Author: Maarten Koning

Fifty years St. Nicolas Church in Hérémence

31 October 1971 was a special day in Hérémence, a village in the Hérémence Valley (canton of Valais). On this day, the new St. Nicolas Church was consecrated.

Its predecessor, from 1770, was severely hit by the 1946 earthquake. The first church in the village dates from the eleventh century. A new church was built in the 14th and 15th centuries. Objects from these periods can also be seen in the new church.

The construction of a new church was no exception in this period. Between 1955 and 1975, more than 250 new Catholic churches were built in Switzerland.

Overdue maintenance, increased prosperity, the modernisation plans of the Catholic Church (Second Vatican Council 1962-1965), the influence of a new generation of architects, including Le Corbusier (1887-1965) and his Notre-Dame de Ronchamp (1954), the modern-minded Bishop François-Nestor Adam (1903-1990) of Sion, and the abundant presence of workers and building materials (concrete) from the 1965 La Grande Dixence dam (one of the largest dams in the world) are the context of this new church.

The municipality stated that the building should have a religious and secular function (youth and sports hall, school, library, and shops). The bishop wanted to give (old) religious symbolism and objects a central place.

Walter Maria Föderer (1928-2006) was the architect who collaborated with two colleagues, Paul Morisod and Jean Kiburz. Föderer’s work has also been described as ‘Sculptural architecture’.

He expresses this style in his book “Kirchenbau von heute für morgen, 1964 (Today’s Church Building for Tomorrow). He aimed to design a neutral building that could be used as a church and secular building. He strongly believed that the best way to achieve this is to design a total work of art, Gesamtkunstwerk.

He emphasises that a church building should be the community’s religious and social centre. The starting point is the combination of modern sculpture and architecture. It resembles the vision and the Goethaeanum (1928) of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) in Dornach (canton Solothurn).

Work began in 1968. The building combines sculpture and architecture with combinations of wood and concrete, light and religious and secular functionality.

The cross above the sacristy dates from the 11th century, the Pietà, St. Theodules (patron saint of Valais) and St. Nicholas (patron saint of the church) and the four evangelists are statutes from the 14th and 15th centuries. Many paintings and frescoes come from the church of 1770.

The building meets all the requirements of a Catholic church (including a chapel, altar, sacristy, baptismal font, and seating) in a modern setting. The complex also has the social functions mentioned above.

The Saint Nicolas church is the third monumental work in this valley. The Pyramides of Euseigne and the La Grande-Dixence dam are the two other wonders of nature and mankind.

Source: Anne-Fanny Cotting, Carole Schaub, The Church of Saint-Nicolas d’ Hérémence, Society for the History of Swiss Art (www.gsk.ch), also available in German and French.

The Mountains of Saas-Fee

The Dom is one of the thirteen mountains of more than 4000 meters surrounding the village of Saas-Fee in the canton of Wallis.

The Dom (4,545 metres) is the highest mountain on Swiss territory, but not the most famous one. That is the Matterhorn (4,478 metres)

Since the last quarter of the eighteenth century and the end of the Seven-Year War (1756-1763), the village welcomed more and more (young) English aristocrats on their way to Italy on their Grand Tour.

Following the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, painters and writers began to bring the Alpine landscape to the forefront. Tourism developed after 1850, encouraged by railways, improved road connections, healthcare resources, and a new industrial upper class.

The first hotels opened around 1860 in Saas-Fee, mainly visited by British and German tourists. The silent witnesses are the Victorian-style buildings, the 1912 Britannia Hütte in nearby Mattmark and the first ski lifts.

A railway connection is still lacking, however. The most remote villages were connected to the railway network in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for example, Zermatt in 1891.

The citizens of Saas-Fee rejected the construction in 1907-1908. They did not get a second chance. The author Gustav Imseng wrote about these events half a century later:

“ 1907-1908 herrschten unter den Einwohnern von Saas-Fee unstimmigkeiten, weil die schweizerische Gesellschaft für ein Eisenbahnprojekt Stalden-Saas-Fee viel Land aufgekaut hatte. Ein Teil der Bevölkerung war aber mit dieser Entwicklung nicht einverstanden. Infolgedessen fand das Projekt die Verwirklichung nicht. Ob nun eine Eisenbahnverbindung für das Saastal ideal gewesen wäre, darüber mag sich jeder Saaser selber seine Gedanken machen, auf alle Fälle ist die Zeit der Entscheidung vorbei”.

