Available in French and Dutch.
Author: Maarten Koning
Sils-Maria and the Nietzsche House
The Nietzsche House (das Nietzsche-Haus) in Sils-Maria in Upper Engadine (Oberengadin, canton Graubünden) is dedicated to Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900). The house was his (summer) residence from 1881 to 1888.
The complete collection of his works
He wrote his most prestigious publications in this house and village. The museum possesses two death masks of the philosopher, as well as the Albi and Maud Rosenthal-Levy collection and library.
Spalenweg, the street in Basel where Nietzsche lived
The exhibition also presents photographs, literary texts by authors and friends, and a unique collection of his activities as a composer and musician.
(Source: P.A. Bloch, The Nietzsche House in Sils-Maria, St. Moritz 2009).
And the village
The famous Grand-Hotel Waldhaus in the background
Chasté Crap da Sass on the shores of the Silsersee
Der Silsersee, SBB Bahnhof Basel
Twann or Douanne
The Twannbach gave the village Twann (Douanne in French, canton Bern) its name. A document from the year 1136 mentions “Duana” for the first time.
In the 13th century, the ecclesiastical rights passed to the Johanniterhaus in Münchenbuchsee (near Bern). The Johanniterhaus or Buchseehaus still stands today opposite St. Martin’s Church.
Bern gained more and more influence and, in 1388, obtained the high jurisdiction and the rights to use the Nidauer Lake (the Bielersee or lac de Bienne), named after the county of Nidau.
Twann becomes part of Bern in 1487. The St. Martin church became Protestant in 1528. In 1765, St. Peter’s Island became part of the municipality of Twann, shortly after Jacques Rousseau was expelled from the island by Bern.
The construction of the Twann-Neuenstadt road (La Neuveville) and the railway (1859-1860) were steps for further economic development.
The level of the lake dropped by an average of 2 metres 20 due to the first correction of the waters of the Jura (Juragewässerkorrektion 1868-1878). This lowering made further building activities possible.
Viticulture has been a vital sector for centuries. The many wine cellars in the streets and the vineyards in the surrounding area bear witness to this activity.
Moutier Exit
Available in German, French and Dutch.
Centenary Friedrich Dürrenmatt
In 2021, the Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel (CDN) will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the writer and painter Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990).
The centenary will provide an opportunity to discover new facets of the writer and painter, focusing on the dialogue between his pictorial works and literary oeuvre.
The centenary will be opened with an exhibition (Friedrich Dürrenmatt 100 Jahre Ans Anni Onns). It shows how he saw, described and drew the country in the second half of the 20th century.
He thought about his country through fiction and metaphor. Switzerland is successively compared to a village, a bunker, a bank, a prison, a football team or a stable. Friedrich Dürrenmatt also asked questions about Switzerland’s past and its place in the world through these images.
Alt-Falkenstein Castle
Alt-Falkenstein Castle, located in the municipality of Balsthal (canton Solothurn), was built in the 12th and 13th centuries in the Balsthaler Klus. The Neu-Frankenstein castle is situated on the other side of the valley.
The castles of Alt-Bechburg and Neu-Bechburg, located near Oensingen, were built during the same period. The Bechburg and Falkenstein dynasties, along with the Bishop of Basel, were the Lords in this region.
Alt-Falkenstein has historical significance because of the tense relationship between the cantons of Bern and Solothurn in the fourteenth century.
Troops of Bern marched through the valley on their way to Mülhouse in 1345 to help this town against the coalition of Freiburg, Habsburg, Kyburg, Burgundian nobility and Emperor Lodwijk the Bavarian (1282-1347, Ludwig der Bayer). The peace of Königsfelden (1345) put an end to this war.
The last lord of the castle, Hans II von Falkenstein (died 1426), sold the castle in 1420 to Solothurn. The castle houses the Heimatmuseum nowadays.
The City Walls of Basel
Basel’s first medieval city wall was built by Bishop Burkhard von Fenis around 1080, shortly before the foundation of the monastery St. Alban (1083).
