Maarten Koning – Page 43 – The Swiss Spectator

The Confectioners in Mulegns and Riom

Nova Fundaziun Origen presented the fairytale film installation ‘The Confectioner’s Dream’ in Chur on 11 November. With this work, Nova Fundaziun Origen shows a musical film generated entirely by AI.

A confectioner (Zuckerbäcker) returns to Graubünden. He followed his grandfather’s career and became a Zuckerbäcker in another country. He returns to his birth village and wants to erect a monument to honour the confectioners. He dreams of a splendid and unique building.

A tall white tower, with organic shapes, virtuoso patterns and slender pillars, is to tower above the roofs of his home village and let his gaze wander into the distance.

The White Tower, built using digital printing technology, is in the starting blocks. The world’s tallest digitally printed structure will be erected in the village of Mulegns as early as next year.

The building reminds the bold emigrants from Graubünden and tells their story. What would a homesick confectioner build today: a large farmhouse, a villa or palace decorated with Randolinas, a grand hotel or a white building developed by AI and built by robots?

Dance and music theatre in Riom

It is the year of the confectioners. It is reminiscent of the fabulous emigrants who once covered half the world with their cafés and patisseries. Their mastery’s origins lie in Venice, not in the cold Alps.

The people of Graubünden created their confectionery in the lagoon city. The city lay at their feet and fell into a sugar frenzy. The musical theatre “Venezia” presents the world of confectioners and tells of their pastries, sweet dreams and silent longing.

The Story

Venice, before Christmas 1524: cakes are piling up in the Pasticceria Alberti. Their names melt in the mouth: Bussolà, Fugassa, Brunelli, Fave: everything promises sweet festivity and holiday joy. A splendour of the confectioner’s art is emblazoned on the marble counter.

Luigi Alberti has created a fabulous fairytale palace for the Contessa Corsini, a sugar castle with turrets and chimneys that blow candy floss and sink into the decor.

The Contessa’s favourites, the quiet Biancaneve, the dusty Cenerentola, the cheeky Sigismondo and the yawning Petrocello, are frozen in sugar but come to life as soon as night falls on the city.

On stage are dancers and actors, an ensemble and a singer.

Performances

Riom, Clavadeira op 22, 23, 27, 28, 29 and 30 December 2023, and 5 and 6 January 2024. 17.00.

(Source and further information: www.origen.ch)

The Grandeur of the Old Rhine and Rheineck

The creation of the Old Rhine (der Alte Rhein) was the result of the International Rhine Regulation (Internationale Rheinregulierung or IRR) between Switzerland and the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1892.

The Old Rhine near Rheineck

This treaty remains in force and aims to prevent floods in the Rhine area, specifically in St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Vorarlberg (Austria). The office of the IRR is located in St. Margrethen (Canton of St. Gallen).

Floods occurred regularly, and the construction of dams on both sides of the Rhine, i.e. on the Austrian, Liechtenstein and Swiss borders, was not an adequate solution. The construction of two side canals, the Werdenberger Canal (Werdenbergerkanal) and the Rheintal Binnen Canal (Rheintaler Binnenkanal), needed to be improved to prevent floods.

Although these canals captured water from dozens of streams, the Rhine basin was partially flooded in large parts every three years, from Sargans to Lake Constance.

Picture: Tschubby/Wikipedia

By 1906, the first canalisation of the Rhine was complete. Near St Margrethen (canton of St Gallen), the Rhine was deflected about 8 kilometres to the right. As a result, the town of Höchst (Vorarlberg) was left on the Rhine bank.

The opposite situation occurs at Diepoldsau (canton of St Gallen), which is on the right bank of the Rhine due to a later canalisation. With most of canton Schaffhausen and the municipalities of Riehen, Bettingen and Kleinbasel in the city of Basel, it is the only Swiss area on the right Rhine bank.

The Alte Rhein owes its existence to this intervention, and it has remained the border between Austria and Switzerland. The Alte Rhein still flows into Lake Constance, although it has lost much of its grandeur.

Gaissau (Vorarlberg) seen from Rheineck, transport upstream by horses. Picture: unknown artist and undated. Picture: Gemeinde Rheineck

Rheineck, transport downstream, on the left timber rafts, on the right a sailing ship from Lake Constance. Picture: unknown artist and undated. Picture: Gemeinde Rheineck

Yet the shore still offers the appearance of a Golden Age. Rheineck was the city where goods were stored and transported downstream from Chur via Lake Constance to Schaffhausen for centuries. Upstream, it went from Rheineck to Feldkirch and Hohenems, primarily transporting corn from southern Germany.

