Author: Maarten Koning

The Zellweger in Trogen

The textile trade changed life in Trogen (canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden) in the 18th century. The Zellwegers were cosmopolitan citizens and merchants in Trogen. The name Trogen is first mentioned in 1175 as ‘the Trugin’, a place with a well (Trögen). After 1429, the independent country of Appenzell emerged with its present borders and with new administrative districts, the Rhoden.

The Rhode Trogen was the largest. In 1597, Trogen was the capital of the new canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Only at the end of the 19th century did Herisau become the capital of the canton. After the division of Appenzell in 1597, Trogen was also the place of the Landsgemeinde until its dissolution in 1997.

Switzerland has always been a region and country with a European and international orientation, from Samnaun (canton of Graubünden) in the far east of the country to (canton of) Geneva, from Basel (canton of Basel-Stadt) to Chiasso (canton of Tessin).

Conrad Zellweger (1630-1705), founder of the firm Brüder Zellweger 

Jakob Zellweger (1770-1821), the last director of the firm, which was liquidated in 1817. Politician, present at the imperial coronation ceremony of Napoleon (1769-1821) on 2 December 1804, friend of Hortense de Beauharnais (1783-1837)

The Zellweger family shaped the town and international trading imperium in Trogen, a small village. The great wealth they acquired through international trade was partly invested in their hometown.

They founded social, cultural and educational institutions and built magnificent palaces and a (protestant) church. The palaces on the Landsgemeindeplatz speak for themselves.

Johann Ulrich Fitzi (1798-1855), 1829. The village after the construction of the palaces and the church.

The church was built in 1779, financed by the Zellwegers. The rich stuccowork, paintings, and other decorations are untypical for a Protestant church. The church and its furnishings correspond to the (religious) self-understanding of the upper class of the village. Those who recognise God have their role in society and act accordingly.

Despite their wealth, the Zellwegers remained true to their strict Protestant ethos. In ethical and religious matters, they were conservative, very innovative in trade and socially committed.

The success story began with the textile trading company “Gebrüder Zellweger”. The trading network expanded to Malta, Cadiz, Lisbon, London, Genoa, Lyon, Glasgow, Hamburg, Königsberg, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kaluga, Istanbul, and Rijeka, as well as to and from North and South America and the French West Indies. Trading banks in London, Amsterdam and Augsburg (the Fugger) were the financial intermediaries.

(Source and further information: www.jahrhundertderzellweger.ch;www.trogen.ch)

The Rhine Valley of St. Gall

One of Switzerland’s beautiful but somewhat forgotten hiking and cycling regions is the Rhine Valley of St. Gallen (St. Galler Rheintal). Situated at an altitude of approximately 700 metres, this region in eastern Switzerland boasts a fairytale setting, nestled between Lake Constance (Bodensee), the Sarganserland, and the Old Rhine (Altrhein).

Numerous historical sites, museums and other cultural institutions accompany the region’s hikers, cyclists and other visitors.

With its unique geography, towns and villages, monasteries, castles, and manor houses, rich history, beautiful nature, a wide range of cultural activities, and vineyards, the Rhine Valley of St. Gallen is a destination for nature, art, and culture lovers. The Rhine Valley is also ideal for cycling and hiking tours.

(Source: www.st.gallen-bodensee.ch)

Chillon and the Prisoner

Lord Byron (1788-1824) wrote in 1816 in his poem “The Prisoner of Chillon” :

Lake Leman lies by Chillon´s walls:

A thousand feet in depth below

Its massy waters meet and flow;

Thus much the fathom-line was sent

From Chillon´s snow-white battlement,

Which round about the wave enthrals:

A double dungeon wall and wave

Below the surface of the lake

The dark vault lies wherein we lay.

The medieval fortress in Veytaux/Montreux (canton Vaud) is situated on a small rocky islet separated from the shore by a narrow natural waterway.

The period of the Counts and the Dukes of Savoy lasted until 1536. Bern conquered the castle (and Vaud). The Bernese troops liberated the subject of the poem.

François Bonivard (1493-1571) supported Geneva in the struggle between the town and the Dukes of Savoy. He was an enemy of Duke Charles III (1486-1553), who imprisoned him in 1532.

The castle became the property of the new canton of Vaud in 1803.

(Source: Chillon Castle;  A. Guignard, The Prisoner of Chillon by Lord Byron, Renens, 2016).

