Author: Maarten Koning

The High Rhine Region

The High Rhine (Hochrhein) region stretches from Lake Constance to the Upper Rhine and is bordered to the north by the Black Forest and to the south by the Swiss Jura.

The High Rhine leaves Lake Constance at Stein am Rhein and becomes the Upper Rhine in Basel. The Rhine flows 150 km through various landscapes, including narrow gorges, sparsely populated agricultural areas, port facilities, and industrial zones.

This region was a cultural, linguistic, economic, and political German-speaking unity under Habsburg rule, as well as during the Roman and Carolingian/Frankish periods.

Several cities, such as Rheinfelden, Kaiserstuhl or Laufenburg, bear witness to this bond, although the region today encompasses three countries.

(Source and further information: (Marie-Louise von Plessen, Der Rhein, eine europäische Flussbiografie (Bonn, 2016), Erlebnisraum Hochrhein : www.baselland-tourismus.ch).

The Basler Dance of Death and the Mengele Dance of Death by Tinguely

Until 1805, one of Basel’s most famous attractions was a mural depicting a life-sized Dance of Death on the wall of the lay cemetery of the Dominican monastery.

The procession of thirty-seven pairs engaged in a danse macabre embraced people off all ages and members of all medieval estates, from pope to hermit, emperor or beggar. Each pair was accompanied by an inscription in verse in which Death himself addressed his condemned partner.

Basel, Museum Kleines Klingental. Der Totentanz.

purpose of the mural was to impress upon people the omnipresence of death, the brevity of life and the equality of all men in the face of their morality. It served as a visual admonition to all those who saw it to mend their ways and do penance. The mural was painted during the Council of Basel (1431-1448).

In 1773, 32 years before its destruction in 1805, the topographer Emanuel Büchel (1705-1775) painted and mentioned the Basler Totentanz image by image in an album. Johann Rudolf Feyerabend (1779-1814) painted the Totentanz in 1806. He based his paintings on this album.

Basel, Weberstrasse near the Klingentalkloster, wall painting on a house

(Source and further information: F. Egger, Basler Totentanz, Basel 2009; historisches Museum Basel).

Emanuel Büchel, ganz oben “Tod mit Kaiser”, aus dem Klingentaler Wandmalereizyklus, Aquarell auf Papier. Kunstmuseum Basel/Martin P. Bühler, Kupferstichkabinett, Skb A 48 H. Foto: TES

The Basler Totentanz,  Matthäus Merian (1593–1650),  ‘Todten-Tanz, wie derselbe in der löblichen und weitberühmten Stadt Basel zu sehen ist”, around 1621. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel, inv. 1932.1162 

Jean Tinguely, Mengele Totentanz, 1987. Tinguely Museum Basel

Johann Jakob II Schneider (1882–1889), die Predigerkirche und der Abbruch der Friedhofsmauer, nach Constantin Guise (1811–1858). Inv. 2004.199

Daniel Burckhardt-Wildt (1752-1819), Abbruch des Totentanzes, 5. August 1805. Inv. 1950.103. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel

Saved wall paintings from the Predigerkirche.

Twenty-three fragments were saved and nineteen of these found their way into the collection of the Historical Museum Basel

Collection: Historisches Museum Basel

The City of Avenches

The city of Avenches was founded around 1259 by Jean de Cossonay (c. 1219-1273), bishop of Lausanne.

Avenches was the successor to the Roman city of Aventicum, the capital of the Helvetians, founded by Emperor Augustus and Emperor Vespasian in 70 A.D., and upgraded to Colonia.

The Alemanni destroyed the town in 270. The city was rebuilt and served as the seat of the bishopric for a short time in the 6th century.

The medieval town of Avenches was built on a hill. The city showcases its rich Roman heritage, with the remains of the amphitheatre and theatre.

The medieval and baroque centre remains intact, featuring the castle (14th century), the church (13th century), the old hospital (1720), L’Auberge de la Coronne (1711), and L’Hotel de Ville (1753).

The Cattle Descent in the Alps

The cattle descent (Alpabzug) is an old tradition and an annual festival in the Alps nowadays.

The cows and their farmers return to the valley in September after the summer in the mountains.  They go along steep and and often centuries-old pathes, for example the Scala Mola alpine,  constructed  in 1645 in the rocks of the Filmstein.

The farmers and cows in Graubünden are the heroes of the day when they arrive in their villages.

(Source: J. Mathieu, Die Alpen. Raum, Kultur, Geschichte, Stuttgart 2015).

