Author: Maarten Koning

The City Hall of Fribourg and the Eternal Peace

France defeated the Eidgenossen of the Swiss Confederates in Italy in 1515  (Marignano, near Milan). The peace treaty was signed on 29 November 1516 in the hôtel de Ville/Rathaus in bilingual Fribourg/Freiburg. The eternal Peace (la Paix éternelle, der ewige Friede) lasted until the French invasion of 1798.

The City Hall (Hôtel de Ville). The Eternal Peace lasted until 1798

The storm came a few years later: the Reformation. Fribourg remained Catholic and a bastion of dogmatic Catholicism, but remained an ally of Protestant Bern until 1798.

Hiking with Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was one of the most influential philosophers of the Enlightenment (second half of the 18th century). His political, educational, and literary works, as well as his novels, were bestsellers during his lifetime. It brought him not only fame but also trouble with the authorities. His passion for hiking, however, is less well-known.

”Je voyageais, voyageais à pied et je voyageais seul dans l’immensité d’être. La vue de la campagne, la succession des aspects agréables, le grand air, le grand appétit, la bonne santé que je gagne an marchant, la liberté du cabaret, tout cela dégage mon âme”.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, musée Antoine Lécuyer, Saint-Quentin

He preferred to travel on foot whenever possible, walking many thousands of kilometres in the Rhone, the Alps, and the Jura area. Rousseau was born in Geneva, an independent republic and the capital of Calvinism.

In 1728, as a young man, he left his hometown on foot and went to Annecy and Turin, the capital of the Catholic Dukes of Savoy, who were also kings of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. The contrast with the Calvinist Republic of Geneva could not be more significant. In Annecy, he converted to Catholicism (but in 1754, he became a Protestant again).

Auvernier, Tjeerd Alkema, The Hikers: Photo: TES

It was in this town that his wandering life began. His wanderings took him to Lyon, Grenoble, Chambéry (the former capital of the Dukes of Savoy), Lausanne, Solothurn, Neuchâtel, Biel, Boudry, Môtier, and several times to Paris. In 1766, he even spent a year in England – though not on foot, that’s for sure.

His preference for travelling on foot and hiking is remarkable. In the class society of the Ancien Régime, it was a sign of poverty. One is a philosopher, or one is not, and Rousseau added: Between 1762 and 1765, he lived in exile in the canton of Neuchâtel and on the island of St. Peter in Lake Biel (canton of Bern). He combined hiking with his passion for and writing about plants. He called it:

“La Ferveur botanique est le véritable amusement d’un solitaire qui se promène et ne veut pas penser à rien“.

He was particularly enthusiastic about the nature of the Jura and his stay in the canton of Neuchâtel. The canton granted him citizenship on 16 May 1763, and on 1 January 1765, he also received citizenship from the municipality of Couvet in the canton of Neuchâtel. On May 12, 1763, he relinquished his Geneva citizenship.

Due to his extraordinary devotion and respect for nature, he is also known as the father of ecology. He would have joined the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC)/Club Alpine Suisse (CAS), founded in 1863.

(Source: R. Bourgeois, Rousseau. Ses Itinérances entre Rhône et Alpes, Veury France).

Waldenburg, the SAC-Waldweidhütte and Bergwirtschaft Waldweide

Waldenburch was first mentioned in a document in 1244. The name originates from Walenburg, which translates to “castle of the Welscher,” referring to the French-speaking people of Switzerland. In the early Middle Ages, the Alsatian monastery of Murbach owned the Waldenburg area. The Lords of Froburg were their successors.

After the opening of the Gotthard Pass around 1230, Hermann von Froburg founded Waldenburg. The Bishop of Basel acquired the town in 1366, and in 1400, it fell to the city of Basel.

In 1525, Waldenburg had a hammer mill and an iron forge, later converted into a paper mill. These craft businesses utilised the water power of the Frenke stream.

Waldenburg became the district capital of the new canton of Basel-Landschaft in 1833. After the traffic over the Oberer Hauenstein Pass came to a standstill due to railway construction, the municipality introduced the clock industry in 1853. Specialists from the Jura started this venture.

