourist hotspot, easily accessible by cable car, and features a meteorological institute and a research centre.
The mighty, stratified rocky landscape of the Säntis massif (Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden) forms the northern edge of the Alps, both geographically and geologically, and rises steeply above the foreland.
The rocks reveal significant differences. There are light and dark, hard and soft, vegetation-free and vegetation-covered rock layers. They were all deposited during the Cretaceous period, approximately 142 to 87 million years ago, under constantly changing environmental conditions in a sea that now forms the European continent.
Sea level was considerably higher in the Cretaceous than it is today, and the climate was significantly warmer. Each layer corresponds to a specific period. The virtual journey through time in the Steinpark starts 142 million years ago and ends 11 million years ago. The rocks reveal information about coral reefs in a tropical sea, including high and low tides, rivers, and dramatic environmental changes.
(Source: Martin Wyss, Hans Aeschlimann, Luzi Matille, Säntis Steinpark).
Emma Kunz (1892-1951) was known as an artist, naturopath and researcher. She lived from 1951 until 1963 in Waldstatt (canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden). For her, her pictures and illustrations were not art but linked to her work as a naturopath.
The contents of her designs and illustrations were a guide in her profession. She explored the surface of the graph paper with the pendulum, set points and lines of gravity. In her words: “Concepts and numbers are primarily the knowledge based on nature and one’s abilities”.
Visible evidence of this search for regularities is the large-format pendulum pictures made with coloured and oil pastels.
(Quelle: Zentrum Emma Kunz, Würenlos).
The capital of Appenzeller cheese is also known for its monastery and castle. The castle, featuring late Gothic and Renaissance elements, was built between 1563 and 1570 by Dr Anton Löw (1535-1584) following the 1560 fire. Appenzell became the owner in 1585.
The castle returned to private ownership in 1688. The neo-classical renovations are from 1840. The first Capuchin nuns moved into the castle in 1613, until the newly built convent next door became available in 1682.
The convent church was built between 1619 and 1621 in a Mannerist-Early Baroque style and renovated between 1860 and 1866 in a Neo-Romanesque style.
Appenzell (population 5800) is the capital of the smallest Swiss canton. It is the political, economic and cultural centre of the canton of Appenzell-Innerrhoden.
The parish of Appenzell was founded in 1071. The church of St. Mauritius was already built in 1069. It was a church of the monastery of St. Gallen. Around 1300, it was rebuilt in the late Romanesque style and 1488-1513 in the late Gothic style.
In 1597, the Kirckhöri in Appenzell and the Ausser-Rhoden decided on a peaceful division (Landteilungsbrief) of the land into the Catholic Innerrhoden and the reformed Ausserrhoden.
With the introduction of the Federal Constitution in 1848, all reformed Swiss were allowed to settle in Innerrhoden. Around 1900, 373 Protestants were counted, accounting for approximately 3.5% of the population, and shortly thereafter, the first Reformed church was constructed. Today, this church has 1255 members in the Catholic canton.
Available in German and Dutch.
Romanshorn (Canton of Thurgau) and the Old Church (Alte Kirche) were first mentioned in a deed of donation from the year 779. The noblewoman Waldrata left her property in “Rumanishorn” to the monastery of St. Gallen. The convent’s bailiffs resided in the castle.
The old church was used by Catholics and Protestants from 1563, as was the case in many other places in Switzerland. The ‘new’ castle (now a restaurant) was built in 1404For a thousand years, until 1798, the village was ruled by the abbots of St. Gallen.
From the mid-19th century, an increasing number of goods from Lindau were shipped across Lake Constance. The small village developed into a port town with the construction of the largest harbour on Lake Constance and the railway station in 1855. Romanshorn became a traffic hub.
(Source and further information: www.romanshorn.ch).
The tower on the left bank of the Inn stood as a fortification near the bridge. The old road from Ardez via Tarasp to Scuol and the path from Scuol to S-charl crossed this bridge. They likely date back to the 16th century.
The roof is covered with copper; the masonry is decorated with sgraffito. The coats of arms of the three unions (Zehngerichtenbund, Gotteshausbund, Grauer Bund) above the gate bear the date 1661.
The sources of the Tamina Gorge (Taminaschlucht) were discovered around 1240. They were first mentioned in a document in 1382. The abbots of the Pfäfers monastery built the first bathhouse in the 14th century.
Switzerland’s oldest remaining baroque bathhouse (Das Alte Bad Pfäfers) was built between 1704 and 1718. The monumental building provides an insight into ancient bathing culture. Many illustrious spa guests were treated by the healing properties of the water. The bathhouse is a cultural centre nowadays.
(Source: www.altes-bad-pfaefers.ch).
