Schlossberg (Baden)
| Schlossberg | ||
|---|---|---|
 On the left the Schlossberg with the Stein ruins, on the right the old town |
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| height | 457 m above sea level M. | |
| location | Baden , Canton Aargau , Switzerland | |
| Coordinates | 665 402 / 258 403 | |
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The Schlossberg is a prominent hill in Baden in the canton of Aargau . It is 457 m high and rises around 80 meters above the old town of Baden. The Schlossberg forms the eastern end of a ridge between the Limmattal and Reuss valley , which is continued in the 539 m high Hundsbuck and the Müseren plateau. Geologically it belongs to the Folded Jura , at the transition to the Central Plateau . The Schlossberg is named after the Stein ruins .
Above-ground structures
At the top of the rocky ridge of the Schlossberg stands the Stein ruins , the remains of a medieval hilltop castle . It was built around the year 1000, probably on the orders of the Counts of Nellenburg , the then rulers of the Zürichgau . After that it was owned by the Lenzburg , the Kyburg and the Habsburgs . The latter used the castle as the central archive and administrative seat of the Austrian foreland . Shortly after the conquest of Aargau by the Confederates , it was razed in May 1415 ; Only the adjacent St. Nicholas Chapel remained . Supported by the Catholic communities of the Swiss Confederation, the city of Baden rebuilt the castle as a fortress after the First Villmerger War of 1656 . It was already technically obsolete when it was completed around 1670 and was also razed by the reformed towns in 1712 after the Second Villmerger War . Part of the city wall has been preserved and leads down to the city tower .
The Stein ruins can be reached from the west via a footpath to Rütistrasse. This runs in two serpentines up the north slope of the Schlossberg and leads to the Allmendquartier. From the old town to the east, the summit of the Schlossberg can be reached via the Niklausstiege, a narrow path with several steps.
Tunnel construction
Two tunnels run through the Schlossberg, the 80 m long Schlossberg tunnel and the 988 m long Kreuzlibergtunnel . The former is a road tunnel between the Schulhausplatz south of the Schlossberg and the northern districts of Baden. Hauptstrasse 3 runs through it , at the same time relieving the old town of through traffic. The Schlossberg tunnel was built from 1846 onwards as part of the Zurich – Baden line of the Swiss Northern Railway . After around a year of construction (mainly prisoners were deployed under miserable working conditions) the Schlossberg tunnel was opened on August 7, 1847. It was therefore the first railway tunnel in Switzerland.
There were level crossings in front of both tunnel portals , which from the 1950s onwards massively impeded the rapidly growing private motorized traffic. Because of the 230 trains a day, the barriers were closed for over five hours. A commission set up by the city council , which also included the transport planner Kurt Leibbrand , presented a report to the community in 1953 . The "major railway laying" proposed therein provided for the railway line to be laid underground for the entire city area. A large part of the new construction of the Baden train station was to be located inside the Schlossberg, with access via a new station building at Gstühlplatz at the north foot of the Schlossberg. In the end, however, the community assembly decided in favor of the “minor railway relocation”: The Schlossberg tunnel was to be replaced by the Kreuzlibergtunnel and converted for road traffic. After four years of construction, the Kreuzlibergtunnel was opened on October 1st, 1961, the renovation of the Schlossberg tunnel was completed in October 1965.
Unfinished civil defense system
Under the influence of the events of the Cold War - in particular the Korean War , the Hungarian People's Uprising and the Cuban Crisis - the city authorities made efforts to use the pending traffic rehabilitation to build a civil defense system of gigantic proportions inside the Schlossberg . The community assembly approved several generous planning credits for this after 1956. Four tubular caverns with a length of 40 to 50 meters, a width of 17.5 meters and a height of 19.5 meters (corresponds to four floors) were planned. In the event of a disaster, more than 5,000 residents of the old town and the surrounding quarters should enter the facility from five entrances and survive there. One of the caverns was to be expanded into a public hall with professional event technology and 735 seats. An emergency hospital and a large bakery were also planned.
On June 25, 1964, the municipal assembly approved a building loan of 28 million francs, with federal subsidies of 75% of the building costs being expected. In 1960, work began on departure ramps, access tunnels and a heating and ventilation cavern. But the project was shipwrecked as early as 1965. The rock cover was too small and the legally required minimum height of 40 meters could only have been met with considerable additional effort. In view of the horrendous costs, the federal government did not want to make firm commitments and a financing law at the cantonal level failed twice in a referendum. In addition, a new civil protection strategy established itself - away from large-scale facilities and towards private shelters. Finally, in 1978, thirteen years after the construction freeze, the residents' council drew a line and put the project on record. The ventilation and heating system was dismantled without ever having been in operation. A total of over seven million francs had been spent with no apparent benefit.
The tunnel garage (the lower level of the converted Schlossberg tunnel) served as an underground car park for around 150 vehicles from 1966 as planned . Pedestrians and - despite the driving ban - also cyclists used the passage as a quick connection between the Schulhausplatz and the train station. The winding and unplastered tunnels were used several times as a concert and party venue, for example during the Badenfahrt . Various artists used the special acoustic conditions for sound installations. The Schlossberg tunnel has been renovated since 2015, as has the tunnel garage, which has been completely closed since February 2016. The latter was reopened on April 29, 2019 and has since served as a bus tunnel for Postbuses and RVBW buses going out of town.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau . Volume VI, District of Baden I. Birkhäuser Verlag , Basel 1976, ISBN 3-7643-0782-X , p. 52-58 .
- ^ Otto Mittler : History of the city of Baden . tape 2 : From 1650 to the present . Sauerländer , Aarau 1965, p. 239-242 .
- ↑ Fabian Furter, Bruno Meier , Andrea Schaer, Ruth Wiederkehr: Stadtgeschichte Baden . here + now , Baden 2015, ISBN 978-3-03919-341-7 , p. 282 .
- ^ A b Furter: City history of Baden. P. 286.
- ↑ Roman Huber: Misunderstood mythology of the tunnel garage. Aargauer Zeitung , January 30, 2016, accessed April 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Martin Rupf: The first bus drove through the Schulhausplatz tunnel - we were on board. Badener Tagblatt, May 1, 2019, accessed on November 22, 2019 .