Source and further information: Municipality of Waldenburg; B. Degen, Waldenburg, Historisches Lexicon der Schweiz)

The SAC-Waldweidhütte and

The restaurant (Bergwirtschaft) Waldweide at 1028 m. in regionalpark Waldweide (Region Wasserfallen)

Bron en verdere informatie: Gemeinde Waldenburg; B. Degen, Waldenburg, Historisches Lexicon der Schweiz)

Impressions of Waldenburg

       

Regionalpark Waldweid

Carte Blanche and cooperation along Lake Constance

The Internationale Bodensee-Konferenz (IBK) is a political umbrella and driving force for cross-border cooperation on Lake Constance (Bodensee).

The IBK comprises the Conference of Heads of Government and a broad network of experts from the states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria (Germany), Vorarlberg (Austria), the cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau, Schaffhausen, Zurich, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, and Appenzell Innerrhoden (Switzerland), as well as the Principality of Liechtenstein.

The IBK cooperates with other cross-border associations and organisations, including those of Members of Parliament and cities, environmental protection committees, water regulation committees, shipping committees, the Interreg programme Alpenrhein-Bodensee-Hochrhein, and the Wissenschaftsverbund Vierländerregion Bodensee.

Together with its partners, the IBK strives to make the Bodensee region a European model region of economic strength, innovation, and development, as well as social awareness and commitment to sustainability. To this end, it also cultivates the diversity of its regional cultures and strengthens their cohesion.

With the Carte Blanche, the IBK offers experts a platform where they can give impetus to cross-border cooperation and present their visions.

(Source and further information: Internationale Bodensee-Konferenz)

See also: Cooperation along the Upper-Rhine

Le Landeron and its environment

Before Le Landeron was founded, another town, Nugerol, was established by the Count of Neuchâtel to defend his county against the nearby bishopric of Basel.

Nugerol was destroyed in the 12th century during a border dispute between the count and the bishop. In 1325, the count began rebuilding the destroyed city on a new site. He chose Le Landeron, between the lakes of Neuchâtel and Biel.

Lake of Biel (Bielersee/lac de Bienne)

The new town was a short distance from the Thielle (Zihl in German) and the Lake of Biel and benefited from the vital river connection between the lakes of Biel and Neuchâtel.

The 19th century marks the beginning of the modern era with freedom of establishment, the change of political institutions with the creation of the canton of Neuchâtel (1815), the development of road and rail links, the first industries, the reclamation of extensive marshes after the first correction of the waters of the Jura (1868-1891), and the development of vegetable growing, agriculture, and viticulture.

The presence of picturesque architectural buildings from past centuries, combined with its natural setting and environment, gives Le Landeron its unique charm.

(Source:, Les plus beaux villages de Suisse, www.borghisvizzera.ch)

The chalet, its history and future

What exactly is a ‘chalet’? Are there features that make the cosy wooden house a chalet? Is it the knitted construction or the wide overhanging roof? Or the geraniums in front of the windows or the roof beams? Or is the ‘chalet’ just a symbol and allusion to a longing for Alpine nature and, therefore, an invention, a myth?

In the French-speaking regions of Switzerland, simple mountain huts were referred to as chalets until the 18th century. The first landscape gardens in England were created in the 18th century. Buildings from around the world enriched these gardens, including the ‘chalet’ type from the Swiss mountains. English aristocrats had come to know and appreciate these chalets as tourists.

In Switzerland and other European countries, the luxury chalet style began to flourish in the second half of the 19th century. They were now adapted to the needs of wealthy and upper-class citizens. Catalogues across Europe offered prefabricated chalets, which were built in ‘chaletfactories’.

Open Air Museum (Freilichtmuseum) Ballenberg, affiche end 19th century eeuw, chalets for sale

The exhibition in the Villa Patumbah has three central points: nostalgia, kitsch, and architecture. It illustrates how the chalet became a romantic symbol of desire and outlines the path from the ‘Laubsägeli chalet’ to an international hit. Lastly, the exhibition presents current projects that reinterpret the chalet. The Gelbe Haus Flims set up the exhibition.

