Author: Maarten Koning

Topical Medicine History and Inoculation

Hospitals are testing therapies today, and pharmaceutical companies are rapidly developing vaccines. At the same time, the public discusses the results of medicine and debates its significance. Rarely has the work on the unknowable been as visible as in the past two years. In Basel, pandemics and medicine have been science and industry focal points for centuries.

Achilles Mieg (1731-1799) inoculated the first children against smallpox on 29 May 1756. At the same time, the mathematician Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782) studied the effectiveness of smallpox vaccination with mathematical methods. His work is considered the first mathematical model for vaccination against infectious diseases.

On 17 December 1882, however, the citizens of Basel voted to abolish compulsory vaccination. Even then, there were passionate supporters and opponents.

The exhibition (in the German language) at the Philosophicum in Basel shows the history of pandemics and vaccines in Basel, which is rarely linear and rarely without errors and deviations, disputes and controversies.

The exhibition also discusses various medical topics and developments from 1500 to the present. Lectures by experts accompany the exhibition.

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

The Priory of Corcelles

The Priory of Corcelles was founded in 1092. The church became a temple in 1530 and is a national monument.

The history of Corcelles (canton of Neuchâtel) begins with the words in a charter: “In the year 1092, a certain Humbert founded the Priory of Corcelles” (En l’an 1092, un certain Humbert fonda le prieuré de Corcelles”).

Humbert made the pilgrimage to Cluny. He met the famous Abbot of Cluny Hugues (1049-1109). Humbert returned to Corcelles and donated the church to Cluny.

Corcelles joined the network of Clunisian sites in 2007. (www.clunypedia.com).

(Source: Ann Robert, 900 ans d’histoire de la paroisse de Corcelle-Cormondrèche: 1092 – 1992 Corcelles, 1992).

Why Switzerland ?

The third edition is the revised and updated classic account of Switzerland’s unique political, constitutional and economic system. This new edition addresses the twin challenges posed by globalisation and Swiss relations with the EU and whether Switzerland offers a viable, alternative development model.

Switzerland is a special and fascinating place. Its unique institutions and voting system (s), its direct democracy, the multi-member executives, the well-functioning public services, the Milice system, the absence of strikes, the very low unemployment and state debt,  the cantonal and communal autonomy, its universal military service, its wealth, the four national languages and the magnificent nature make it interesting in itself.

There is also a special feature. Switzerland is an island surrounded by the European Union and resists membership. The book attempts to answer three related questions: why has such an exception to European norms survived?

Why should outsiders notice its peculiarities, and what can they learn from them? Finally, can so unusual a society continue to exist when many of the conditions in which it evolved have disappeared?

Jonathan Steinberg, Why Switzerland, third edition, Cambridge 2015

The International Bodensee Conference

Exactly 50 years ago, on 14 January 1972, government representatives of the states and cantons around Lake Constance (Bodensee) founded the Internationale Bodensee-Konferenz (IBK) to address issues of regional cross-border cooperation.

The IBK includes Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria (Germany), Vorarlberg (Austria), the cantons of Schaffhausen, Zurich, Thurgau, St. Gallen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden (Switzerland) and the Principality of Liechtenstein.

The IBK’s Intergovernmental Commission is modelled on the longstanding and successful French-German-Swiss Intergovernmental Commission in the Upper Rhine Region. It will cover the entire spectrum of neighbourly relations at the state level.

The 50th anniversary in 2022 shows the long tradition of exchanges between the four neighbouring countries in the Lake Constance region.

(Source and Further information: Internationale Bodensee-Konferenz)

Idyll in the Valley, Panorama on the Mountains

Central Europe was covered by a subtropical sea two hundred million years ago. The Jura mountain range was also hundreds of metres below sea level. Limestone was formed during this period.

The mountains and soil of the Jura, created about 135 million years ago, have a layer of lime hundreds of metres deep. For many millions of years, the limestone remained untouched until the arrival of the Romans in the first century B.C. 

They quarried the limestone. Solothurn ( Saladorum in Latin) and Roman villas, temples and other public buildings in Solothurn and Basel-Landschaft were mainly built from this limestone in the Roman period (until the beginning of the fifth century). After the departure of the Romans, the use of limestone also disappeared.

It was not until a thousand years later that limestone again became a widely used building material. The Baroque city of Solothurn is built of limestone for the most part.

Limestone is available in various types, colours and qualities. Each type is suitable as a building material for decorative purposes or sculpture. Every region, for example, in Laufen, Liesberg or Solothurn, has used a distinctive limestone type.

The Chessiloch

The limestone rocks have exceptional use at Grellingen (canton of Basel-Landschaft). This place is situated at the Birs river and near a railway bridge. Soldiers guarded this bridge during the First World War (1914-1918).

The soldiers painted the heraldry, landscapes and monuments (including the Abbey of St. Gall) of their cantons, emblems of their army units, Swiss symbolism, including Lady Helvetia and William Tell, and even portraits of their generals on the rocks of the Chessiloch. These can still be seen and are an important historical record.

