Author: Maarten Koning

This article looks at the relationship between Vorderösterreich (Outer Austria/Anterior Austria) and the Confederation. Additionally, it serves as preparation for a more differentiated follow-up article on the Swabian War of 1499 (also known as the Swiss War or Engadine War, depending on one’s perspective). The circumstances, actions and conflicts of that time can only be understood in the context of the somewhat entangled history.

For this reason, this article is written in general terms; the relationships and roles of France, the Dukes of Bavaria, Savoy, Burgundy, Lorraine, Milan, the Margraves of Baden and other state entities are not considered. However, they also influenced the balance of power between Vorderösterreich and the Confederation, as well as its towns and cantons. 

The Holy Roman Empire, around. 1400. Image: Ziegelbrenner/Wikipedia

Holy Roman Empire 

Looking at the current borders of France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria today, it is hard to imagine that the situation of territories and dependencies was utterly different 500 years ago.

The Holy Roman Empire (in the 16th century, also referred to as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation for the sake of precision) was founded in 962 under the Ottonian dynasty, with Otto I (912-973) as the first Holy Roman Emperor. It was the successor to the Carolingian Empire, which was divided in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun.

Various dynasties (including Ottonian, Salian, Hohenstaufen, Wittelsbach, Luxembourg and Habsburg) provided the emperors and kings of the Empire. The seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire elected the king and Emperor.

Basel, the cathedral (das Münster). Emperor Henry II (973-1024) and Empress Kunigunde (975-1040). The originals are in the Museum Kleines Klingental.

This election was regulated in the Golden Bull of 1356. The Pope anointed the Emperor. From 1440 to 1806, the Habsburgs held the titles of emperor and king in succession, almost without interruption. 1555, the Empire was divided into a Spanish branch (1555-1700) and an Austrian branch (1555-1918). Vorderösterreich fell under the Austrian branch.

The Goldene Bulle, Image: Wikipedia

The Emperor was the highest authority in the Holy Roman Empire. The Imperial Diet was the legislature, the Imperial Chamber Court (in Worms, Speyer and finally in Wetzlar) and the Court Council in Vienna were the highest courts. The (tax) laws and ‘foreign judges’ of the Empire were also the basis for the ‘Swabian War’.

This article deals with the Habsburg territory in Vorderösterreich, distinguishing it from the Habsburg territories in Inner Austria (Duchies of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Mark), Lower Austria (Duchy of Austria), and Upper Austria (the so-called Erblande), as well as the County of Tyrol (a Habsburg possession since 1379).

Until 1753, Vorderösterreich was not a political entity but comprised many political units. Initially, part of present-day Switzerland also belonged to this territory.

Habsburg and the Swiss Confederation 

The Swiss Confederation developed during the late 13th and 14th centuries. In 1513, it consisted of 13 sovereign cantons that were frequently at odds with one another. Although the Confederation formally remained part of the Empire until 1648, it had already de facto ceased recognising its supreme authorities two centuries earlier. The refusal and cessation to pay certain taxes demonstrated this in concrete terms.

The Habsburgs lost territories and influence in a series of conflicts: 1315, 1386, 1388, 1415 (conquest of the Aargau, except for the Fricktal, Rheinfelden, and Laufenburg), 1460 (conquest of the Thurgau), and finally in 1499 during the Swabian War. 

Basel, Rudolf Wettstein statue, Basler negotiator and diplomat at the Peace of Westphalia

In the 15th century, successive Habsburg emperors attempted to reconquer the Swiss territories. However, the ‘Eternal Direction’ (1474), the lost ‘Swabian War’ and the Peace of Basel (1499) ended almost two centuries of war with the Peace of Westphalia (1648) as international (de facto) recognition of the Confederation.

Vorderösterreich, Breisgau around 1725

Vorderösterreich and its political role 

From 1499, Vorderösterreich encompassed the area from the Arlberg to Alsace (including Sundgau), the Fricktal, the four Waldstätte towns (Säckingen, Waldshut, Laufenburg, and Rheinfelden), Breisgau, and regions in Lorraine, Swabia, Bavaria, and the Black Forest.

