Author: Maarten Koning

A Concise History of Switzerland

Despite its position at the heart of Europe and its quintessentially European nature, Switzerland’s history is often overlooked.

This comprehensive and engaging history of Switzerland traces this fascinating country’s historical and cultural development from the end of the Dark Ages up to the present.

The authors focus on the initial Confederacy of the Middle Ages; the religious divisions which threatened it after 1500 and its surprising survival amongst Europe’s monarchies; the turmoil following the French Revolution and conquest, which continued until the Federal Constitution of 1848; the testing of the Swiss nation through the late nineteenth century and then two World Wars and the Depression of the 1930s; and the unparalleled economic and social growth and political success of the post-war era.

The book concludes with a discussion of the contemporary challenges, often shared with neighbours, that shape the country today.

Clive H. Church, Randolph C. Head, A Concise History of Switzerland, Cambridge 2013.

The Swiss Confederation around 1300

The classic themes of early Swiss history concentrate on the Confederation letter and oath of 1291, the victory at Morgarten in 1315 and imperial freedom (Reichsunmittelbarkeit). They are presented in a new way and placed in a broader political, economic and social context.

The book (German language) is based on years of intensive research and highlights the beginnings of the Swiss Confederation around 1300.

Roger Sablonier, Gründungszeit ohne Eidgenossen. Politik und Gesellschaft in der Innerschweiz um 1300, 2008.

The symbiosis between humankind and nature in the Entlebuch

The Entlebuch (about 400 m2) is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the canton of Lucerne, recognised in 2001. The Entlebuch is also called the Wild West of Lucerne.

The acquisition of the status by UNESCO was not self-evident. The prerequisites were present, however: a magnificent natural environment and flora and fauna that are special even by Swiss standards, the largest peat bog surface in the country, mountain landscapes, rivers and streams, no large-scale farming (around 850 farms) or large agglomerations, and yet still easily accessible to the public.

In Entlebuch, named after the village of Entlebuch, there was the (usual) disagreement between business and nature conservation. The basis for this discussion was the adopted referendum in 1987, the so-called Rothenturm-Initiative. This initiative was subsequently incorporated into Article 78, paragraph 5, of the Constitution.

This law aims to give the peatlands throughout the country a protected status. The business community, including agriculture, in the Entlebuch feared that this would be at the expense of economic development (fewer roads, no expansion of villages, industrial estates, farmland, etc.).

However, some citizens approached this perspective from an entirely different angle, namely the opportunities it offered to businesses by protecting and preserving nature.

And indeed, a project group set up in 1997 succeeded in presenting a plan after (lengthy) consultations with the relevant municipal, cantonal and federal authorities, citizens, businesses and nature conservationists.

The result was a well-thought-out concept to win over all those interested. Agriculture, the wood industry, energy production, tourism, services and small and medium-sized enterprises saw the advantages of the concept with the preservation of the peat landscape following the 1987 referendum.

In September 2000, the citizens of the eight municipalities involved (Entlebuch, Hasle, Doppleschwand, Schüpfheim, Flühli-Sörenberg, Marbach, Escholmatt and Romoos) voted by 94% in favour of the initiative to nominate the Entlebuch as a UNESCO recognised biosphere.

Since then, the Entlebuch ‘poorhouse’ (the term used in Switzerland for this region until 2001) has developed into a prosperous area by the new status and nature conservation.

A hiker can not imagine that the gondola lifts from Flühli to Sörenberg, the largest winter sports area in the canton, is in the middle of this nature reserve. In other places, gondolas and other tourist facilities have been built since 2001.

However, a walk from Sörenberg at an altitude of 1423 to the Kemmeriboden-Bad, almost 500 metres lower and along the River Emme in the canton of Berne, on the border of the Emmental and the Entlebuch, shows how carefully the relationship between humankind and nature has been given substance.

The prosperous farms thrive on the label “Echt Entlebuch” for five hundred agricultural, dairy and meat products. The development of tourism, small and medium-sized enterprises, excellent infrastructure and flourishing village communities with as many as 400 cultural, sports, social, economic and political associations (out of a population of 17 000) show that the region is in pretty good shape.