(Quelle und weitere Informationen: Schweizer Heimatschutz)

Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah from Basel

Basel hosts one of Europe’s first ethnographic museums. The city also had the first public building, which is now known as a museum. Not surprisingly, many researchers and art collectors of the old Confederation (Eidgenossenschaft) of 13 cantons were active on five continents.

For instance, the most extensive European collection on Afghan literature and culture is housed in a building in the village of Bubendorf (Canton of Basel-Landschaft), and various Swiss-renowned ethnographic museums, university faculties, and other institutes exist, even in small towns.

The Garden and the backside of the Haus zum Kirschgarten today

But there is only one Sheikh who was born in Basel and is buried in Cairo. The wealthy manufacturer Johann Rudolf Burckhardt (1750-1813) and his wife Sara Rohner (1761-1825) built and lived in the city palace Haus zum Kirschgarten in Basel in 1784.

The city was also an international centre for trade, science and (textile) industry. Thanks to the arrival of Huguenots in the 17th century, the financial sector, textile industry and international entrepreneurship flourished. This also manifested itself in the construction of French-oriented city palaces.

One of the first buildings of this type was the Markgräflerhof (1705). Many followed, including the Ramsteinerhof (1732), the Weisse and the Blaue Haus am Rheinsprung (1762-1775), the Wildt’sche Haus am Petersplatz (1764) and, in 1780, the Haus zum Kirschgarten. Burckhardt belonged to one of the most prominent families in Basel. Johann Rudolf Burckhardt spent the summer at Lake Geneva near Lausanne.

He was in close contact with members of the English aristocracy, writers and artists (including Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) and Benjamin Constant (1767-1830). During a stay in Lausanne, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784-1817).

Anton Graff (1736-1813), Johann Ludwig Burckhardt aged two. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)

It was the second marriage of Johann Rudolf Burckhardt, who had been married to Anna Maria de Barry (1749-1808). Neither Johann Rudolf Burckhardt nor Sara Rohner could have thought they had given birth to a future Sheikh.

Johann Ludwig, his brother Georg Rudolf (1783-1866), and sister Rosine Valerie (1786-1875) received an education in music, the arts, travel, and languages, which was common in the Age of Enlightenment, characterised by salons and societies. Still, the Arab world (ruled by Turkey at the time) was largely unknown territory.

Without the French Revolution and French occupation of the old Eidgenossenschaft in 1798, Johann Ludwig might also have become a merchant and local politician in Basel. However, his father opposed the French Revolution and the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803). For this reason, he sent Johann Ludwig to the gymnasium in Neuchâtel, which was then governed by the King of Prussia as Prince of Neuchâtel. Prussia was an opponent of France and its revolutionary expansion.

Haus zum Kirschgarten today

Johann Ludwig also studied in Leipzig and Göttingen from 1800 to 1805 before leaving for London in 1805. In 1808, he joined the ‘British Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa’ to chart the trade route from Cairo to Timbuktu.

Johann Ludwig was an excellent choice for the ‘African Association’. He combined ethnological, religious, linguistic, geographical, historical and commercial interests. In a short time, he learnt Arabic and Turkish and studied the Quran. He visited several cities in the region, including Assuan, Esna, Amman, Cairo, Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Palmyra and Homs.

He dressed like a local sheikh and called himself Ibrahim ibn Abdallah. He collected precious Arabic manuscripts.

Johann Ludwig corresponded regularly with his family. Most of these letters are kept in the University Library of Basel and were partly published in 1956. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)

He travelled several times with Bedouin, published about their way of life, and regularly reported to the African Association. He was one of the first Europeans to visit Petra, travel up the Nile, and research the Pyramids and tombs. He was also the first European to report on the temple of Abu Simbel.

He wrote to his mother on 3 July 1815:

“Meine Entdeckungen in Arabia petrae und an dem Nilufer von Egypten nach Dongola haben viel Aufsehen erweckt, und ich schäme mich wirklich, Dir alle diese Lobsprüche zu melden, mit welchen man mich von fallen Seiten in England überhauft” (Letter to his mother, Cairo, 3.7.1815, Collection:Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)

He also visited Nubia and the Arabian Peninsula and participated in the ‘Hadsch’ in Mecca. After a three-month stay, he was the first European to write a detailed account of the ‘Hadsch’.