From 1499, Vorderösterreich encompassed the area from the Arlberg to Alsace (including Sundgau), the Fricktal, the four Waldstätte towns (Säckingen, Waldshut, Laufenburg, and Rheinfelden), Breisgau, and regions in Lorraine, Swabia, Bavaria, and the Black Forest.

Ensisheim (Alsace) was the administrative centre of Vorderösterreich from 1444 to 1638. Freiburg, however, was the most important economic, religious (diocese) and cultural centre with a university (1457). The Basel chapter (until 1679) and Erasmus (until 1535) sought refuge in Fribourg in 1529 because of the Reformation.

Breisgau, Münster

Wars and territorial changes 

From the 16th century onwards, France and Bavaria became threats to the Habsburgs’ possessions in the Austrian Forelands. The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) and the Dutch War (1672-1678, Peace of Nijmegen) led to territorial losses (Alsace, Sundgau, Breisgau, Freiburg) to France. During this time, the provincial government of Vorderösterreich was based in Waldshut and the university was temporarily housed in Constance.

Neuenburg am Rhein

The Peace of Rijswijk (1697) ended the War of the Palatinate Succession (1688-1697). Alsace (and Strasbourg) remained with France, while Freiburg and Breisach returned to Habsburg. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), the towns of Neuchâtel on the Rhine, Breisgau, Villingen and Freiburg were again occupied by French troops and (again) plundered.

In the Peace of Rastatt (1714), these towns reverted to the Habsburgs. During a new war (the Austrian War of Succession, 1740-1748), France again occupied Freiburg and returned it after the Peace of Aachen (1748).

Freiburg, building of merchants, around 1530

Neuf-Brisach

Reforms

In 1753, Empress/Regent Maria Theresa (1717-1780) and Joseph II reorganised and reformed the administrative system. The previously fragmented Vorderösterreich became the political unit of the province of Vorderösterreich.

This was due to the rise of another threat: Prussia. From 1753 to 1806, during the last phase of Habsburg rule, Freiburg was once again the administrative centre of the province of Vorderösterreich. After 1789, however, the threat again came from the French side.

Vorderösterreich, a. 1790. Image: Karte: Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, Vorderösterreich in alten Karten und Plänen, Begleitheft zu Ausstellung Stuttgart, 1998

Dissolution of Vorderösterreich 

In 1803, Napoleon assigned the Fricktal, Laufenburg, and Rheinfelden to the canton of Aargau, with the Rhine as the border. In 1806, Vorderösterreich ceased to exist as part of the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. The remaining territories of Vorderösterreich fell to the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Kingdom of Württemberg, and the Austrian Empire. It meant that Vorderösterreich was a thing of the past for the Confederation.

Rheinfelden (kanton Aargau)

Aftermath

Or not quite. The village of Büsingen lies in the centre of the canton of Schaffhausen. The Habsburgs never wanted to cede the town to the canton. The village was then annexed to the Grand Duchy of Baden and subsequently to the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, despite a referendum in 1918, in which 96% of the inhabitants voted to join the Swiss Confederation.

There is a parallel with Vorarlberg: in 1919, 81% of the inhabitants wanted to join the Swiss Confederation. Switzerland did not like this for various reasons. Almost a tiny part of Vorderösterreich had joined the Confederation after 1918!

Incidentally, the Habsburg presence in the new canton of Graubünden lasted until 1803 (Tarasp) and 1819 (Rhäzuns). This area was administered from Innsbruck.

And yet, the Habsburg presence was not over. As early as the 13th and 14th centuries, the Habsburgs focused on Basel as a residence and administrative centre. However, this did not materialise.

Basel, Cathedral

Bern

Eugen Ferdinand Pius Bernhard Felix Maria, the Archduke of Habsburg (1863-1954), lived in a suite in the Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel from 1919 to 1934. He was a nephew of Karl von Habsburg (1887-1922), the last Emperor of the Habsburg Empire. He bid farewell to Basel in style in 1934, also on behalf of his ancestors, and Basel bid him farewell with the city’s highest honours.

The cathedral also houses the (empty) sarcophagus of Gertrud Anna von Hohenberg (1225-1281), the wife of Rudolf I (1218-1291), the first German-Roman king of the dynasty. The name Habsburg remains associated with Basel, the cathedral, and Switzerland.

