Mountain Guide Museum

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Mountain Guide Museum
St. Niklaus Meierturm 1270.JPG

Entrance to the mountain guide museum , photos of Zaniglaser mountain guide pioneers such as Josef Marie Lochmatter served as a model for the life-size, wooden statue of the mountain guide of the Belle Époque
Data
place Dorfstrasse 36, St. Niklaus Dorf , Canton of Valais, Switzerland
Art
Kulturhistorisches Museum: historical mountain guide museum with an integrated mineral exhibition and a small local museum in the adjoining building (west side of the Meier tower)
architect Construction of the historic Meier Tower in 1273
opening Mountain Guide Museum 2000
operator
St. Niklaus VS community
management
St. Niklaus VS community
Website

The Mountain Guide Museum in St. Niklaus ( Zaniglas ) in the Swiss canton of Valais introduces you to the time of the Alpine and in particular the Zaniglas mountain guide pioneers , who had a significant impact on mountain guides around the world, especially over the first two generations . The mountain guides of St. Niklaus have made over 300 first ascents worldwide . No other community in the Alpine region has produced as many great mountain guides as St. Niklaus in Mattertal , which has developed into the center of mountain guides.

Building: Meier Tower by St. Niklaus (Zaniglas)

Mountain Guide Museum in the historic Meier Tower in St. Niklaus Dorf. View of the north (right) and east side of the Meier tower.

The Meier Tower was the office and residence of the Meier . 700 after the birth of Christ, the large estates with precisely defined rights and obligations arose. For this, the Meier was appointed by the Bishop of Sitten as administrator.

At the end of the 13th century, the Meier Tower, which still exists today, was built in St. Niklaus Dorf; at that time it still had three floors and a pyramid roof . On the basis of detailed archaeological analyzes, which were carried out from 1986 to 1987, the exact age could be determined. The dendrochronological examination of the central girder of the cellar ceiling resulted in the year 1273. The old stone tower is the oldest surviving building in Mattertal , probably in the whole region.

Around 1690 the typical fortified tower with five floors and a new staircase was added, which still exist today. The pyramid roof was converted into a gable roof . After the fall of the Valais tens democracy at the end of the 18th century, the tower passed into private ownership and was used exclusively for residential purposes.

In 1971 the tower was acquired by the municipality of St. Niklaus. In 1974 the Meier Tower was listed among the state-protected monuments. Between 1986 and 1996 it was completely renovated with the support of the state, the municipality, the “Pro Nikolai” foundation and “Scintilla AG”. In November 1996 the premises were opened to the public again. At the home conference on June 10, 2000, the first mountain guide museum was inaugurated.

History: The «Zaniglaser Mountain Guide» project

The stone, 3.70 meter high mountain guide monument, which is located on the church square of St. Niklaus Dorf, was inaugurated on June 4, 1995. The names of all deceased Zaniglaser mountain guides with dates of birth and death are listed on bronze plaques, which are updated periodically and which are displayed on the two mighty eye gneiss stones .

On June 10, 2000, the world's first mountain guide museum was opened to the public in St. Niklaus Dorf, which was set up on a total of five floors of the Meier tower.

Spaces

The basic design concept of the mountain guide museum presents on the one hand the achievements of the mountain guide pioneers on all five floors and in all locations including the staircase of the Meier tower with the utensils from the past and present and on the other hand allows the rooms to be used multifunctionally, whereby guests are also received in the «Burgerkeller» and in the «Burgerstube» smaller events and meetings take place. In addition, the St. Niklaus local group of the Monte Rosa section of the Swiss Alpine Club and the Justice of the Peace use the first floor, the “Pro Nikolai” foundation the third floor. The Meier Tower, which has rooms with different functions from the basement to the four floors, is "held together" with this unique museum design.

When entering the mountain guide museum, visitors are greeted acoustically: in four minutes at 4000 meters . You can experience the most varied sections of a mountain ascent: the noises like marching on paths and scree, entering the rock, striking hooks, traversing ice and snow, wind and cold, in between calls of a jackdaw as well as the physical exertion up to Reaching the summit.

The mountain guide museum in the historic Meierturm in St. Niklaus Dorf shows in particular the biographies of the major mountain guide families of Lochmatter, Knubel, Pollinger, Imboden, etc. and illustrates outstanding examples of first ascents by these pioneers:

Burgerkeller (basement)

Burgerstube (ground floor)

  • Using two panels on the subject of art and alpinism , the connection between the St. Niklaus mountain guides and contemporary painters is shown ( Edward Whymper , Edward Theodore Compton , Albert and François Gos as well as Arthur Hiltmann , who was married to St. Niklaus Adelheid Fux des Rudolf).
  • You can also find mountain guide books by the St. Niklaus mountain guides and further alpine literature here.

First floor

  • Development of the mountain guide profession in Valais
  • Mountain guide associations
  • Winter alpinism

Second floor

  • Life-size figures show the clothing and equipment of the mountain guides from three epochs.
  • Important alpine objects of the mountain guides and alpinists are presented in showcases. These showcases in the shape of various mountain crystals were specially designed and manufactured for the mountain guide museum.
  • Visitors can also see a selection of the most beautiful mineral finds in the Mattertal. These mainly include garnet , Vesuvian , diopside , epidote and quartz , as well as more unusual types such as perovskite , natrolite , noble serpentine and clinochlor .
  • A three-dimensional model of the Weisshorn was made on a scale of 1: 625 for the mountain guide museum. (The Weisshorn is considered one of the most beautiful mountains in the Mattertal and is particularly popular with alpinists.)
  • You can navigate through a multimedia program on two computer stations that was specially developed for the mountain guide museum.