A farewell to the Julierturm

Swiss and foreign musicians and choirs have performed Mozart, Bach, Rachmaninoff, and many other (contemporary) composers in the Julierturm on the Julier Pass. Many theatre, singing and ballet performances took place at an altitude of  2 284 metres.

On the initiative of the Nova Fundaziun Origen, the Julierturm was built for theatre, singing, ballet and music in 2017. The project initially lasted five years, but due to Corona, it was extended by one year.

However, it will be over in September, and the Julierturm will be demolished. But what a remarkable project it has been, giving so much inspiration, beauty and art at this altitude!

In July, even a select company of Opera Garnier’s ballet performed, perhaps its first ballet at a mountain pass of 2 284 meters!

Fundaziun Origen’s intendant Giovanni Netzer (l) and Opera Garnier ballet choreographer and dancer Sébastien Bertaud (r) before the performance Anima Mundi (die Seele der Welt) on 22 July 2023

However, the Fundaziun Origen is already looking ahead and hopes to open the Weisse Turm (White Tower)in Mulegns (canton Graubünden) in 2024. Engineers at ETH- Zurich built the tower. They use 3D technology, and the first contours are already visible.

Mulegns, der Weisse Turm, model.

Mulegns, der Weisse Turm, under construction.

Mulegns is the village where Nova Fundaziun Origen is developing two other projects: they relocated the Weisse Villa by eight metres in 202o to make way for the road, and they are currently renovating the legendary Post Hotel Löwe.

The old telegraph office temporarily serves as an information centre and exhibition space for textiles made in atelier Pôss in Riom. The siege of Nova Fundaziun Origen is in Riom.

(Further information: Nova Fundaziun Origen, Riom)

The stage moves from the top of the tower to the floor

     

Susauna, Willem Jan Holsboer and silver fox breeding

Susauna (Oberengadin, Canton Graubünden) is part of the municipality of S-chanf. S-chanf was first mentioned in 1139. The Bishopric of Chur acquired sovereign rights and land in the Oberengadin from the Counts of Gamertingen.

The hamlet of Susauna is located at the entrance to Val Susauna on the Vallember stream. Today, Susauna has about 20 inhabitants and is no longer of great economic importance. It used to be a different situation, however.

The old  Säumerweg in the Susaunatal (Susauna Valley)

Besides the Flüelepass, the Scalettapass was of great economic importance for the movement of goods and the mule trade (Säumerweg) until the 19th century. A Säumerweg ran through the valley from Tirano (Veltlin, Italy) to Gargellen (Vorarlberg, Austria) and the Lake Constance region (Germany).

Towards the end of the 19th century, the route across the Scaletta became less and less used due to the improvement of other road links and the construction of railways.

Scaletta railway

At the end of the 19th century, a railway was planned through the valley, the Scaletta Railway. Dutch entrepreneur Willem Jan Holsboer (1834-1898) had already initiated the Landquart-Davos railway (1888). In 1890, the Scaletta railway was opened and ran from Bergell to Chiavenna.

Willem-Jan Holsboer (1834-1898), Heimatmuseum Davos. Photo: Wikipedia

On 2 April 1890, Holsboer also submitted a concession application for a railway line from Cinuos-chel to Martinsbruck, which, as a continuation of the Scaletta line, was to ensure a connection to the Austrian network.

The plans fell through, and the Engadine became accessible by the Albula railway (1903-1904). The route over the Scaletta Pass and the Val Susauna had previously been reduced by the construction of the Flüela Pass (1867).

The Bernina silver fox farm

The innovative power of Graubünden entrepreneurs, not just confectioners, hoteliers and other tourism operators, was also present in Susauna. On 30 December 1928, the “Bernina” silver fox breeding farm bought the land of Chesa cotschna (red house) in the hamlet of Susauna for breeding silver foxes. By December 1929, the complex was completed.

The old farm „Bernina and the Veduta Susauna Pop-up

There were 31 fox enclosures and a free range. Besides silver foxes, Karakul (thick-tailed sheep from Bukhara) were also bred there. In 1930, the sheep flock comprised 24 ewes with lambs and one full-blooded Karakul ram.

Due to a massive drop in the price of silver fox fur, many silver fox farms in Switzerland had to close down. It was also the case with the silver fox farm in Susauna in 1934.