Emperor Karl and Empress Zita (1892-1989), Austria’s last empress, were dethroned after a reign of only two years. After 1919, they lived in exile. After Emperor Karl died in 1922, Empress Zita raised her eight children, including Otto von Habsburg (1912-2011), on her own. She lived in Zizers (canton of Graubünden) for 27 years, from 1962 until she died in 1989.

Conclusion 

Relations between the Confederation and Vorderösterreich remained peaceful after 1499. Calm returned, mainly as other (religious) conflicts arose.

Although the Swabian War marked the final spiritual and de facto separation, trade, universities (Freiburg, Constance, Basel), language (Alemannic), and personal contacts remained a solid basis for cooperation.

Despite the numerous conflicts that occurred before and after 1648, the coats of arms of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg dynasty were often not removed from public spaces. The prestige and respect for the Holy Roman Empire, the Emperor and the (German-Roman) King were such.

Breisach

(Source: D. Speck, Kleine Geschichte Vorderösterreichs, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, 2010; Uri Robert Kaufmann (Red.), Die Schweiz und der deutsche Südwesten, Ostfildern, 2006; Arzner, B. Oeschger, J. Scharf-Anderegg (Red.), Nachbarn am Hochrhein, Möhlin 2002; A. Jochim, F. Hanöffner (red.), Die Habsburger im Mittelalter. Aufstieg einer Dynastie, Speyer 2022)

British aristocrats were the first mountaineers in Switzerland and introduced winter sports (through a bet with the founder of the Kulm Hotel in St Moritz). Such was the enthusiasm that the world’s first Alpine Club was founded in London in 1857, followed in 1863 by the Schweizer Alpen Club (SAC)/Club alpine suisse (CAS).

Churchill and Switzerland

The greatest Briton of all time and saviour of European civilisation (‘1940 hat Churchill gerettet Europa‘, Willy Bretscher in 1971, editor-in-chief of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung during the Second World War) was one of them.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) climbed Monte Rosa and several other mountains, and visited Switzerland on several occasions (1893, 1894, 1904, 1906, 1910) during his younger years. During these (lengthy) stays, he got to know and appreciate the country, as did other compatriots before and after him.

Sir John Bowring (1792-1872). Devonshire Association

The British banker Sir Ernest Cassel (1852-1921) was his host in the summers of 1904, 1906, and 1910 at his Villa Cassel on the Riederfurka, in the area of the Aletsch glacier (canton Valais).

Moreover, through publications by English writers, Churchill became aware of Swiss history and political development.

Most people know Churchill as a relatively sedate and cigar-smoking politician in his sixties during World War II. In his younger years, however, he was an active sportsman, with activities including horse riding, polo, and hiking. He also played bridge, albeit not always with good experience:

“I can’t tell you how much I hate losing money with bridge. It’s a complicated game, especially if you’re a bad player with lousy cards in your hand”.

His literary, journalistic, military, and political career, eloquence, and historical knowledge are well known. His (brief) training and activity as a bricklayer and career as an amateur painter also deserve attention. He was proud of the stone barn and wall he built in 1928 on his Chartwell estate in Kent.

His painting career began in 1915 on the Flanders battlefield, following one of his lowest political moments. The Swiss artist and art collector Charles (Carl) Montag (1880-1956) supported and educated him.

Winston Churchill, View of Chartwell, 1938. Front cover, The National Trust, Chartwell, 1992

Moreover, Swiss staff worked preferentially at Chartwell until he died in 1965. He also published articles in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (and media in other countries).

Churchill was a child of the English Victorian establishment and the 19th century. The anachronistic commentary of some of today’s opinion makers, journalists and historians says something about the present-day understanding of the (recent) past.

Besides his many (human) qualities, Churchill also had shortcomings, mistakes, and misjudgments. Still, even years before the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945) and after the communist coup in Russia at the end of World War I (1914-1918), he had the right political and moral compass.

He foresaw not only communist terror, its economic mismanagement and cultural nihilism in 1918 but also National Socialist barbarism in the 1920s and 1930s. He was aware of the danger that threatened neutral countries, including Switzerland.

Prague, Náměstí Winstona Churchilla (Winston Churchill Square), 1999, a replica of the original from 1976 by Ivor Robert-Jones (1913-1996), which stands in Parliament Square in London. The unveiling of the statue took place on November 17, 1999, and marks Prague as an important European cultural, political, and historical centre. It also commemorates the famous words of Churchill in a broadcast to the Czech and Slovak people on September 30th 1940: “The Soul of Freedom is Deathless. It Cannot and Will not Die”.

