Beverin Park, Three Languages and Cultures
1 April 2023
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 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