The Val Susauna is still a beautiful hiking area, featuring the old Säumerweg, the reformed church (1696), and the old silver fox farm (today’s Veduta Susauna Pop-up), which serve as landmarks and a reminder of the ‘good old days’.

(Source and further information: Gemeinde S-Chanf; Engadin Tourismus).

Lucelle and the Landskron, a regional history of European Dimensions

France and Switzerland, the cantons of Jura and Basel-Landschaft and the Department of Haut-Rhin meet in the village of (Grand-) Lucelle (Lützel). The Cistercian abbey was founded around 1123/1124 along the little river La Lucelle (die Lützel).

Today, the river borders the Swiss canton of Jura and the French department of Haut-Rhin. In the 13th century, it ran between the Prince-Bishopric of Basel and the county of Pfirt (Ferrette).

The Habsburgs took over Pfirt County in 1324. Lucelle was divided into two parts: essentially Austrian territory, including the monastery, and a small part of the territory of the Prince-Bishopric of Basel.

Around this time, the monastery, which had over 200 monks and was then a Habsburg possession, was the second richest and largest monastery in Alsace after Murbach Abbey.

An earthquake damaged the Romanesque monastery church in the early 14th century. In 1346, it was rebuilt as a high Gothic basilica. In 1375, the invading Gugler (English and French mercenaries in the Hundred Years War, 1337-1453) destroyed the monastery.

The Eidgenossen destroyed the monasteries again in 1499 after the Battle of Dornach in the Swiss or Swabian War. In the German Peasants’ War of 1525, peasants from Alsace plundered it again.

However, the monastery recovered from all these events. In 1526, it doubled its territory by acquiring the seignory and castle of Löwenburg (now a ruin) in the Jura. The powerful Münch family, employed by the Bishop of Basel, owned Löwenburg for a long time.


An undated drawing on one of the remaining two monastery buildings

Near this castle, the monastery built a complex of farms, storage buildings and a church. However, the monastery’s location on Austrian territory was disastrous during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). The monks fled to Löwenburg, seeking protection under the Swiss Confederation, or went to abbeys within the Confederation.

In 1638, the monastery was indeed pillaged. 1648, France took possession of the Alsatian Sundgau and Lucelle, and the monastery became French. The monastery experienced another great heyday due to the abbots’ good relations with the French kings until 1789.

François Ignace Tavanne (1728-1811), the monastery around 1776. Collection: Musée jurassienne des Beaux Arts, Porrentruy

The revolutionary government in Paris nationalised the monastery In 1792. The government continued the former monastery factories, including a brickyard, glassworks, foundry, and tannery.

The monastery wing and church were demolished in 1804. The material was used to construct a new factory equipped with a charcoal blast furnace and a foundry for the arms industry. After 1860, this industry declined, and the factory closed in 1883. The factory buildings were later demolished.

The once-mighty monastery complex has disappeared, except for two buildings along the road. The private organisation Centre Européen de Rencontres Lucelle (CERL) uses both buildings today.

Conclusion

These regions of present-day Switzerland and France once housed the most influential European dynasties and an abbey. Their history and ruins are reminiscent of those of the Landskron, which is located near Leymen (France), on the border with the canton of Solothurn (Switzerland).

Lac de Lucelle (Lützelsee, canton of Jura) was first used as a fishing pond by the monastery. Later, a hydroelectric power station was built to supply mills, carpentry workshops, forges and foundries. A stream feeds the small lake. Ash, maple, alder and willow grow along its banks. A beautiful beech forest surrounds the valley of Lucelle.

Cadastral drawing of the Lützelsee/ lac de Lucelle, 1803. Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt

(Source and further information: Barocke Bauwerke im Süddeutschen und schweizerischen Raum) 

The Jura

The Glacier Garden in Lucerne

The glacier in Lucerne was discovered in 1872 and is one of the city’s major attractions. The history of this glacier began 20 million years ago when Lucernce was situated on the beaches of the sea. Climate change occurred, and the glacier formed during the last ice age, approximately 20,000-10,000 years ago.

The complex contains the Gletschergarten (Glacier Garden), a Spiegellabyrinth, a Museum, an Alpenpark and the new world of rock formations (Felzenwelt).

After global warming and periods of colder fluctuations, the glacier dried up 10,000 years ago. The Glaciergarden shows a unique geological insight into the influences of weather, wind, rocks and climate (changes).