Chaltbrunnental

The Chessiloch is also the start of the nature reserve Chaltbrunnental or Kaltbrunnental (part of the Karstlehrpfad, www.karstlehrpfad.ch).

The idyllic Ibach, Schällbächli, and Chastelbach are just a few wildly flowing streams and their springs. As its name suggests, the valley is cold and humid, with many springs and streams. 

The (sometimes enormous – as large as houses) rocks overgrown with mosses and the many fallen tree trunks in the streams and the valley, the erosion of walls of the canyons and their caves (and cave-dwellers from prehistoric times) and the waterfalls in a setting of high trees through which the sun’s rays shine, revive the times of Jurassic Park. 

Panorama

Leaving the valley, another world reveals itself, of forests, forestry, valleys, farms, meadows, and their many horses reveal itself in the canton of Solothurn and of the magnificent panoramas towards the Jura and the Vosges in France.

History, philosophy, industry, and religion are never far away in this environment. From the summits of the first Homberg (793 metres) and the second Homberg (898 metres), one can see the towers of Roche in Basel, the medieval castle of Pfenningen, the Goetheanum in Dornach and the huge church of Seewen and several villages.

The Swiss Alpine Club

The Swiss Alpine Club, section Basel (www.sac-basel.ch) regularly organises hiking trips in this region (and elsewhere).

The SAC (www.sac-cas.ch) organises ski tours, mountaineering and other sports in the high mountains and the Alps and activities in other regions.

Proofreader: Adrian Dubock

Corcelles-Cormondrèche

The beautiful villages Corcelles and Cormondrèche (canton of Neuchâtel) merged in 1889. The two villages counted 560 inhabitants in 1750 and more than 4700 today. Even the plague in 1629 (160 deaths out of 500 inhabitants) did not slow down the growth of the population in the longer term. Before the industrialization of the 19th century, the economy was mainly based on wine and agriculture.

The castle of Cormondrèche

The Prieuré of Cormondrèche is a beautiful heritage from the 16th century. The building houses famous wine cellars. The Prieuré, therefore, has no religious meaning, contrary to the building with a similar name in Corcelles.

The abbey of Corcelles

The Prieuré (Priory) of Corcelles (Curcellis in the Middle Ages) was a medieval Romanesque church. The present-day architecture mainly dates from 1406. The church St. Peter and St. Paul was offered to the Abbey of Cluny in 1092.  The church has been protestant since 1530 and thus a temple.

Corcelles is part of the cultural itinerary of the network of Cluny sites today. (L’itinéraire Culturel du réseau des sites clunisiens).

The commune merged in January 2022 with the city of Neuchâtel

(Source and further information: (www.corcelles-cormondreche.ch).

Cormondrèche, le Prieuré 

Basel, Fasnacht and Switzerland

Basel’s Fasnacht, from 7 to 9 March 2022, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017. What makes such an event a heritage, and how does it differ from similar ancient traditions?

The Fasnacht

The French translation for Fasnacht is ‘le Carnaval de Bâle’. In other countries, such as the Netherlands and Germany, this event is linked to the Catholic calendar, which marks the beginning of Lent, which is forty days until Easter.

Basel already distinguishes itself in this respect: Fasnacht takes place a week later. Protestant Basel decided on this date in 1529. In Lucerne and other towns, Fasnacht occurs according to the Catholic calendar.

The tradition of the Basler Fasnacht goes back to the 14th century and was afterwards closely linked to Lent in combination with the presentation of arms by the militia. They marched through the city in the early morning, accompanied by the marching music of drums and piccolos.

The Fasnacht’s current form and activities developed after the First World War. The Fasnacht committee’s website offers a well-documented overview (www.fasnachts-comite.ch).

Basel  

Historically and culturally, Basel has a unique position in the Swiss Confederation, which the city joined as a canton in 1501. The canton of Basel-Stadt (created by the separation of Basel-Landschaft in 1833) is a three-country region. Until 1501, it had a neutral position in the conflicts between the Eidgenossenschaft or Swiss Confederation of Cantons and Habsburg and its allies.

Habsburg’s defeat in the Swabenkrieg and the peace of Basel in 1499 paved the way for other cantons to become members of the Swiss Confederation. However, Basel has also been oriented towards the French and German regions. The current Association Regio Basiliensis (www.regbas.ch) exemplifies this close cooperation.

UNESCO World Heritage

But what makes this Fasnacht, this carnival, so unique to get World Heritage status? It is the combination of the musical performances, the often fantastic costumes, the creativity and humour of the Laternen, the Fasnacht cabaret (Schnitzelbangg), the theatre performances, and the involvement of hundreds of formally registered cliques (associations of Fasnacht) with tens of thousands of musically trained members and numerous informal musical companies.

What impresses most, however, is the experience of this event. It is estimated that around 200,000 people and locals visit the Fasnacht, and tens of thousands of participants march with their piccolos, tambourines and wind instruments through the city for three days, from 04.00 on Monday (the Morgenstraich) until 04.00 on Thursday morning.