At that time, Basel consisted of two communities: Grossbasel and Kleinbasel. The first Rhine Bridge (today, the Mittlere Brücke from 1905) was built around 1225. The town walls were reinforced and extended in both parts of the town.
However, the great earthquake of 1356 also caused significant damage to these works. In 1360-1398, the city wall was restored. They built two walls: an outer wall and an inner wall. In 1473, the outer wall was expanded because of the threat of war against the Duchy of Burgundy.
This war took place in the years 1474-1477, but far from Basel in Grandson (current canton Vaud/Waadt), Morat (Murten, present canton Fribourg/Freiburg) and finally in Nancy (Lorraine).
Three outer wall towers have been preserved: Spalentor, St. Johannstor and St. Albantor. After the Swabian War (Schwabenkrieg, 499) and the unrest about the division of Basel into Canton Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft (1833), the city had not been threatened militarily since the new Confederation in 1848.
Only the Sonderbundskrieg (a brief civil war between cantons) of 1847 was a short period of uncertainty. The outer and inner walls quickly fell prey to urban expansion after 1860. A (renovated) part of the city wall in the St. Alban district has been preserved. This wall once surrounded the many water mills, paper industries, and the monastery St. Alban, abolished in 1529.
Strength in diversity in Graubünden
Based on the Language Act (Sprachengesetz, Art. 22) and the Language Ordinance (Sprachenverordnung, Art. 18 and 25), the Confederation supports the cantons of Graubünden and Ticino in the preservation and promotion of the Romansh and Italian languages and culture.
In 2018, the Confederation commissioned an evaluation to examine the impact of financial support on the canton of Graubünden.
The evaluation is also a response to the Semadeni postulate (15.4117) Allegra, Romanisch und Italienisch sollen leben (Allegra, Romansh and Italian should live), adopted by the National Council (Nationalrat) on 28 September 2017.
The evaluation (Studienberichte des Zentrums für Demokratie Aarau, Nr. 16 31. März 2019) was carried out by the Centre for Democracy Aarau (Zentrum für Demokratie Aarau, ZDA) in 2019..
The canton’s government (Regenza) implemented the recommendations from the project “Stärke in der Vielfalt 2021-2024” (Strength in Diversity 2021-2024).
There are 80 concrete measures at the cantonal level, as well as measures assigned to the language organisations Lia Rumantscha (LR), Pro Grigioni Italiano (PGI), and the Fundaziun Medias Rumantschas (FMR), as well as other institutions outside the administration.
(Source and further information: www.gr.ch/ www.bak.admin.ch).
The Gallizian Mill
Mills were the first technologically advanced large-scale works in the Middle Ages. Basel had two large mill districts, one in Kleinbasel and one in the St. Alban Valley (St. Albantal).
After the foundation of the monastery of St. Alban in 1083, the monks built mills and mill wheels for grinding grain, wood saws, forges, and other purposes. There were 13 mills with 34 water wheels in this district.
They were located at the Albanteich. The Albanteich is the name for the canal that monks constructed in 1150. The water was derived from the river Birs.
One of the oldest paper mills in Basel remains operational. The mill was built in 1284 for a forge. The mill wheel is operated by the Museum for Paper, Writing and Printing (Die Basler Papiermühle, Museum für Papier, Schrift und Druck).
The Basel Council (1431-1448), the foundation of the University of Basel (1460) and the booming publishing industry changed the function of the mills. Many were transformed into paper mills.
The mill wheel is named after Antonio Gallizian, one of Basel’s first paper producers. He rebuilt the mill in 1453.
The St. Alban Canal in Basel
Bishop Burkhard von Fenis (1040-1107) founded the city’s first monastery in the St. Alban Valley (St. Albantal) in 1083.
The monks built mills next to the monastery. The water from a branch of the Birs was redirected to the mills. The St. Albanteich (Dalbedyych in the local Basler dialect) was created.
For centuries, it remained one of Basel’s most important energy providers. This energy drove dozens of mill wheels. The canal was also used as a waterway along which most timbers were rafted into the city.
(Bron en verdere informatie: www.papiermuseum.ch).
