Author: Maarten Koning

Beverin Park, Three Languages and Cultures

The cultural and linguistic identities in the Beverin Natural Park (canton of Graubünden) are mainly of Walser and Romansh origin.

The Walser people immigrated in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries from Oberwallis to this region, as well as to areas in eastern France, western Austria, Liechtenstein, and northern Italy.

The Walser dialect is relatively well-preserved in the Safiental and the villages of Sufers and Tschappina. The Romansh language (Sutsilvan idiom) is still spoken in the Schamserberg area (in Andeer, Lohn, Pignia and Zillis). They also speak the Swiss German Bündnerdialect and some of the Walser dialect.  Around 1,000 inhabitants still speak Sutsilvan today.

The church of Zillis

The Changes in the 19th and 20th centuries (tourism, media, railways, mobility, immigration) introduced German as the primary language. However, the Romansh and Walser cultures and languages still exist.

(Source and further information: www.naturpark-beverin.ch).

Fürstenau. Photo: TES

The founder of direct democracy

On March 6, 1866, Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler, one of the founders of modern Switzerland, passed away. He was born in Beromünster in 1780. At the age of nineteen, he left his post in the Napoleonic administration of the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803) to study in Jena.

He was successful in ophthalmology in Göttingen. However, his republican and liberal sentiments were unwanted after 1815. Troxler wanted the (political) establishment to recognise what the citizens want and what concerns them.

Geneva, 25 September 2022, the national optional referendum.

Politicians must remain in permanent (critical) dialogue with them and give them the last word. That is how Ignaz Troxler formulated and shaped the Swiss direct democracy and political style. His thinking remains topical in Switzerland and beyond.

The Heritage of Cluny

The abbey of Cluny managed hundreds of monasteries in Europe around the year  1000. The abbey was a significant centre of religious, artistic, economic, and political power until the 13th century.

The European network transcended political and linguistic boundaries. Cluny left an immense heritage, also in the Romandie.

The French-speaking Kingdom of Burgundy (888-1032) covered today’s French-speaking Switzerland. Two monasteries, Romainmôtier and Payerne, were donated by the royal family to the Abbey of Cluny.

Princess Adelheid (870-929), sister of King Rudolf I of Burgundy (859-912), donated the monastery of Romainmôtier and Empress Adelheid (931-999), daughter of King Rudolf II (880-937), married to the German King Otto II,  donated the monastery of Payerne to Cluny.

In western Switzerland, there are also churches of Cluny in Bassins, Bursins, Mollens, Montcherand, Baulmes, Bevaix, Corcelles, Twann, Münchenwiler, Rüeggisberg, and Rougemont.

 (Source and further information: La Fédération Européenne des Sites Clunisiens (FESC), www.sitesclunisiens.org).

Lux Aeterna and Tuns contemporans

The Ensemble Vocal Origen conducted by Clau Scherrer sings György Ligeti’s (1923-2006) “Lux Aeterna”, It forms the core of the last Passion concerts on the tower on the Julier Pass.

Gion Antoni Derung’s “Cantiones Sacrae” and Frank Martin’s “Messe pour double choeur a capella” frame the work of the Hungarian composer.

The concert on 2 April will be performed in collaboration with the Biennale für neue Musik Tuns contemporans  Graubünden. The Biennale celebrates contemporary music and gives it back the importance it had until the 20th century.

Performance dates: 30 and 31 March and 1 and 2 April in the Julierturm.

Source and further information: www.origen.ch

Octophonia and the Habsburg Dynasty

At this special place in Ottmarsheim in Alsace, 20 kilometres from Basel, the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul was founded by the direct ancestors of the Habsburg dynasty. Ottmarsheim Abbey was founded in 1030 by Rudolf of Altenburg. His brother Radbot of Altenburg founded the monastery of Muri (in today’s Canton of Aargau) in 1028.