Around 600 000 tourists visit the area every year. A current exhibition in the Entlebucherhaus in Schüpfheim shows this development of the Entlebuch (www.entlebucherhaus.ch).

UNESCO was so enthusiastic that in 2011 it awarded the designation ‘Model region for the world’.

The reserve’s fame even reached the film festival of Cannes with the film “The Entlebuch Message”. The European Energy Gold Award was awarded in 2017 for energy-saving and environmentally friendly measures.

The hiker witnesses this innovative symbiosis between humankind, business, leisure and nature. Even art is everywhere, for example, in the Skulpturenweg (Road of Sculptures) along the Emme.

Nature is the ultimate form of art, such as the naturally formed ice sculptures on the rocks, the silhouettes of the mountain peaks, fairytale streams and waterfalls amidst the coniferous trees in the reserve show.

In addition, a welcome surprise awaits the hiker at the Hotel Landgasthof Kemmeribodenbad (dating back to 1834) and its famous “Nidle” (the Kemmeriboden Merängge), known far beyond the canton of Bern and the country’s borders.

As the name already suggests, this hotel was established as a spa in 1834 when mineral water springs were discovered (further information: www.kemmeriboden.ch).

The Swiss Alpine Club

The Swiss Alpine Club (Schweizer Alpen Club, SAC/Club Alpin Suisse, CAS) regularly organises hiking trips in this region (and elsewhere).

The SAC organises ski tours, mountaineering and other sports in the high mountains and the Alps and activities in other regions.

Proofreader: Adrian Dubock

(Source: Mein Entlebuch 2022, wwosphaere.ch).

The Pile Villages in the Canton of Lucerne

The Wauwilermoos (Canton of Lucerne) is one of the most important sites of pile villages (Pfahlbausiedlungen) from the youngest Stone Age (c. 5,500-2,000) in Europe.

From 17,000 B.C. on, the Wauwilermoos area was ice- and glacier-free. At the same time, the three lakes, Lake Wauwiler (Wauwilersee), Lake Mauen (Mausensee) and Lake Hagimoor (Hagimoorsee), began to silt up with sand, chalk and peat. Peat was even dug out of the area until the 20th century.

In the 19th century, Lake Wauwiler was drained, so only Lake Mauen remains of the original three lakes.

Soon after the last Ice Age (around 14,000), the first herds of animals entered the landscape. People followed them in the rhythm of the seasons and mainly hunted reindeer and wild horses.

The oldest traces of human presence in the Wauwilermoos date back to around 14,000 B.C. Climate warming at the end of the Ice Age promoted the spread of forests, plants and animal species.

Man became sedentary in the Neolithic period (5,500-2,000 B.C.). The era of the so-called lake-dwelling builders began. In the Wauwilermoos, people lived in pile dwellings that were either level with the ground or slightly elevated. These dwellings did not necessarily stand in the water but were supported by piles.

In 2011, UNESCO designated these stilt houses in the six countries of the Alps as World Heritage Sites. Among the 111 registered sites in six countries, three are in the canton of Lucerne: Hitzkirch-Seematt, Sursee-Zellmoos and the Egolzwil E3 (in the Wauwilermoos).

The Egolzwil is the oldest known Swiss stilt settlement, dating back to around 4 300 B.C. The characteristic pottery from this site even gives its name to this cultural area in Central Switzerland: the Egolzwil culture.

The Archaeological Trail from Wauwilermoos (approx. 7 km) comprises six stations near the most important sites.

The starting and finishing point is the reconstructed stilt village settlement in Wauwil with three stilt houses, an excavation tent and a hunter’s hut, and an information pavilion.

In the Wauwilermoos, a dozen stilt houses are known, the oldest of which date back to around 4,300 BC.

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

Hasburg and Switzerland

The “Havichsburg”, the castle of the hawk, was first mentioned 900 years ago. The castle and the village of Habsburg in what is now the canton of Aargau still exist. It is hard to imagine that the mighty House of Habsburg started in this castle.

The Habsburgs lost their territories in present-day Switzerland in 1415 (Aargau), Thurgau (1460) and after their defeat in the Swabian War (Schwabenkrieg, 1499). However, Austria handed over the last properties on Swiss soil (Tarasp and Rhäzuns in the canton of Graubünden) to the canton in 1803, respectively 1819.