From 1291, the Rhine was a so-called Freie Reichsstrasse, meaning it was freely accessible for shipping (apart from tolls). From Chur, 400 to sometimes 1,200 wooden rafts sailed annually to Rheineck, carrying, among other things, skins, wine, textiles and rice. The wood was subsequently sold in Rheineck, with around 20,000 trees annually!

The town had city rights since 1276 and, until the Rhine was canalised, was even the highest Rhine port with a Schifflände.

The castle ruins, the church, and several monumental merchant houses, along with paintings, depict this prosperity. Salt from Salzburg and the north-south route were the basis of trade and prosperity.

Canonballs in the walls of the castle ruins.

If climatologists’ forecasts are correct, in about 100 years, the Rhine will have approximately the same water volume as today’s Alte Rhein. It is a small comfort for this once-mighty tributary of today’s Rhine, which has flowed into Lake Constance in Austria since 1906 and is no longer a border river from St Margrethen onwards.

Rheineck, The Löwenhof (1746), the largest mansion in the canton of St. Gall

(Source: Office of Internationale Rheinregulierung and the town of Rheineck).

Wartenfels Castle and the Bishop who did not spend the night

Avaliable in German, French and Dutch

The Botanical Garden of the Brissago Islands

The Brissago Islands (Isole di Brissago) in Lake Maggiore near Brissago and Ascona are unique. The roots of the beautiful, exotic botanical garden date back to 1885, when Antoinette (1856-1948) and her husband, the aristocrat Richard Fleming de Saint Léger, purchased the islands.

On the largest island, Isola Grande, they built a house on the remains of a monastery and laid out a garden. They planted rare and subtropical species from all over the world.

In 1927, the German businessman Max Emden (1874-1940) bought the islands. A palace replaced the house. Villa Emden was crafted from the finest materials, including white Carrara marble and Florentine marquetry floors. Max Emden also maintained and enlarged the garden.

In 1949, the Canton of Ticino (50%), the municipalities of Ascona (25%), and Brissago and Ronco (25%) acquired the islands, the villa, and the botanical garden. Since 2020, the Canton of Ticino has been the sole owner.

With its 2,000 subtropical plant species, the botanical garden is unique in Switzerland. It is home to plant species from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America, Central America, and the Mediterranean.

The garden depicts a place in the world 300 million years ago, a time when trees, fruit, and flowers were absent, and living fossils were still present. The Roman garden and Roman bath are also notable features of the island.

The botanical garden is managed according to the scientific criteria of the Botanic Gardens Conservation International and is a member of the Swiss Association of Botanical Gardens and Plant Collections (Hortus Botanicus Helveticus).

(Source and further information: Isole di Brissago; G. Maspoli, ´Il Parco botanico delle isole di Brissago´in GSK, Kunst + Architektur in der Schweiz, Botanische Gärten, Bern, 2019, Nr. 3).

The Valleys Valmaggia, Centovalli and Valle Onsernone

The river Maggia flows into Lake Maggiore between Ascona and Locarno. The River Melezza in the Valley of Centovalli joins the Maggia at Losone, a few kilometres upstream. The river is the namesake of the Maggia district in the Canton of Tessin.

Its calm mouth in the lake contrasts sharply with the natural violence a few kilometres upstream. At Ponte Brolla, the Maggia has been plunging through the gorge for millennia. This force of nature has formed beautiful rock formations. At high tide, as much water flows through the river as in the Rhine at Basel!

The Maggia rises in the Cristallina massif at an altitude of over 2,400 metres, north of the canton, bordering the cantons of Valais and Uri. After several lakes and valleys (including Val Sambuco, Val Lavizarra and the Valle di Peccia), the rivers Bavona in Val Bavona (near Bisagno and Caverno) and Rovana (near Cevio) flow into the Maggia.

From Bisagno, the course of the river as far as Ascona is called the Maggia Valley (Valmaggia). The Maggia Valley is the longest in the region, with several tributary valleys. These contributions provide a brief overview of the Maggia Valley, Centovalli, and Valle Onsernone.

Maggia Valley

There are three main junctions at Boschetto and Cevio. One road leads to Broglio, Prato-Sornico, Mogno, Peccia and Fusio in the Lavizzara valley. Peccia is the location of Switzerland’s only marble quarry. For this reason, Peccia is home to the Centro Internationale di Sculptura (CIS). Mario Botta designed his famous church in Mogno in 1990, using marble from Peccia.