World War II 

The famous speech (‘Let Europe Arise‘) in Zurich on September 19th 1946, concluded his last visit (August 19th—September 22nd 1946) to Switzerland. It was also a massive thank-you from the Swiss people in Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Zurich, or wherever he appeared. After all, Churchill had also saved Switzerland.

Or in the words of Werner Vogt: ‘Die Schweiz, namentlich die Schweizer Bevölkerung, hat Winston Churchill im Sommer 1946 viel gegeben. So viel aber, wie sie im Sommer 1940 bekommen hatte, konnte sie gar nicht zurückgeben. Es war auch die schweizerische Freiheit, die Churchill im Sommer 1940 verteidigte ‘ (Werner Vogt, p. 203).

Apart from the (British, Polish and Czech) pilots of the RAF during ‘the Blitz’ in the summer of 1940, Churchill’s decision and naval experience made the evacuation of the British expeditionary army on 26-29 May possible. These were perhaps the decisive and most pivotal three days before victory in 1945 or, freely, to Churchill:

‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to one person‘.

London, 2012, Trafalgar Studios, Three Days in May, Warren Clarke as Churchill, Jeremy Clyde as Lord Halifax, Robert Demeger as Neville Chamberlain

A concrete threat of German invasion existed for Switzerland until 1944, as it had been since May 10th 1940. France’s rapid capitulation (June 22nd 1940) most likely prevented an invasion.

The need was no longer there, and a neutral Switzerland was more interesting for diplomatic, financial, and industrial reasons. The Allies could not bomb the north-south link either (although there were plans).

Be that as it may, despite fear among the population and defeatism among some politicians and thanks to the combative attitude of the army (Réduit), public opinion and media and the rejection of an ‘Anschluss’ and ‘irredentism‘ by the vast majority of the population, the cost-benefit analysis among Italian and German dictators fell in favour of respecting neutrality.

The Felsplatte (Canton of Solothurn)

With today’s knowledge, condemning Switzerland is easy. Churchill, however, respected the country’s neutrality and extremely hazardous position, even when Allied (as well as German) planes were shot down over Swiss territory by the Swiss air force. He also put the much larger arms supplies to Germany and Italy in the perspective of the country’s dire situation:

‘Of all the neutrals, Switzerland has the greatest right to distinction. She has been the sole international force linking the hideously sundered nations and ourselves. What does it matter whether she has been able to give us the commercial advantages we desire or has given too many to the Germans to keep herself alive? She has been a democratic state, standing for freedom in self-defence among her mountains, and in thought largely on our side‘ (Winston Churchill, The Second World War, Volume VI, London, 1954).

University of Zurich

Zurich 1946

His speech in Zurich on September 19th 1946, is still relevant to today’s Switzerland. Churchill was a strong advocate of far-reaching cooperation between European countries, especially France and Germany:

“It is to re-create the European family, or as much of it as we can, and provide it with a structure. We must all turn our backs upon the horrors of the past. We must look to the future, a blessed act of oblivion”.

The first step in re-creating the European family must be a partnership between France and Germany. We must recreate the European family in a regional structure, perhaps called the United States of Europe. The first step is to form a Council of Europe. Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations, America and Soviet Russia must be the friends and sponsors “.

In his 1954 publication, Winston Churchill explained his ideas in more detail in The Second World War, Volume VI (London, 1954). He did not want a federal European State but an undefined ‘United States of Europe’ (“I shall not try to make a detailed programme for hundreds of millions of people“).

He saw the United States of Europe as a European Regional Council of sovereign countries. He also envisaged the Regional Council of the Pacific (with Russia, Asia, and Oceania), the Regional Council of the Americas, the British Commonwealth, and possibly other (future) Regional Councils. The World Council was the highest body with delegates from these Regional Councils.

Churchill suggested that, for practical reasons, European countries would send representatives to the European Regional Council by region, e.g., the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg), the Slavic countries, and the Scandinavian countries.