Sinfonia d’aua in Flims

Sinfonia d’aua in Flims consists of six small hydropower plants. It shows how nature, technology and people interact and function.

The project encompasses natural phenomena and systems, ecological electricity production, sustainable water use, and multifunctional infrastructure for snowmaking.

For thousands of years, the water in the limestone has sought new ways and created a widely branched underground system.

The two largest lakes in Flims, Lake Cauma and Lake Cresta, are fed by underground sources. Lake Cauma also lacks above-ground drainage, and the water level fluctuates by up to seven metres per year.

It is a groundwater lake. The light scattering creates the natural turquoise blue on small inorganic suspended particles. The unique colour and idyllic location make Lake Cauma world-famous. Point Gronda is the visitor centre.

(Further information: www.wasserweltenflims.ch).

Anabaptist Path

The Anabaptists recognised and practised only the baptism of adults, advocated a strict separation of church and state, and renounced all forms of violence.

The Anabaptists were persecuted, and many fled to Germany, the Netherlands or to America. Others fled to the heights of the Jura, which then belonged to the diocese of Basel.  There, they made their living mainly through agriculture.

Anabaptists are today called Mennonites. The Anabaptist path follows the way they took when they fled to the Jura. The path leads to secret meeting points, inscriptions and the Anabaptist archive of documents, books and objects.

(Source and further information: www.reformation-sh.ch/taeuferweg).

The First American Diplomatic Representative

John Godfrey Boker (1794-1860) was the first American Consul-General in Switzerland. He assumed his post in Basel in 1830. The Swiss government had already sent honorary consuls to Washington and New York in 1822.

The first American Ambassador presented his credentials in 1853 (seat in Bern). John Boker established his residence in the building known as Zum Goldenen Loewen in Basel.

A plaque on the building commemorates this event. The old Swiss Confederation was a significant European player long before the Congress of Vienna, but the independent cantons maintained their foreign policies and diplomatic representations.

British, Dutch, Papal, or French diplomats were present in the cantons long before 1815. The Embassy of France was in Solothurn.

The American consulate in Basel was closed in 1963 for austerity reasons. Basel remains a city of foreign consulates, however.

There were about 20 consulates in Basel in 1920. Basel counted 25 consulates in 1993 (Geneva 63, Zurich 54, Lausanne 17, Bern 10 (the small number is due to the presence of embassies), Lugano 19, Chur and St. Gallen both 2, Locarno and Bellinzona both 1.

Austerity measures and modern means of communication caused the closure of several consulates in Basel.

The Reformation, the Grossmünster und the Fraumünster in Zurich

Zurich commemorates the Reformation. The Association «500 Jahre Zürcher Reformation” (500 Jahre Zürcher Reformation) coordinates and supports projects to raise awareness of its significance.

The House of Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575), opposite the Grossmünster

The Association focuses on the (international) relevance, repercussions, and political and social influences in Zurich, the (old) Confederation, and Europe.

(Source and further information: http://www.zh-reformation.ch).

The Fraumünster (reformed 1524)

The Grossmünster (reformed 1524) 

The Crypt and Charlemagne

Legend has it that Charlemagne (742-814) built the first church in Zurich on this site, honouring the martyrs Felix and Regula. Charlemagne statue, dating from ca. 1450.  The crypt was  1107 consecrated by bishop Gebhard III. of Constance

Model (on the left) of the statue by sculptor Otto Münch (1885-1965) responding to the original. New model (on the right) with recent repairs and restorations

Neuchâtel and the Belle Époque

The history of Neuchâtel goes back to the Counts of Neuchâtel (until 1395), the German rulers of Freiburg and Hochberg  (1395-1543), the French house of d’Orléans-Longueville (1543-1706), the King of Prussia (1707-1806), the French Prince-Marshal Alexandre Bernier (1806-1813), a Swiss canton in a personal union with the King of Prussia (1815-1856) and finally the formal renunciation of all rights and claims by the King of Prussia in 1857.

Neuchâtel is a republic and canton of the Swiss Federation (the formal name is La République et le Canton de Neuchâtel). The city and its economically thriving hinterland, with its wine-growing, trade, and watchmaking industries, experienced a vibrant Belle Époque.

It is the subject and theme of guided tours by the tourism office in German, Italian, French, and English.

The historical centre, the boulevard, the architecture, English tourism, the numerous restaurants, social life, the watch industry, and the famous inhabitants and visitors are all presented.

(Further information: (www.neuchateltourisme.ch).