Fexer plates

In the Fexerplatten quarry: the renovated accommodation and waste dumps in the background

Fexer plates or Engadine Romanesque Plattas da Fex are centimeter-thin stone slabs made of mica slate ( quartz phyllite ), which have been used in furnace construction and for covering house roofs. Quarrying took place exclusively during the winter months in a quarry at 2070 meters above sea level, a little above the Silser Alp in the Fex Valley . The slate could only be split from November to February at temperatures below freezing.

history

One of the former tunnel entrances with a rail transport car ( Kipplore )

The mining began in the 17th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a lot of slate was sent to Bever and Pontresina . In 1864 the community of Sils granted six men from the Fex Valley an exclusive concession to mine gneiss slabs. Up to 14 miners from Valmalenco, Italy, worked .

The operation of the quarry had to be stopped in 1964, as transport by motor vehicles was no longer permitted for nature conservation reasons, while horse-drawn vehicles were too expensive. Since then, the tunnels and the outbuildings have largely fallen into disrepair.

In order to preserve the historical cultural heritage for posterity, the civic community of Sils in the Engadin founded the “Fundaziun Cheva Plattas da Fex” (Engadine Romanesque for “Fexerplatten-Steinbruch-Stiftung”). In a first step, the existing facilities were secured from collapse and in 2017 and 2019 the two huts were restored and a small museum set up.

Use of the panels

After years on the roofs, the minerals in the stone oxidized due to the influence of the weather and the panels took on a reddish color. These panels are particularly popular and are mainly used on floors in apartments. Also because the plates are no longer dismantled, they have become rare.

literature

• Flurin Camenisch: Val Fex: View of a quiet valley. Swiss homeland books, Paul Haupt Verlag, Bern 2001, ISBN 3-258-05909-8 , pp. 123-124.
• Töna Stupan and others: Segl in Engiadina . Health resort and tourist office, Sils i. E., 1984, pp. 24-27.

Web links

• Website of the “Cheva Plattas da Fex” foundation
• Astrid Longariello: Museum Cheva should be “Sils-like”. Engadiner Post, November 27, 2014, accessed on October 7, 2015 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Toena Stupan include: Segl in Engadina. Health resort and tourist office, Sils i. E. 1984, pp. 26-27.
2. ↑ Paul Robbi, quoted from: Töna Stupan and others: Segl in Engadina. Health resort and tourist office, Sils i. E. 1984, pp. 24-25.
3. ↑ Flurin Camenisch: Val Fex: View of a quiet valley. Schweizer Heimatbücher, Verlag Paul Haupt, Bern 2001, ISBN 3-258-05909-8 , p. 123.
4. ↑ Working and living back then: Cheva Plattas da Fex Foundation. Retrieved August 23, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Flurin Camenisch: Val Fex: View of a quiet valley. Schweizer Heimatbücher, Verlag Paul Haupt, Bern 2001, ISBN 3-258-05909-8 , p. 124.
6. ↑ News from the Quarry Foundation. July 22, 2019, accessed August 1, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Internet excerpt - Graubünden Commercial Register. July 23, 2014, accessed October 8, 2015 . 
8. ↑ Use: Cheva Plattas da Fex Foundation. Retrieved August 23, 2020 .