He wrote about Switzerland: “Mr Wallace also asked whether I contemplated the possibility of Switzerland joining with France, but I said Switzerland is a special case“. (Winston Churchill, The Second World War, Volume VI, London, 1954, p. 718).

In his view, the UK had to opt for the ‘seas, free market, and free trade’ approach anyway, rather than joining these European structures, which did not rule out cooperation. After all, the UK was already a member of the Commonwealth.

European Union-Switzerland

The 1954 explanation clarifies that Churchill did not want a federal Europe. He would probably be critical of the functioning of the current European Union’ Aus dem Ruder gelaufen‘ while emphasising the need for its realistic ambitions and projects.

How would Churchill judge the current European Union-Swiss relationship? He was realistic and pragmatic enough to see the country’s difficult position surrounded by European Union countries. He also recognised the European cooperation’s benefits, positive developments, and necessity.

However, he would also pinpoint democratic, bureaucratic, and juridical activism, political shortcomings, and (sometimes unrealistic or megalomaniacal) ambitions without falling into populism. After all, this European Union sometimes resembles a United Nations at the European level or an NGO, which is not a compliment.

Gdansk shipyard, a monument to the fallen workers in 1970

Conclusion

We will never know. Perhaps he would recommend nurturing direct democracy, subsidiarity, federalism, decentralisation, innovation, and a national currency, with the necessary compromises.

About today’s Russia, he would be as clear as he was about its predecessor and aggressive ally of the German dictator until June 22nd 1941:

‘When I awoke on the morning of Sunday, the 22nd, the news was brought to me of Hitler’s invasion of Russia. I had not the slightest doubt where our duty and policy lay. The Nazi regime is indistinguishable from the worst features of Communism.

It excels in all forms of human wickedness in the efficiency of its cruelty and ferocious aggression. No one has been a more consistent opponent of Communism than I have for the last 25 years, and I will unsay no word that I have spoken about it. If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil‘ (Winston Churchill, The Second World War, Volume III, London, 1950).

The Russian invasion of February 22nd 2022, is nothing but a continuation of the aggression against Poland (September 17th 1939), Finland (November 1939) and the Baltic States (1940) by the Soviet Union.

In May 1940, Churchill saved European civilisation. The fact that this struggle ended with the communist nightmare in Central and Eastern Europe was a bitter pill for him:

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe. This is certainly not the liberated Europe we fought to build up“, Fulton, on March 5th 1946).

Gdansk shipyard, Solidarność uprising, 1981

Military facts, communist terror, and an inexperienced new US president ( Harry Truman, 1882-1972) and British prime minister (Clement Attlee, 1883-1967) sealed the fate of Eastern European countries, particularly Poland and former Czechoslovakia (‘the Switzerland of Central Europe’ until 1938). Great Britain started the war in 1939 because of Poland after it failed to defend Czechoslovakia in 1938.

Churchill always respected different political views, parliamentary discussions, and democracy, but could not stand or respect Lord Haw-Haw (1906-1946) or similar present-day personalities.

(Source: Werner Vogt, Winston Churchill und die Schweiz, Zürich 2015; The Churchill Foundation)

For centuries, mountains were a ‘no go area’ for townspeople or villagers. Only cattle farmers and traders climbed mountains to pasture their cattle in the summer or transport cattle and their meat and milk products.

Jan Haeckert (1628-1690), around 1670. Collection: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. 

Nobody thought of climbing a mountain for pleasure. Although the Dutch and Flemish masters of the Golden Age introduced idyllic mountain landscapes to their canvases, few had visited, let alone seen or climbed, the mountains themselves. The Swiss painters followed suit, not the other way around.

Scuol, Motta Naluns. Photo: TES.

The physician, biologist, and poet Albrecht von Haller was the first Swiss to write an ode to the mountains (1708-1777). He studied medicine in Bern and then spent a few years in Leiden.

Johann Rudolf Huber (1668-1748), Albrecht von Haller, 1735. Photo: File:Albrecht von Haller 1736.jpg – Wikimedia Commons

There, he studied under Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738) and other notable figures. Afterwards, he studied mathematics in Basel with the mathematician Johann Bernoulli (1667-1748). Bernoulli was the first to introduce statistics on the effectiveness of vaccinations against smallpox.