Another road leads through the village of Cerentino to the Walser village of Bosco Gurin. The third road goes via Brisagno towards San Cristallina.

From Cevio, the Maggia flows past the villages of Sommo, Rive, Giumaglio, and Coglio towards Maggia. From Coglio to Maggia, the landscape in the natural park near the town of Lodano resembles a river landscape with floodplains and grazing cows. UNESCO has recognised Lodano’s beech forests as a World Heritage Site.

Lodano

The village of Maggia has one of the longest and, in any case, the most modern suspension bridge in Tessin and an authentic medieval centre. Mogheno, Aurigeno, Gordevio, Avegno and Ponte Brolla are the main villages along the Maggia until Losone.

Maggia

The Centovalli

The Swiss side of the Centovalli runs from Tegna to Camedo, where it meets the border with Italy. From Camedo, the road leads to Domodossola, where it crosses into Switzerland again at Gondo and the Simplon Pass (Canton of Valais).

Centovalli has been the municipality’s name for several years, a merger of the villages in the valley. The valley was known as Chimney Sweep Valley until 1945. Today, it is known, among other things, for its chestnut trees. Indeed, in autumn, there is a carpet of chestnuts.

Tegna

Verscio Theater Dimitri

However, the valley is also the location of the world-famous Dimitri theatre in Verscio, the longest church tower in Tessin, the museum Centovalli e Pedemonte and the museum founded by Hans Flüh in Intragna, the ancient Roman road and the Ponto Romano across the wild Melezza, the palace of Tondü and the old mill park in Lionza and several authentic villages, including Tegna, Cavigliano, Rasa, Corcapolo, Verdasio, Palagnedra, Borgnone and Lionza, just before the border with Italy near Camedo.

The ancient road and the Ponto Romano

Just before the border town of Camedo lies the village of Lionza, the location of Palazzo Tondü and the (medieval) mill park (Parco dei mulini).

Lionza, Parco dei mulini

The valley’s old trade road (Via del Mercato) ran from Locarno through Intragna to Camedo and from there to Domodossola in Italy.

Via del mercato

Camedo

The Onsernone Valley

The valley runs parallel to the Centovalli and has its peculiarities. Its dense forested steep mountain slopes, hamlets, streams and waterfalls are the backdrop of a fairytale atmosphere, with Spruga as the undisputed highlight.

Impressions from the Maggia Valley

Mogheno

Coglio

Giumalio

Aurigeno

Impressions from the Centovalli

De Mezella

The guide Stefan Früh is standing before his museum near the museum Centovalli e Pedemonte

Intragna

Golino

Borgnone

Lionza

Bosco Gurin and the Walser

The inhabitants of Canton Tessin speak Italian. All the inhabitants? About 70 descendants of German-speaking Walser live in the village of Bosco Gurin. The village was first mentioned in documents in 1253. The inhabitants mostly speak the German dialect Ggurijnartitsch (Gurinerdeutsch).

Bosco Gurin (1,506 m.) is located in a side valley of the Maggia Valley at the end of the Kantonsstrasse. Despite several devastating avalanches in 1695 and 1749, the village still has several authentic, centuries-old Walser houses, grain stores, cattle stables and hay storage (Gabumdschi).

The Walserhaus Museum showcases Walser culture and lifestyle in Gurinerdeutsch, Italian, and High German. The Walser culture, living and working environment and their emigration in the 13th and 14th centuries from Piedmont and Valais are also covered. The museum is housed in one of the oldest wooden complexes, built in 1386, in Switzerland.

The organisation Pro Specie Rara maintains the garden in front of the museum. The garden features crops, herbs, and plants that Walser used to grow for personal consumption.

The church, dedicated to the Saints James and Christopher, dates back to 1253. The church underwent several changes until 1945, but several authentic details have been preserved. The annual procession for the patron saints and Saint Theodor, also the patron saint of the canton of Valais, takes place on 25 July.

(Source and further information: Comune Bosco Gurin)

Cevio, Grotti, Filippini and the Wine Press

Cevio (Maggiatal/Valmaggia, Canton of Ticino/Tessin) and Enrico Filippini (Cevio, 1932-1988) may not be very well-known names. Yet, the Italian-speaking Filippini introduced famous writers such as Walter Benjamin, Günter Grass, Max Frisch, and Friedrich Dürrenmatt to Italy.