The Habsburg dynasty had its roots in Alsace and settled in the eleventh and twelfth centuries on present-day Swiss territory. The mighty Murbach Abbey, founded in the eighth century in Alsace, was also a stronghold of the Habsburg dynasty.

The Murbach Abbey church

The village of Habsburg (canton of Aargau) is named after the castle of the same name, the Habichsburg, also known as the Hawk’s Castle, dating back to the twelfth century.

Archdukes Hertha Margarete and Sandor Habsburg Lorraine placed the flame of peace in the abbey on 15 June 2019 at the European Festival of Song and Light Octophonia. The world grows and is connected through music, while many other events and human creations divide it. That is the message of Octophonia.

Octophonia is derived from the octagonal interior of the abbey church from the first half of the 11th century, an imitation of Charlemagne’s Palatine Chapel in Aachen.

The Ottmarsheim abbey and church

The Forgotten Ice Industry of Le Pont

In 1879, on Lake Brenet (Lac Brenet) in the Vallée de Joux (canton of Vaud), artificial ice cellars, or huge sheds measuring 14,000 m³ for 5,000 tonnes of ice, were built. From then until 1942, the ice from the lake was stored in large quantities every winter for sale in Swiss and French cities during the summer. They used ice to preserve food and to cool drinks.

The ice was transported to breweries and other restaurants in Paris, Lyon, Dijon and even to the south of France, especially during summer. The war and the subsequent decline in lake levels by several metres in 1942 effectively ended this industry long before the refrigerator boom of the 1950s.

The ice was transported by horse to Vallorbe, then Croy, and loaded onto wagons. In 1886 it was transported by train when the Pont-Vallorbe railway line was completed. The village of Le Pont was one of the largest ice factories in Europe and the centre of the Swiss ice industry, with an almost forgotten history.

The number of employees was impressive. Over 130 people worked on the ice and in the large shed in January and February. Chunks of ice were sawn out of the lake and stored in the shed.

The Hotel de la Truite in Le Pont is the oldest establishment in the valley, dating back to at least 1662. One of its most famous tenants was Edgar Rochat (1845-1929), the initiator of the ice industry in Le Pont.

(Source and Pictures: La Région. Le journal de Nord Vaudois du 25 février 2015; Rémy Rochat, Edgar Rochat & Cie au Pont, Vallée de Joux, Le Pèlerin, 1999).

Romansh Poetry in Neo-Latin Languages

The festival (Neolatine. LitteraturA Nairs) for Romansh literature in Scuol is a podium for authors, readings, lectures, talks, music and experiments.

The festival’s third edition focuses on contemporary poetry and its translation into other languages. Poetry is currently the most published genre in Romansh literature.

Romansh poets will meet authors with Neo-Latin languages: Dolomite Ladin, Portuguese, French, Italian, Galician and Catalan. The programme is multilingual.

(Source and further information: Fundaziun Nairs, Scuol)

New Romansh Uniun in Basel

The federal government supports the cantons of Graubünden and Ticino in preserving and promoting the Romansh and Italian languages and cultures.

Of the approximately 60,000 Romansh-speaking people, about 40% live outside the language area. Preserving and passing on the language and culture is a significant challenge for those in this ‘diaspora’.

The Federal Office of Culture (Der Bundesamt für Kultur, BAK) also promotes the Romansh language and culture outside the Romansh language area. In cooperation with Lia Rumantscha, the BAK supports projects that promote learning and preserve the Romansh language and culture outside of Graubünden.

One successful project is the founding of Romansh associations and organisations outside Graubünden. Today there are such uniuns/cumünanzas: in Winterthur, Zurich, St. Gallen/Appenzell, Berne and Lucerne. On 18 March, a new uniun/cumünanza Rumantscha will be founded in Basel. The aim is to be present in the larger Swiss cities within a few years.

And perhaps the leap into the French-speaking part of Switzerland will follow soon!

(Quelle und weitere Informationen: Lia Rumantscha and  www.bak.admin.ch)