Saas-Fee is and remains one of the pearls of the Alps, however:

” Saas-Fee, die Perle des Saastals” (Gottlieb Studer, Jahrbuch SAC 1864) en “ Fee…..eine der schönsten Perlen der Alpenwelt” (Ivan Tschüdi, Die Tourist in der Schweiz, 1884).

(Source and further information: P.J. Ruppen, G. Imseng, W. Imseng, Saaser Chronik, Saas-Fee, 1988; www.saas-fee.ch).

PeakFinder and the Peaks

PeakFinder shows the names of all the mountains and peaks of the world with a 360° panoramic view from an arbitrary viewpoint. To render the panoramic views, PeakFinder uses an elevation model that is integrated into the App.

PeakFinder uses the same technology as in computer games. One can virtually fly over the mountain landscapes and discover their names through the live image of the camera.

A database with a peak directory is included as well. For these reasons PeakFinder does not need an online connection for rendering the panoramic view and works completely offline from anywhere in the mountains.

(Source and further information: www.peakfinder.org).

La Sagne and the Watchmaking Industry

Until the 13th century, the valley of La Sagne (canton of Neuchâtel) was deserted. It was a marshy (sagne means swamp), cold and wild region. Jean II d’Arberg (1334-1383), Lord of Valangin, granted permission to settle the valley in 1372.

He created the status of “francs-habergeants”; those who settled in La Sagne benefited from a privilege and were not subject to all taxes.

The village developed little by little. The Romanesque-Gothic church in La Sagne was built in the early 16th century and is the oldest church in the Neuchâtel mountains. The ‘Sagnards’ lived mainly from agriculture and cattle breeding. As elsewhere in the Neuchâtel mountains, the peasant watchmakers contributed to the country’s prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Sagnard Daniel Jeanrichard (1665-1741) is considered the founder of the Neuchâtel watchmaking industry.

La Sagne is a typical street village. The houses are spread out along the valley. The old houses are very similar. They allowed the families to live in autarky during the long Jura winters.

(Source: www.lasagne.ch).

Wooden Sculpture Trail La Sagne

Jean-Félix Vuille, owner of the Mont Racine forest (Vallée de la Sagne, canton of Neuchâtel), created a wooden sculpture trail (Le sentier des statues) du Mont Racinin in the 1960s.

In 1979, the new owner, Georges-André Favre, continued the activities. He created figures, animals and other characters on location using tree trunks.

The diversity of the works, the skill and know-how of the sculptor, and their variety made the trail famous.

More than 120 wooden works of art accompany the walker on the way to the top of Mont Racine (1439 m.), a trail of natural beauty and beautiful sculpture.

(Source: www.sentier-des-statues.ch).

The city of Orbe

The first human settlements on the Boscéaz plateau date back to the Neolithic period (fourth millennium BCE). The area was inhabited by the Celts from 800 BC onwards.

In Roman times, Urbe (now Orbe, canton of Vaud) was a town located on the road connecting Lausanne and Besançon. A large villa stood at Boscéaz near the Roman road connecting Orbe with Yverdon. Its mosaics are among the best preserved in Switzerland.

Orbe was destroyed by German tribes at the end of the 4th century. In the Middle Ages, Orbe belonged successively to the Counts of Burgundy, the Lords of Montfaucon, Montbéliard and Chalon.

The castle was destroyed during the Burgundian Wars (1474-1477). Only the donjon and a tower remained.  From 1536 to 1798, the city was governed by Bern. The church, La Grande Église or Notre-Dame, became Protestant in 1536 and still dominates the skyline.

(Source: www.orbe.ch).

Roman Villa of Orbe-Boscéaz

The villa was built in the first century and completed in the second century. The owners leave the complex around 250-290 due to invasions by German tribes.

The entire complex was abandoned in the fifth century after the departure of the Romans and the arrival of Germanic tribes.

The Gallo-Roman villa had huge dimensions, 230 x 90 metres, and was organised around five courtyards. Colonnades and Roman gardens surrounded the two courtyards. To the west of this wall was a temple from the early 3rd century dedicated to the Persian god Mithra.