He studied in Locarno, Milan, Berlin, Munich and Paris. He worked at the Feltrinelli publishing house in Milan and as a journalist at the newspaper La Repubblica and Italian television in Rome. The municipality of Cevio honoured its son with a memorial stone in 1988.

Cevio (and the hamlets Rovana and Boschetto), first mentioned in a document in 1230, is the main town of the Maggia valley at the confluence of the Maggia and Rovana rivers.

Chiessa della Rovana

Several palaces and the monumental church give the village the appearance of a town. From 1512 to 1798, bailiffs from the cantons of the Confederation ruled the Untertanengebiet Tessin. The Maggia Valley was also a baliaggio. A bailiff (balivo or commisario) from one of the cantons ruled the area for two years, after which another governor took over. The façade of the Palazzo della Residenza on the square shows several names and their cantons of origin.

The road to the grotti

The village is also famous for its centuries-old wine presses. The Museo di Valmaggia owns one wine press in a well-preserved state. The grotti (singular grotto) are also worth visiting. Grotti are small restaurants created over centuries, built into and along the rocks.

(Source and further information: www.vallemaggia.ch; Comune di Cevio)

Museo di Valmaggia

Sixty Years Regio Basiliensis and Crossborder Cooperation

Switzerland has traditionally been closely intertwined with its surrounding regions, culturally, economically, religiously, socially and scientifically.

As many as 15 of the 26 cantons of Switzerland, half of the country’s population and two of its three largest cities (Basel and Geneva) border other countries (Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy and France). 70% of bilateral goods trade between the European Union and Switzerland originates in this region.

The border cantons and population density. Image: Regio Basiliensis

Regio Basiliensis highlighted this situation at its Conference of Swiss Border Cantons (Konferenz der Schweizer Grenzregionen)on 20 October to mark its 60th anniversary.

Century-old relations underlie today’s regional cooperation of cantons with these regions in neighbouring countries. The conference, with over 230 participants from cantons and guests from Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, and France, looked back at the past 60 years and forward to the future.

Cantons

Even between cantons, there are sometimes significant differences in culture, language, culture, economy, tax systems and education. Nevertheless, over the centuries and certainly after 1848, successful cooperation, exchange and a modus vivendi have developed among the cantons.

Regions

With the surrounding regions, the process has been the other way around. Until the formation of nation-states in the nineteenth century, cooperation, exchange and contacts were self-evident, Tessin, Valais, Graubünden with (Austrian) Lombardy and South Tyrol, the northern cantons with the Boden region, Austria, southern Germany and Alsace, and the western cantons with French territories.

European Union

It underwent radical changes after 1815, with the world wars between 1914 and 1945 serving as low points. European cooperation, which had never wholly disappeared, began to regain momentum after the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (1952) and the European Economic Community (1957), protected by NATO’s security guarantee and stimulated by America’s Marshall Plan.

The democratic and social welfare states in Europe are the result. The actual European Union (1993) has played an essential role in this development. The European Union is a process of integration, cooperation, and merger in some areas (though it doesn’t call it that). Like any merger, it has a law of diminishing returns.

The political, fiscal, cultural, and social differences between countries are sometimes so vast that the risk of poor decision-making or compromise is also increasing.

This applies not only to scientific projects and research, but also to migration, climate policy, and the areas of democracy, the judiciary, parliament, and the executive, or ‘government’ (European Commission).

There are also still many barriers and differences between regions of countries, which in itself is an indication of the complexity of cooperation among countries at the central European level.

Regio Basiliensis

A federal and subsidiarity-based organisation offers the best guarantee for efficient and transparent cooperation between countries and a functioning democracy of the European Union in the long term.

Not only Switzerland and its 26 cantons, but also regional projects such as Regio Basiliensis and the Upper Rhine cooperation, could serve as examples.

At the conference, not only did the success stories of this regional cooperation (with the support of the European Union’s Interreg programme, governments, regions and cantons) receive attention, but also current bottlenecks.

At the highest political level, these are the relationships between Switzerland and the European Union, as well as the participation of cantons in this federal decision-making process.

At a micro level, however, they are the daily concerns of cross-border commuting, education, taxation, research, digital networks, logistics or, for example, environmental measures.

Conclusion

The Court of Justice of the European Union is sometimes called “the motor of European integration” (which calls for caution as an unelected institution). Regio Basiliensis, one of the oldest organisations in its field, is the driving force behind regional cooperation.