There is the 3D part of the terrain: In an interactive, virtual landscape model you can move freely between the mountains of the Mattertal or you can choose one of the suggested panoramas. The location-relevant information is linked to the list of first ascents. This part of the program is a novelty and could only be created in cooperation with specialists from the Institute for Cartography at ETH Zurich and the Federal Office for Topography . The multimedia production of the mountain guide museum integrates the panorama part of the “3D-Topography” module of the Institute for Cartography, with hyperlinks underlaying the panorama views, which ensure navigation between the 3D and 2D parts.

third floor

  • “How the St. Niklaus mountain guides lived and lived”.

See also

literature

  • Christian Imboden: Mountains: job, calling, fate . Rotten Verlag , Visp 2013, ISBN 3-907624-48-3 .
  • Claudia Imboden: Art and alpinism: a sublime ascent to a conquered mountain. University of Basel, 2000.
  • Truffer, Rovina: Dar Turu va Zaniglas (documentation of the renovation work on the Meier Tower in St. Niklaus (1986–1996)). St. Niklaus 1996.

Web links

Commons : Mountain Guide  Museum - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  • Die Alpen, magazine of the Swiss Alpine Club , Angelo Brack, November 2014, page 66: Mountains: Profession, calling, destiny : "Many unpublished photos and unknown facts make the work worth reading."
  • Walliser Bote , Thomas Rieder, July 13, 2013, page 3: "For two generations, the St. Niklaus mountain guides have shaped the beginning of alpinism in various areas around the world."
  • Walliser Bote , Thomas Rieder, July 12, 2013, page 3: «Mountaineering pioneers are honored in the book. Entire epoch shaped. "
  • Die Alpen , magazine of the Swiss Alpine Club, editorial office, 7/2000: First mountain guide museum in St. Niklaus.
  • Newsletter Alpine Club , editorial staff, 3/2000, page 5: Museum of Alpine Guides in St. Niklaus. A museum dedicated to alpine guides was opened in St Niklaus on 10th June 2000. The museum celebrates the achievements of guides from the Imboden, Knubel, Lochmatter and Pollinger families, all of whom came from St Niklaus.
  • Rhone Zeitung (RZ), Waldemar Schön, April 14, 2000, page 15: "A concept from 1992 envisaged reviving this tradition with a memorial, a museum and a book."
  • Valais - Wallis , monthly magazine, Christian Imboden, March 1996: Three «Zaniglaser» on the first ascent of Aconcagua.
  • Basler Zeitung , Fredy Widmer, June 2, 1995: The great tradition of the «Zaniglaser» mountain guides.
  • Walliser Bote , Stefan Eggel, June 2, 1995, page 8: “Mountain guides from St. Niklaus played an important role in the development of alpinism and especially of mountain guides. Zaniglaser (note: St. Niklauser) Mountain guides did pioneering work at home and abroad. "
  • Neue Zürcher Zeitung , Christine Kopp , January 12, 1995, page 61: "Although the mountain guides from St. Niklaus wrote an important chapter in alpinism, their history has more or less been forgotten in recent times."
  • The Alps , magazine of the Swiss Alpine Club, Christian Imboden, 1/1995, page 105 ff .: The beginnings of tourism in the Alps / Les débuts du tourisme dans les Alpes.
  • The rope team , magazine of the Monte Rosa section of the Swiss Alpine Club, Christian Imboden, 3/1995, page 8: «On the larger, over 3 meter high stone, the names of around a hundred mountain guides from St. Niklaus with the year of birth and death listed. The great mountain guide pioneers Josef Marie Lochmatter , Peter Knubel, Alois Pollinger, Josef Imboden and Peter Sarbach were given their appropriate place on the smaller stone under the SBV emblem. "
  • The rope team , magazine of the Monte Rosa section of the Swiss Alpine Club, Christian Imboden, 6/1995, page 9: «Due to the initiative of the President of the Zaniglaser Mountain Guide Association and thanks to the active support of its members and many generous patrons, on Whitsunday, the June 4, 1995, the mountain guide monument in honor of the Zaniglaser mountain guides in St. Niklaus Dorf will be inaugurated. "
  • 13 Etoiles , Christian Imboden, September 1994: Les guides de montagne de Saint-Nicolas.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The first ascents of the St. Niklaus mountain guides to the present day. In: Mountains: Profession, Vocation, Fate. Rotten Verlag, Visp 2013, pp. 108–157.
  2. ^ Carl Egger: Pioneers of the Alps . 1946, p. 311.
  3. ↑ 75 years of the Institute for Cartography at ETH Zurich . In: Surveying, photogrammetry, cultural technology . tape 98 , no. 10 , 2000, pp. 606 . William Cartwright, Michael P. Peterson, Georg Gartner (Eds.): Multimedia Cartography . Springer, 2007, p.
     162 (English).

Coordinates: 46 ° 10 '32.4 "  N , 7 ° 48' 6.2"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred twenty-eight thousand and thirty-nine  /  113864