Kandersteg International Scout Center

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Main building of the Kandersteg International Scout Center

The Kandersteg International Scout Center (KISC) is an international scouting center in Kandersteg, Switzerland . It has been a meeting place for girl and boy scouts from all over the world since 1923. It is currently one of three world centers of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM).

geography

The center is located on the southern outskirts of Kandersteg at an altitude of around 1190  m above sea level. M. . During the high season a bus connects the train station with the center. On the Lötschberg route leading past the camp there is a simple request stop that is only served on request; There are no stops in the public timetable.

history

For the first fifteen years after the Boy Scout Movement was founded in 1907, the movement grew rapidly. In 1920, at the first World Scout Jamboree in London, Robert Baden-Powell saw the great success of the scout movement. The desire arose for a permanent international meeting place where scouts from all over the world could meet. In 1922 Walther von Bonstetten , the boy scout leader of Switzerland, went on vacation to the resort of Kandersteg, where he saw an old, empty chalet . It was built in 1908 as a workers' house during the construction work on the Lötschberg tunnel , the northern portal of which is not far from the boy scout center. When construction was finished in 1913, the house was abandoned by the workers and given up by the railway company. Von Bonstetten thought that this place could be the meeting place that Baden-Powell had dreamed of. He wrote to tell him what he had found. The answer was positive, so in February 1923 the Scouts International Home Association was founded. On April 12, 1923, the chalet and nearby land were purchased for 15,100 Swiss francs .

use

The KISC offers a campsite in summer as well as a large chalet and an old tower with outbuildings all year round as accommodation. In 2008 the "Kander Lodge" was opened. The building previously served in Mitholz as a construction office and exhibition space during the construction period of the Lötschberg base tunnel . In autumn 2008 the building was transported to Kandersteg and rebuilt.

The scout center has around 12,000 guests from over 40 countries every year; In 2012, 64,521 overnight stays were registered. It is operated by an international team, which consists mainly of volunteer scouts and scouts, and offers guests a varied program. An association with around 800 members promotes maintenance and expansion.

  • KanderLodge

  • Tower at the tunnel entrance

  • camping

  • playground

See also

Web links

Commons : Kandersteg International Scout Center  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Chalet is discovered, The Story of KISC, Living Baden Powell's Dream since 1923, KISC online on April 21, 2018 , as of January 22, 2019
  2. ↑ Kandersteg International Scout Center (ed.): Annual report 2012. Kandersteg 2013. p. 19.

Coordinates: 46 ° 29 '0 "  N , 7 ° 39' 50"  E ; CH1903:  617297  /  one hundred and forty-eight thousand and twenty-six