(Source and further cooperation: Regio Basiliensis)

Lausanne, City of Culture, History, Parcs and Pierre de Courbertin

The urban development of Lausanne has been rapid since the early 20th century. The first skyscraper in Switzerland was built in this town in 1931 (Bel Air).
Lausanne has been the seat of the International Olympic Committee since 1915 and was named the Olympic capital in 1993.

The city currently has a population of 140,000. It offers numerous attractions, including the magnificent views of the Alps and Lake Geneva, beautiful parks (including the Hermitage and its museum, the Sauvabelin park, the Elysée park, the Olympic park, the Louis Bourget park, the Denantou park).

The medieval town centre and its Gothic cathedral on the hill, the many museums (including the new complex Plateforme 10 (with MUDAC, the museum of fine arts and the Elysée museum), the Olympic museum, the Palais de Rumine, the Art Brut museum, the aquarium, the botanical garden and the world-famous University EPLF are worth a visit as well. Lausanne is also the seat of the Federal Supreme Court (Tribunal fédéral Bundesgericht).

(Source and further information: www.lausanne-tourisme.ch).

Impressions from the city

Image: Musée Historique de Lausanne

The cathedral

The castle of the bishop

Le château d’Ouchy

David Buttet (1587-1657), Lausanna Civitas Equestris, 1638. Image: Musée Historique de Lausanne

Memorial: Cathedral of Lausanne

Image: Musée Historique de Lausanne

Grand Hotel Beau-Rivage Palace

Esplanade de Montbenon

La Maison olympique

Belgium expresses its gratitude to Mary Widmer-Curtat (1860-1947) from Lausanne. On 1 October 1915, Mary initiated the foundation of the Swiss Committee for Aid to Belgian Refugees.

Le Jardin botanique

Cimetière du Bois-de-Vaux

The Swiss Alpine Club and Section Basel

The Schweizer Alpen-Club was founded on 19 April 1863, six years after the foundation of the British Alpine Club in London and a year after the foundation of the Österreichische Alpenverein. The SAC initially focused on activities in the Alps. In the wake of mainly British mountaineers, its primary focus was climbing peaks.

The SAC had seven Sektionen in 1863 (Aarau, Basel, Bern, Diablerets Lausanne, St Gallen, Glarus (Tödi) and Zurich (Uto) with 358 members. Today, the SAC has over 150,000 members, 110 sections (Sektionen) and 22 subsections (Untersektionen).

The highest location of its 153 huts is the Mönchsjochhütte (3,657 m), 200 metres higher than the Jungfraujoch. The Grünhornhütte (2,448 metres), built in 1863, is the first SAC hut; today, it is a monument and a small museum.

Photo’s: The George Starkey Hut

The SAC has even contributed to a hut in England. The Association of British Members of the Swiss Alpine Club (ABMSAC) runs the George Starkey Hut at Patterdale in the Lake District. The SAC supported this initiative financially, and since 4 October 1975, the SAC’s emblem has been displayed on the hut’s front door.

Gradually, the association expanded its activities, sections and membership. Today, the SAC offers a wide range of activities for young and old, including hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, cycling, mountain biking, ski tours, climbing and mountaineering, paragliding, courses, lectures, and other educational events.

The SAC publishes (digital) books, the monthly magazine Die Alpen and numerous other publications and guides. SAC members are affiliated with a local (sub) section, which also organises activities. The Basel section was founded in 1863.

The hiking trail Dittingen-Pfeffingen

The Basel Section’s annual day (Jahresfest) for its members traditionally starts with a hike and climbing, and nowadays also a parcours for mountain bikers, and ends with the honouring of jubilees and reception followed by dinner.

The silver cup for 50 years of membership

Some jubilarians have been (active) members for 70 years and have covered thousands of the approximately 40,000 kilometres of recognised hiking trails in Switzerland, not to mention participating in other SAC activities.

Old border stones near Pfeffingen of the canton Bern and the canton Basel-Landschaft. The Laufental was part of canton Bern from 1815 to 1994.

One of this year’s Jahresfest hikes took place from Dittingen to Pfeffingen, featuring its famous ruins. Even for members who have been members for 70 years, every Jura hike is a voyage of discovery, featuring vines, meadows, deciduous and coniferous forests, mountains, streams, fens, diverse flora and fauna, rich culture and history, and breathtaking views that extend as far as the Black Forest and the Alps.

(Source and further information: Schweizer Alpine-Club