Julier Pass

Julier Pass
	Pass summit with lake , anti-tank barrier, kiosk and parking lot
Pass height	2284 m above sea level M.
expansion	paved road
Built	1820-1840
Winter closure	no
	profile
	map
Coordinates	775 886 / 149 309 coordinates: 46 ° 28 '19 " N , 9 ° 43' 44" O ; CH1903: seven hundred seventy-five thousand eight hundred eighty-six / 149 309

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The Julier Pass ( Rhaeto-Romanic in the idiom Puter Pass dal Güglia ^?^/^I , in the idiom Surmiran Pass digl Gelgia , Italian Passo del Giulia ) is an Alpine pass in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland . With a peak height of 2284 m above sea level. M. it connects the valleys of Oberhalbstein and Engadin . At the top of the pass, the European watershed runs between the catchment areas of the Rhine and Danube .

geography

East ramp seen from the Corvatsch ski area

East ramp in thaw

While the history of the pass can be traced back to its use in Roman times , the modern route goes back to the road built between 1820 and 1826. Today's road leads initially from Tiefencastel ( 851 m ) along the Julia River via Savognin and Marmorera to Bivio ( 1769 m ). The actual pass road begins here, where the path to the Septimerpass , which is closed to motorized traffic, branches off. After 8.6 km the height is reached, from where the road leads down into the Engadin to Silvaplana ( 1815 m ).

The connection, which has been expanded today and is open all year round, is part of Hauptstrasse 3 and overcomes an altitude difference of 1433 m, the maximum gradient is just under 12%. The road is consistently wider than 5 m and easy to drive on.

Typical of the scenic route, especially on the much longer north-west ramp (36 km) from Tiefencastel up to the pass, are relatively flat sections that are repeatedly interrupted by short "stairs" with a few steep turns. The gradient here is an average of 4% and a maximum of 12%. Much shorter (7 km) with an average gradient of 6.7% and a maximum of less than 12% is the eastern ramp from Silvaplana, but the difference in altitude is only 469 m here.

At the top of the pass is a lake, the Lej da las Culuonnas . Particularly astonishing is the appearance of a small lake between bare walls just below the pass height on the northern slope, on which the 1.4 km² large Marmorera reservoir ( Lai da Marmorera ) has also been located further down since 1954 . The water level of the reservoir fluctuates around 1680 m . Coming from Savognin, one overcomes the almost 100 meter height of the dam in several sharp bends, along the lake the route is almost flat.

The Julierpass is the starting point of the Buendner Haute route , a long-distance route, the on the north side of the Engadine to Flüelapass runs.

Origin of name

The origin of the name Güglia , Gelgia is explained from the Gallic word julo for yoke , pass .

Route profile

place	Meters above sea level	distance	Height difference	cumulative distance	Height difference compared to the start (Tiefencastel)
Tiefencastel	851 m	-	-	-	-
Savognin	1207 m	9 km	356 m	9 km	356 m
Rona	1408 m	5 km	201 m	14 km	557 m
Mulegns - Sur	1538 m	4.5 km	130 m	18.5 km	687 m
Marmorera	1680 m	2.5 km	142 m	21 km	829 m
Bivio	1769 m	5 km	89 m	27 km	918 m
Pass height	2284 m	9 km	515 m	36 km	1433 m
Silvaplana	1815 m	7 km	-469 m	43 km	964 m

history

In 2019, remnants of pre-Roman copper mining sites (up to approx. 1000 BC) were discovered near the top of the pass.

The column fragments discovered during excavations on the top of the pass belonged to a Roman sanctuary on the top of the pass. Today they are placed on the street and demonstrate the great importance of the Julier Pass at the time of the Roman Empire. In several places proven wheel tracks show that the pass was driven on with high-wheeled carts. At Riom-Parsonz , north of the pass, the remains of a Mutatio (horse changing station) were excavated.

The main advantage of the Julier Pass is its favorable topography. The only major obstacle is the Crap Ses gorge between Tiefencastel and Savognin, which the Romans circumvented with an ascent over Mon and Salouf . The "steps of stairs" mentioned, dating back to prehistoric landslides, were difficult to climb, but not dangerous. Even on the actual pass stretch between Bivio and Silvaplana there are no terrain difficulties, and it is often avalanche-proof.

