Association pro Büvetta in Scuol-Tarasp

19 October 2018

The mineral water trail (Mineralwasserweg Scuol in German or senda d’aua minerala Scuol in Romansh) consists of hiking trails in the area of Scuol, Tarasp, Ftan and Sent in Lower Engadine (Unterengadin, canton Graubünden). Information is provided in two languages (Romansh and German.

More than twenty springs bubble from the rocks in Tarasp and Scuol (canton Graubünden). The development of tourism began in 1841. Two entrepreneurs leased the springs of Tarasp and built a park.

The Kurhaus

The Büvetta drinking hall (Trinkhalle) was built around 1843. The Kurhaus was completed in 1864. The drinking hall, which had shops, salons, large vaulted windows, and a rotunda with columns on high marble pedestals, was completed in 1876.

Bathing and drinking cures are among the oldest forms of healing. The Romans were enthusiastic bathers and built many therms in what is now Switzerland for healing, pleasure and hygiene. Roman Aquae Helveticae (nowadays Baden, canton of Argovie/Aargau) has the oldest resort in the country.

Hotel Val Sinestra

However, the area around Scuol-Tarasp (canton of Graubünden/Grisons) has the  best mineral water sources.

Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus (1493-1541), already mentioned these springs in 1533, and the physician Conrad Gessner (1516-1565) was among the scientific visitors.

The development of tourism began in 1841 with the construction of the Kurhaus. In 1864, the hotel was completed and ready for use, accommodating 300 guests.

Steam pumps lead the healing water directly to the baths of the Kurhaus. The (international) success of the Kurhaus prompted the plan to build a representative drinking hall, the Büvetta.

In 1876, the architect Bernhard Simon (1816-1900) built an elongated hall with large arched windows and an octagonal roundabout with columns and a high marble plinth.

This architecture bears witness to the splendour of the heyday of spa tourism in the Engadine with the more than 20 highly mineralised springs of Ftan, Tarasp, Scuol and Sent.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the guests stayed away. After that, the world changed, and the health resort went out of fashion; the decline was unstoppable.

For years, the Büvetta stood empty, but the Verein pro Büvetta looks to the future with the planned World Water Centre, exhibitions and new bathing culture. (Further information: www.pro-büvetta-tarasp.ch).

(Source: Verein pro Büvetta, Tarasp, 2015).