The Glacial Potholes

The model of a glacier mill (Gletschermühle) with a rotating grindstone, dating back to 1896, is outdated; however, it remains applicable to explain the origin of glacial potholes (Gletschertöpfe), as illustrated below in the Felsenwelt.

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

Replica of a Hut of the Schweizer Alpen Club (SAC), built in 1896, with a realistic view (Diorama) of the Gornier Glacier above Zermatt.

The exposition

The World of Rocks

The erosion of the glacier by water and grindstone

The Labyrinth of  Mirrors

The labyrinth of mirrors, dating from 1896 and based on the Alhambra mirrors in Granada.

The Founders

The history of the French language in the Romandie

The book presents for the first time a complete overview of the linguistic history of the different regions of today’s French-speaking Switzerland, from the Celts and Romans, the Franks, Burgundians, and Huguenots to the present day. This linguistic history is accessible to a wide readership and is based on scholarly research.

The book traces the slow formation of language boundaries in western Switzerland, the Gallo-Roman, the Franco-Provençal (le francoprovençal), the many dialects (le patois) and the introduction of French from the Middle Ages onwards, first as the written language of the elite and centuries later as the common language of the population.

The book shows that patois only disappeared in the 19th century, except for a few small areas. This is in contrast to German-speaking Switzerland, where dialects are instead the common language and High German (Hochdeutsch) is only written or used on formal occasions and politely at non-German Swiss-speaking audiences. The author explains why French is a unitary language in this region and patois virtually disappeared by the early 20th century.

The book presents a wealth of documents and testimonies that are little known and provides insight into the long and rich history of dialects in French-speaking Switzerland.

Andres Kristol, Histoire linguistique de la Suisse romande, Neuchâtel, 2023

The monumental Tissot Clock in La Chaux-de-Fonds

The Neuchâtel mountains (the Jura) are considered the historic cradle of Swiss watchmaking. Farmers began to settle in these isolated mountains and valleys as early as the 17th century to create mechanisms that would keep them busy during the long and cold winters. 

These parts were collected and assembled in workshops, known as comptoirs or ateliers, mainly in La Chaux-de-Fonds. And so it was that this town, situated at an altitude of 1,000m, became a watchmaking centre of international importance, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

A watchmaking metropolis in need of clocks

And yet, in 2018, at the inauguration of the 8th Biennial of Watchmaking Heritage – during which the region’s many factories and ateliers opened their doors to the public – the President of the Confederation Ignazio Cassis expressed his astonishment: how is it that there are so few public clocks in the streets of La Chaux-de-Fonds? And isn’t it surprising to enter one of the world’s watchmaking capitals without the time being displayed at any of the town’s entrances?

The CEO of Tissot accepted the challenge. The watch manufacturer Tissot was founded in 1853 in Le Locle. The headquarters is still located in this city. He launched a competition for students from the School of Applied Arts in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Since the town is accessible by three main roads, the students were asked to design three monumental clocks that represent the past, the present, and the future.

A 3-metre-long pocket watch

Loïc Chatton’s creation was chosen, an antique pocket watch in perspective, with the dial, movement and case installed at a distance from each other. The art installation is on the station square in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The work measures 13 metres in length, with the central part being 3 metres high, and some features weigh more than 800 kg. 

Tissot plans to donate three monumental clocks to La Chaux-de-Fonds, with the next two, located at the eastern and western entrances to the town, symbolising the present and the future. 

Mechanism of a simple watch, around 1980. Ebauches SA. Neues Historisches Museum Biel

Bourbaki Panorama in Lucerne

Towards the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, new media tried to represent the world as realistically as possible. With all possible optical and modern technical tricks, the audience got the illusion of being there themselves.

The Irish painter Robert Barker had an invention patented in London in 1787. It was known as “Panorama”. His invention was a naturalistic, painted round image that surrounded the spectators and included them in the scene.

 

The Bourbaki Panorama in Lucerne is an impressive heritage of the era of the panoramas. The Panorama, created by the painter Edouard Castres (1838-1902), was completed in 1881. The picture measures 112 by 10 metres,

It depicts the defeated French Army of General Bourbaki during the memorable border crossing near Les Verrières (canton of Neuchâtel) on 1 February 1871.

(Source and further information: Bourbaki Panorama Lucerne)