He worked as a librarian from 1729 to 1735. In his collection of poems “Versuch Schweizerischer Gedichte” from 1729, the poem “Die Alpen” describes the mountains and their inhabitants lyrically.

Von Haller became a professor of botany in Göttingen in 1735 and regularly visited the Alps in his native country. He published various famous books on the flora of the Alps.

Bellwald. Photo: TES.

However, what is essential is that his trips to the mountains removed the fear of people. No dragons, devils or other monsters lived there, as was believed at the time.

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1768) also introduced a positive image of the Alps in his novel Julie ou La Nouvelle Héloïse (1761). He presented the mountains and their inhabitants as the lost paradise Arcadia.

Just before the French Revolution, the first Alpine hype among scientists and artists. The upper middle class also began to take an interest in hiking in the mountains.

The researcher-theologian Jakob Samuel Wyttenbach (1748-1830) from Bern, the painter Caspar Wolf (1735-1783) from Muri and the German writer Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) also inspired the public with their enthusiasm for the Alps.

However, it was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the breakthrough came, partly due to painters such as the Englishman William Turner (1775-1851), who visited the Swiss Alps intermittently after 1802 and painted them.

Aletschgletscher, Eicher, Mönch und Jungfrau. Photo: TES.

Not the Swiss made the mountains ‘salonsfähig’, but the English, just as the Masters from the Low Countries had introduced the Alps as a subject for art in Switzerland two centuries earlier.

The story of the rise of the tourist resorts after 1850 in the Swiss Alps is well known. Anyone who puts on their snowshoes to go on one of the many hikes in the snowy Alps might pause to reflect on the spectre of the mountains until 1800.

Nowadays, no mountain tour, skiing, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing is without (avalanche) danger. Still, dragons and other monsters certainly do not live there, although the wolf has recently made its comeback.

The Matterhorn. Photo: TES

Albert von Haller likely never ventured into the mountains for his botanical research, but he is one of the pioneers of a new perspective on the Alps.

Before a trip in the snow, it is worthwhile to look at the first poetic perception of the Alps from 1729 in a then-unknown and certainly not touristy landscape. The poem has 41 verses. Verses 12 and 14 of Die Alpen read:

Hat nun die müde Welt sich in den Frost begraben,

Der Berge Thäler Eis, die Spitzen Schnee bedeckt,

Ruht das erschöpfte Feld nun aus für neue Gaben,

Weil ein krystallner Damm der Flüsse Lauf versteckt,

Dann zieht sich auch der Hirt in die beschneiten Hütten,

Wo fetter Fichten Dampf die dürren Balken schwärzt;

Hier zahlt die süße Ruh die Müh, die er erlitten,

Der Sorgen-lose Tag wird freudig durchgescherzt,

Und wenn die Nachbarn sich zu seinem Herde setzen,

So weiß ihr klug Gespräch auch Weise zu ergötzen.

 

Dann hier, wo Gotthards Haupt die Wolken übersteiget

Und der erhabnern Welt die Sonne näher scheint,

Hat, was die Erde sonst an Seltenheit gezeuget,

Die spielende Natur in wenig Lands vereint;

Wahr ists, daß Lybien uns noch mehr neues giebet

Und jeden Tag sein Sand ein frisches Unthier sieht;

Allein der Himmel hat dies Land noch mehr geliebet,

Wo nichts, was nöthig, fehlt und nur, was nutzet, blüht;

Der Berge wachsend Eis, der Felsen steile Wände

Sind selbst zum Nutzen da und tränken das Gelände.

 

Wenn Titans erster Strahl der Gipfel Schnee vergüldet

Und sein verklärter Blick die Nebel unterdrückt,

So wird, was die Natur am prächtigsten gebildet,

Mit immer neuer Lust von einem Berg erblickt;

Durch den zerfahrnen Dunst von einer dünnen Wolke

Eröffnet sich zugleich der Schauplatz einer Welt,

Ein weiter Aufenthalt von mehr als einem Volke

Zeigt alles auf einmal, was sein Bezirk enthält;

Ein sanfter Schwindel schließt die allzuschwachen Augen,

Die den zu breiten Kreis nicht durchzustrahlen taugen.

(Bron: Albrecht von Haller, Versuch Schweizerischer Gedichte, Berliner Ausgabe 2013)

Ardez

Meiertal, Kanton Uri