The Fasnacht has the character of a procession and a (mostly) high-quality musical feast of wind instruments (the Guggen), piccolos and tambourines.

The atmosphere, the respect for each other and for the different cliques that regularly cross each other in the crowded alleys, made possible by the internal organisation, the practice and discipline of the cliques (associations), the absence of buffoonery and drink binges in the public streets, the irony and mild satire and, above all, the engagement and (mostly) the respect of the visitors.

Basel, Fasnacht and Switzerland

Basel and its Fasnacht represent some of Switzerland’s characteristics. A good organisation, a serious and professional performance by amateurs from all social classes (the great milice system in practice), mild humour and satire, a high cultural level, engagement with the local community and traditions, but openness to changes and adjustments, often with interest in other societies and modesty and respect for each other.

This respect is also the basis of centuries-old banking secrecy. The secrecy was never meant to hide the black and bad money of the post-1940 period, but pecunia non olet also applies to Swiss banks, which are not the exception but the rule in this industry.

The Fasnacht in, for example, Lucerne, the Fondation Origen in Riom or the Fête des Vignerons in Vevey are other examples of citizens’ involvement in their municipality or canton.

The Basler Fasnacht is a three-day festive event, just like the carnival. However, it is distinguished by its typical Swiss character combined with local Basler traditions and involvement. And that is without even mentioning the distinction between Kleinbasel and Grossbasel.

Nothing typifies the modesty of Fasnacht more than two cycling Fasnächtler or Fasnächtlerinnen in the centre of Basel.

The photo gallery gives an impression of Monday morning, 04.00 AM and subsequent days.

 

 

Origen’s Cultural Campus

One project of the Origen Foundation (Fundaziun Origen) in Riom (canton of Graubünden) has barely begun, or the next is already emerging.

The Weisse Villa (White Villa) relocation in Mulegns was completed in 2020. The renovation of the famous Post Hotel Löwe is almost finished. The Foundation has also built a theatre (the Julierturm) on the Julier Pass. This theatre will be demolished in 2023, however.

The Foundation plans to build a new theatre and a cultural campus in Riom. This campus will house a new theatre, accommodation and office space for the foundation and staff, rehearsal rooms, storage rooms, classrooms, gastronomy and, for example, studios for stage clothes and props.

The budget is estimated at 15 million CHF. The Foundation has shown its ability to move villas and build theatres at a height of 2,284 metres. Riom’s cultural campus will be a success as well.

(Source and information: www.origen.ch)

The Fletschhorn and April Joke

Switzerland has 48 mountains that are higher than 4 000 metres. The highest mountain is the Dufourspitze (4,634 metres), named after Guillaume Henri Dufour (1787-1875), engineer, army officer (including the commander-in-chief of the Confederation in the Sonderbundskrieg of 1847) and founder of Swiss topography.

The most famous mountain is the Matterhorn (4 478 metres), the most touristic and first conquered (3 August 1811) mountain is the Jungfrau (4 158 metres), and the last conquered peak (19 July 1900) of 4 075 metres is the Schwarzfluh.  Climbers reached all 4000+ peaks in the period 1811-1900.

However, there is also a loser. The Fletschhorn near Saas-Grund (canton of Valais) had to leave the premier league of 4 000 + mountains at the end of the 19th century. The mountain was still 4 001 metres high in the middle of the 19th century, and they reached the top on 8 August 1854. By 1900, the height was only 3993 metres. Erosion or more precise measuring methods are to blame for this.

In 1988, for reasons of tourism and marketing, the municipality of Saas-Grund wanted to raise the mountain seven metres by constructing iron and concrete.

The fantasy even went so far as to put the mountain under psychological treatment: it was so ashamed of its 4 000- metre status compared to the neighbouring Lagginhorn (4 010 metres, climbed on 26 August 1856) that it stood shyly in the background.

The 1 April joke of 1988 concerned this project: The Walliser Bote wrote: Solution in sight, the level of the sea can be lowered. After all, the measurement takes place at sea level (Lösung in Sicht. Die kostspielige Erhöhung könne man umgehen, indem man versuche, den Meeresspiegel um einige Meter abzusenken).

Nature conservation, the SAC and neighbouring municipalities saw nothing in the plan. The canton finally intervened and refused the building permit in 1991. However, the village did not want to give up and measured the peak one more time. The Fletschhorn was not 3993 metres high, but ‘only’ 3985 metres.

The municipality attracted the international (including the BBC) and national press in 1988 and 1991 (including “Kein Witz! Walliser wollen neuen Viertausender bauen” (the national Sonntagszeitung)).

The 4000- status does not affect the beauty of the mountain and the Weissmieshütte of the SAC at 2 726 metres.

The Swiss Alpine Club

The SAC (www.sac-cas.ch) organises ski tours, mountaineering and other sports in the high mountains and the Alps and (hiking) activities in other regions.

(Source: www.nzz.ch/schweiz; www.weissmieshuette.ch).