However, the House of Habsburg became the dominant power in Europe and remained in power until 1918. They were also the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation until 1806.

New perspectives emerge when the origins of the Swiss Confederation in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are told from the Habsburg areas, from Aargau, Thurgau and Alsace.

The hardcore of the Swiss Confederacy (Eidgenossenschaft) in Central Switzerland (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden) became part of a power game in which emperors and kings, Savoy, Tyrol, Bern, Lucerne and Zurich played a role.

The book (German language) tells the story of the rise of the Habsburgs, their relationship with their ‘Swiss’ territories and the emerging Confederation of sovereign cantons.

(Bruno Meier, Ein Königshaus aus der Schweiz. Die Habsburger, der Aaugau und die Eidgenossenschaft im Mittelalter, Baden, 2008).

The Protection of the Swiss Landscape and Nature

Every country has its rural beauty and nature. In western countries, a few generations are involved in protecting them from human intervention. Every country has its perspective, organisation and experts.

It is always helpful to learn from experiences and insights in other countries. The book offers a wealth of information, documentation and practical examples that may interest all countries. The author insists that the landscape and nature are the basis of the country’s development rather than human activities.

In the book’s first part, the author takes the reader through the history of landscape protection in the post-war decades. He discusses the successes and setbacks, using Switzerland as an example.

In the second part, he concentrates on the rescue of twelve landscapes.

In the third part, the German-language book offers suggestions for the responsible handling of nature and landscape.

For the author, the political commitment of the population is crucial. The engagement of citizens saved many landscapes.

Hanss Weiss, Achtung: Landschaft Schweiz. Vom nachhaltigen Umgang mit unserer wichtigsten Ressource, Zurich 2020.

Chinese contemporary art in Mauensee Castle

Castle Mauensee (Canton of Lucerne) was first mentioned in 1184 and again in 1340. Lucerne acquired ownership of the castle in 1455. However, two years later, the castle and the lake were sold again and changed hands several times over the following centuries.

The present castle was built in 1605. In the following centuries, ownership changed several times. Since 1998, the castle, the island, and the lake have been owned and inhabited by the Sigg family.

Ulrich Adolf Sigg (1946), Switzerland’s ambassador to China from 1995 to 1998, began collecting Chinese contemporary art in the 1970s, a time when interest in the genre was limited. For a few decades, he amassed the world’s most significant collection of contemporary Chinese art.

The island is not open to the public and is accessible only by a bridge connecting it to the mainland.

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

The Cardinal and Absinthe in Neuchâtel

The renowned Brasserie du Cardinal de Fribourg is situated at the foot of Neuchâtel Castle, between the city’s historic mills and the banks of the Seyon.

The interior of the current restaurant has retained most of its Art Nouveau decor from 1905. It is typical of the Belle Époque: a unique imaginary pattern of coloured earthenware tiles, mouldings and colourful motifs engraved on the glass. The exterior façade, also from 1905, is a cultural heritage site.

The Brasserie also has an absinthe tasting room. Absinthe, a strong alcoholic drink (the Green Fee (die Grüne Fee, la Fée verte)) from the region, was banned for a long time (1910-2005), contributing to its worldwide reputation.

The Maison de l’Absinthe in Môtiers, Val-de-Travers (canton of Neuchâtel), offers a historical overview of the history and the drink. Visitors can also have a drink there.

(Source: www.neuchateltourisme.ch/belle-epoque).

The Dreamed City of Basel

The dreamed city. (Die geträumte Stadt) The exhibition’s title is “Klingental” at the former monastery in Klingental (Museum Kleines Klingental) in Basel. The title is open to two interpretations. A dream can be a vision that is never realised or a dream that becomes a reality (or a nightmare).

Both possibilities apply to Basel and probably to any city. However, even the city’s constant factor, the Rhine, was not immune to city planners. In 1932, a plan was to divert the river around the town and build Rheinhatten.

The project was never realised, but it was not an unrealistic plan. The realised Juragewässerkorrektion (La correction des eaux du Jura, (see also Swiss Spectator of 16 June 2020) in the years 1868 to 1891, the partly realised canal between the Rhine and Lake Geneva ( Swiss Spectator of 9 January 2022) and the unrealised shipping route over the Gotthard ( Swiss Spectator of 22 March 2021) show the possibilities and impossibilities.