Certificate of Sheikh Ibrahim for participation in the Hadsch. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)

He then travelled to Sudan and the important trading city of Schandi. The primary trade goods consisted of Africans, who had been captured by other Africans and sold as enslaved people by Arabs to other Arabs and Turks.

These trips were followed by journeys to Taif, Savakin, Dschidda, Medina, Suez, the Sinai Desert, the Gulf of Aqaba, the already famous St. Catherine’s Monastery, and Mount Moses, the Dschebel Musa.

Between 1810 and 1817, he wrote reports detailing his travels, experiences, and discoveries for the African Association. He also reported on trade caravans, merchandise, and opportunities for the English textile industry. After all, his father was also a textile manufacturer and trader, and he knew what he was talking about.

Overview of his travels 1810-1817. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)

One goal, however, he did not achieve. Due to several local wars and epidemics, he was unable to map the Cairo to Timbuktu trade route and explore opportunities for English trade and industry.

However, his scientific merits, publications and reports on other trade opportunities were of such a high standard that the African Association patiently and financially supported Sheikh Ibrahim for many years.

Moreover, he sent several artefacts to London and the British Museum, including the colossal statue of Ramses II, in consultation with local authorities who had no interest in these objects.

Turkish governors in the region were also impressed by his writings and commitment, and they received him with grandeur in their palaces in Cairo, Damascus, Taif, and other places.

However,  in early October 1817, fate struck, and Sheikh Ibrahim contracted an intestinal infection. On 15 October 1817, he died in Cairo. A sheikh, participant in the Hadtsch and esteemed scholar, Arabist and orientalist, he was interred in the Bab el Nasr cemetery according to Islamic rituals.

Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)

His travel reports, diaries, and monograph on the Bedouin and Wahhabis were published in several languages after his death. He placed his experiences and impressions from his humanistic education and childhood within a historical, political, and cultural context without preconceptions, and his writings remain relevant for this reason.

Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)

His cultural observations and geographic maps were so accurate and valuable that the British Secret Service still used them as a manual in World War II! The Royal House of Jordan awarded Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah, alias Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a high Jordanian order posthumously in 1991.

Lawrence of Arabia (1888-1935) is known to a broad audience. Still, Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah of Basel laid the foundations for knowledge about the Arab and oriental world, language and culture a hundred years earlier.

Haus zum Kirschgarten, the inscription  of his last instruction to Henry Salt

Shortly before his death, he gave the final written instructions to the English general consul Henry Salt (1780-1827), including a message to his mother, Sara Rohner.

(Source and further information: Haus zum Kirschgarten; G. Piller, D. Suter (Red.), Scheich  Ibrahim. Der Basler Kaufmannssohn und seine Reisen durch den Orient, Basel 2017)

Sebastian Gutzwiller (1798-1872), around 1830, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel/Haus zum Kirschgarten

A Manuscript for the Prince-Bishop of Basel

In 2023, the Gottfried Keller Foundation acquired a medieval manuscript from Basel for Prince-Bishop Johannes von Venningen (1409-1478). This document, important for Jura’s cultural heritage, complements a collection of three manuscripts kept in the Old Archives of the Cantonal Library in Porrentruy.

He was elected bishop in 1458 and is best known for buying the Ajoie (Elsgau or Porrentruy district) and Porrentruy from the Counts of Montbéliard. The liturgical manuscript was produced in 1462.

He was also the first chancellor of the University of Basel when it was founded in 1460. This manuscript is the missing part of a four-volume work, the other three of which are kept in Porrentruy. The Latin manuscript, dated 1462-1463, is written in Gothic script with brown, blue, and red ink on parchment.

The manuscript, initially kept at the Bibliothèque du Collège des Jésuites in Porrentruy, resurfaced in 2000. The Gottfried Keller Foundation purchased it on 29 March 2023.

The old archives of the Jura Cantonal Library (le Fonds ancien de la Bibliothèque cantonale jurassienne) make the manuscript available to researchers and other interested parties. Descriptions and digitised facsimiles can be found on the e-codices.ch platform.