Nine mosaics are still visible today. It is the finest and most extensive collection of Roman mosaics north of the Alps. They have been preserved in their original location in five pavilions and offer a range of Roman mythical/religious and everyday subjects.

Pavilion I is on the site of the entrance to the dining room (triclinium, cenatio). There are three mosaics with geometric motifs on the floor.

Pavilion II in the bedroom (cubiculum) with the labyrinth and Triton mosaics.

Pavilion III in the private quarters features two poorly preserved mosaics, likely depicting a procession and a geometric design.

Pavilion IV in the bathhouse’s changing room (apodyterium) shows the best-preserved mosaic in the world of the gods.

Pavilion V stands on the site of the villa owner’s ‘office’ (tablinum). The mosaic depicts the Iliad, particularly the meeting between Odysseus and Achilles.

(Source and further information: Guide archéologiques de la Suisse 5. La villa gallo-romaine d’Orbe-Boscéaz et ses mosaïques, Orbe 1997; www.pro-urba.ch).

Landvogteischloss and Wooden Bridge Baden

The castle was built in the first half of the 13th century as the seat of the Knights of Baden (Kanton Aargau).

It was expanded at the beginning of the 14th century. They added the stepped gable and the fresco with the coats of arms of the eight old Orte (cantons) of the Confederation in 1490.

The stair tower, featuring a late Renaissance portal, dates from 1580, and the northeastern wing from 1734. The castle, schloss (hence the name), was the seat of the bailiff (Landvogt) of the Confederacy from 1415-1798 and has been the Historical Museum of the City of Baden since 1913.

The covered wooden bridge was first documented in 1242. Until 1766, it was the only bridge between Zurich and the mouth of the Limmat near Gebenstorf.

(Source: www.baden.ch).

Eclépens, Mormont, the Canal and the Castle

The village of Eclépens (canton of Vaud) is located at the foot of the Mormont hill (known for its Celtic excavations) and lies on the left bank of the Venoge river.

Eclepedingus in the year 814, Sclepens in 1147, Escleppens in 1453, a name believed to be a person of Germanic origin.

The Roman road from Lousona (Lausanne) to Urba (Orbe) ran along the left bank of the Venoge, two kilometres above the current village.

In the year 814, Louis the Pious (778-840) donated the chapel of St. Didier and the oak forest of Mormont to the church of Lausanne. The nearby abbey of Romainmôtier owned a farm in the village.

There were two noble families: the Grassets and the Milites. After their extinction, the property was passed to the Gingins of the castle La Sarraz. Eclépens was part of the barony of La Sarraz until 1623.

During the Berne period (1536-1798), the justice system consisted of six jurors under the presidency of the Lord of La Sarraz.

The church of Eclépens, dedicated to Saint Peter, was probably founded before the 9th century (mentioned in the donation of Louis the Pious on 28 July 814) and was mentioned as a parish church in 1228, under the chapter of Lausanne.

In 1924, the municipality adopted a coat of arms featuring the lion of the Knights of Eclépens and a wavy line symbolising the Entreroches canal, along with an emblem recalling the Mormont.

(Source: www.eclepens.ch).

Les Clées and the castle

The founding date of Les Clées (canton of Vaud) is unknown. The place was already mentioned in 814. The bridge was mentioned in 1050. The first fortress was built and then destroyed before 1137, when Pope Innocent II (pope from 1122-1143) prohibited the rebuilding of the destroyed fortress for a time to sanction unlawful tolls on merchants and pilgrims.

The appropriation of profits from this road, which ran between Italian Lombardy and the Champagne fairs, enriched the Counts of Burgundy from the 11th century onwards and the Lords of Savoy from the mid-13th century until the Burgundian Wars (1474-1477). 

The importance of this toll passage is evident from the account books, which record the presence of Flemish woollen cloth and other textiles, dyes, cereals, sugar, paper, horses, falcons, spices, and other luxury goods. The toll of Les Clées, Villeneuve (canton of Vaud), and its castle assured the Duke of Savoy of Vaud’s most significant tax revenues. 

For Les Clées and its castle, the Burgundian War between the Swiss cantons and the Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold (1433-1477) marked the end of the golden age.

The Swiss burned down the castle in 1475. In 1536, Bern annexed Vaud, and nothing was ever the same for the once prosperous little town, which today has only 90 inhabitants.

(Source: www.lesclees.ch).