Moreover, the Rhine connects Switzerland with the Netherlands and, indirectly, Basel with Amsterdam. In Basel, there were advanced plans in the 1950s to the 1960s for a motorway through the old city centre. In Amsterdam, the municipality wanted a motorway straight through the city centre. Even the Rembrandt House was on the verge of demolition.

Fortunately, however, dreams are not always deceiving. Various projects in Basel have been successfully realised. The exhibition showcases 150 years of plans, designs, rejections, failures, successes, referendums, and realised and unrealised building projects.

The medieval town centre remains largely intact on the Münster, the Spalenberg, and the area around the Leonardskirche and St. Alban. The cathedral towers (1071, rebuilt in 1500 after the devastating earthquake of 1356) were the city’s first ‘skyscraper’. The most recent sky-high tower is the second Roche tower (2020). The first one was built in 2015.

However, the two Roche towers are rarely featured on postcards or in combination with the cathedral towers, even though they share a common characteristic: they have an uneven height, just like the cathedral towers. Roche, however, will get its third tower in a few years. The cathedral will certainly not.

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

The Wauwiler Plain and Climate Change

The planet Earth is about four billion years old. Humankind is one of the most recent species, approximately 300,000 years old.

Twenty million years before the arrival of Homo sapiens, the territory of the present-day canton of Lucerne was an ocean with subtropical sea coasts. The remains of fossilised shells and palm leaves in rocks at altitudes of up to 1,000-1,500 metres bear witness to this situation.

Twenty thousand years ago, however, the canton lay under an eight hundred to one thousand metre thick layer of ice and snow from glaciers. The Gletschergarten in Lucerne (www.gletschergarten.ch) provides an impressive and multifaceted overview of this (geographically) recent history of climate change over time.

These climate changes can also be observed on a hike through the Wauwiler Plain (Die Wauwiler Ebene) and the lake areas of Mauensee and Sempachersee in the canton of Lucerne.

In the Netherlands, when one thinks of peat bogs, one thinks first of the peat lakes in the Netherlands, but not of central Switzerland.

However, in the canton of Lucerne, there is a large area of peat,  the Wauwilermoos and the Hagimoos, where peat was extracted on a large scale until the beginning of the 20th century.

The area was formed when temperatures rose after the last Ice Age, around 12,000 years ago. A side arm of the enormous Reuss Glacier, up to 800 metres high and several kilometres wide, slowly melted away around 14,000-12,000 years ago.

There were three lakes, the Wauwilersee, the Hagimoosee and the Mauensee. Only the Mauensee still exists today; the others have dried up, leaving behind a swampy area, the Wauwilermoos and the Hagimoos.

During this period, the first hunters and nomads arrived. Hunting, fishing and primitive dwellings and caves provided the first necessities of life. Only after further climate warming did the first sedentary settlements and farming appear around 5,000 B.C. in this region.

The vegetation changed, and higher areas became suitable for agriculture. It was also an ideal habitat for fish, wildlife and grazers. The lower areas were too swampy for agriculture, but they provided a suitable habitat for flora and fauna. More and more people inhabited this area from 10,000 B.C. onwards.

The Wauwiler Ebene is even one of the most important archaeological sites from the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) in Central Europe (c. 10,000- c. 4,000 B.C.). About thirty settlements are known from this period. They were located along the shores of lakes and swamps.

The lake dwellings of the Neolithic period (4000-2000-800 B.C.) are reminders of these settlements. In Wauwil, an information pavilion and replicas of these dwellings, along with the inhabitants’ way of life, have been realised.

This history in the Wauwiler Ebene, a relatively unknown area outside Switzerland, brings humankind into the all-mighty nature’s perspective.

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

The Swiss Alpine Club

The Swiss Alpine Club (Schweizer Alpen Club, SAC/Club Alpin Suisse, CAS) regularly organises hiking trips in this region (and elsewhere).

Although the name suggests otherwise, the SAC not only organises ski tours, mountaineering and other sports in the high mountains and the Alps but also (hiking) activities in other regions.

Proofreader: Adrian Dubock