(Source and further information: République et Canton du Jura)

St Martin’s Day, the Fasnacht exhibition and 10 years of cooperation

On 8 November 2014, the Museum der Kulturen Basel and the Verein Basler Fasnacht-Welt decided that the ‘Basler Fasnacht’ exhibition would be open to the public from Thursday to Sunday.

The museum will provide the exhibition and infrastructure, while the Association will supervise it. This means the Fasnacht exhibition is accessible all year round and supervised by experts in the field.

So far, around 45,000 visitors have taken the opportunity to learn more about this unique Unesco World Heritage event or reminisce.

Fasnacht 2022

The ‘Basler Fasnacht’ exhibition provides an insight into the history of modern Fasnacht and its development over the past 100 years through various themed rooms.

The exhibition is open Thursday through Saturday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It can be viewed separately at the Museum der Kulturen Basel at a reduced admission price.

(Source and further Information: Museum der Kulturen Basel)

Impressions of the exhibition 

The former Rheinau Monastery, the Museum and Music Isle

The Celts inhabited the Rheinau peninsula (Canton of Zurich) on the Rhine River centuries before Roman rule began (in 13 BCE). Its location on the left bank of the Rhine and the peninsula offered good defences against the Germanic tribes on the right bank. The walls of the settlement (oppidum in Latin) stood upright until its demolition in 1840.

After the Romans left in 410, the Alemanni moved into the area. The Frankish rulers of the Merovingians and Carolingians followed. They founded the famous monastery of Reichenau in 724 and the abbey of Rheinau in 778.

The Romanesque churches of St Peter and Paul, St Mary, St Mark and St George, and their famous murals on the island (‘Klosterinsel’) of Reichenau were built between the 9th and 12th centuries by German kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, the successors of the Carolingians.

It confirms the common cultural space of this region on the Rhine. The dioceses of Chur and Constance owned possessions on both sides of the Rhine. Until 1803, Klein-Basel, the part of Basel on the right bank of the Rhine, belonged to the diocese of Constance. The dioceses of Chur and Constance had been under the same archbishopric of Mainz since 843. It is only since Napoleon that national borders have separated this cultural space.

The Rheinau Monastery was an independent abbey until 1455. That year, the Confederation of eight cantons (the Eidgenossenschaft) took over the ‘Schirmherrschaft’, the actual supervision (and military protection).

In 1529, the monastery and church were looted during the Reformation, but restored to Catholic glory three years later, which is remarkable in this Protestant environment. The monastery even experienced a heyday.

The present-day monastery church was consecrated in 1710. It is one of the most beautiful Baroque churches in Switzerland. The church was designed in the style of Vorarlberg (Austria): a seven-bay hall with pilaster, the transept and choir slightly raised and separated from the nave for the laity by a latticework.

Upon entering the church, the magnificent side altars and main altar, the three-nave sacristy and the walnut choir stalls at the end of the church are impressive.

In 1798, Napoleon invaded the Confederation of 13 cantons. He then founded the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803) and the Confederation of nineteen cantons (1803-1813).

Rheinau and its monastery were assigned to the Canton of Zurich in 1803. However, the canton closed the monastery in 1862. The monastery buildings were converted into psychiatric clinics. The monastery church was transformed into a parish church. The clinic was closed after 1945, and the monastery buildings stood empty for a long time. Only the House of Silence (Haus der Stille) of a small group of nuns still survives.

In 2007, the Stiftung Musikinsel Rheinau (Musikinsel Rheinau Foundation) was founded. After a thorough renovation and payment of rent to the canton, the Musikinsel Rheinau offers practice and study space to young musicians. The project is so successful that the foundation wants to expand it to include other empty buildings and cover the renovation costs.

However, these buildings are also reserved for another project: a museum. This museum aims to present the history of the Celts, the monastery and the clinic. The museum is a project of the Verein (Association) Inselmuseum Rheinau.

The canton agreed to this project and funded the feasibility study in 2014. The study’s results were positive, and a project and financing plan were submitted.

The German Bank of the Rhine

The Rhine ignores borders and meanders on