Roman columns on the top of the pass

In the High and Late Middle Ages , the Julier lost traffic to the neighboring Septimer Pass , which runs in a direct north-south direction and thus avoids the detour of the Julier- Malojapass route to the east . The additionally emerging competition from Gotthard and Splügen passes assigned the Julier a subordinate role in European transit traffic; as a regional connection from central Grisons to the Engadine, however, it remained important at all times. After the path in Crap Ses, which has been running near the Julia since the Middle Ages, was repeatedly damaged by floods and landslides, a new path through the rocks was blasted in 1777.

Hospice on the Julier Pass, around 1881

From 1820, the canton of Graubünden had a new road built by Richard La Nicca , which roughly followed the tried and tested route and only defused the steep steps by creating bends. The first major expansions took place in the 1930s.

When the Lai da Marmoreras was built around 1950, the road had to be relocated to a length of around 3 km. Since the 1990s, the pass road has been expanded in many places, which in sections amounts to a new building. For example, the exposed section in Crap Ses has been bypassed by a 706 m long tunnel since 1992. Since the summer of 2008, a new road has been built on a section of the north side to reduce the number of hairpin bends. The Silvaplana bypass should be completed in 2016 .

Julier Pass blocking point

From 1938 the Julier barrier was built on the top of the pass , which was supposed to prevent the advance of military units from the Engadine to Central Grisons. The blocking point consisted of two caverns in the two slopes above the pass, in which anti-tank cannons and machine guns were housed. In addition, an anti-tank barrier , consisting of stones extracted on site, was built. Another blocking point, the Mulegns blocking point , was located on the northwest ramp north of the village of Mulegns. Both lock points were abandoned in the 1990s as part of the Army 95 concept .

theatre

The Julier Theater of the Origen Festival Cultural on the Julier Pass.

The Swiss theater director Giovanni Netzer planned and realized the construction of a 10-sided, temporary theater building on the pass. The opening premiere was in early August 2017.

literature

Armon Planta : Traffic routes in the old Raetia Volume 2 . Terra Grischuna Verlag, Chur 1986, ISBN 3-908133-22-X
Ingrid H. Ringel: Continuity and Change. The Grisons Julier and Septimer passes from antiquity to the Middle Ages. in: On the Roman roads into the Middle Ages. Mainz 1997, pp. 211-295.
Maria Strasser-Lattner: The trade across the Bündner passes between Upper Germany and Upper Italy in the late Middle Ages . Master's thesis, University of Konstanz 2004, full text
Jürg Simonett: Julier Pass. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . January 30, 2018 .

Web links

Commons : Julierpass - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Julierpass - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

↑ Andrea Schorta : How the mountain got its name. Small Rhaetian name book with two and a half thousand geographical names of Graubünden . Terra Grischuna Verlag, Chur / Bottmingen / Basel 1988, ISBN 3-7298-1047-2 , p. 91 .
^ Blocking point Julier at the fortress museum Crestawald (accessed on October 12, 2012).
↑ Mulegns blocking point at the Crestawald Fortress Museum (accessed on October 12, 2012). Location of the blocking point.46.52823 9.62041
↑ Temporary theater building planned on Swiss mountain pass orf.at, January 2, 2016, accessed January 2, 2016,
^ Wojciech Czaja: Theater tower on the Julier Pass: Blood red madness building. In: The Standard. August 12, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017 .

[1] Andrea Schorta : How the mountain got its name. Small Rhaetian name book with two and a half thousand geographical names of Graubünden . Terra Grischuna Verlag, Chur / Bottmingen / Basel 1988, ISBN 3-7298-1047-2 , p. 91 .

[2] Blocking point Julier at the fortress museum Crestawald (accessed on October 12, 2012).

[3] Mulegns blocking point at the Crestawald Fortress Museum (accessed on October 12, 2012). Location of the blocking point.46.52823 9.62041

[4] Temporary theater building planned on Swiss mountain pass orf.at, January 2, 2016, accessed January 2, 2016,

[5] Wojciech Czaja: Theater tower on the Julier Pass: Blood red madness building. In: The Standard. August 12, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017 .