Marmorera

Marmorera
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Graubünden (GR)
Region :	Albula
Political community :	Surses
Postal code :	7456
former BFS no. :	3533
Coordinates :	769 324  /  151867 coordinates: 46 ° 29 '48 "  N , 9 ° 38' 40"  O ; CH1903:  769324  /  151867
Height :	1720  m above sea level M.
Area :	18.90  km²
Residents:	31 (December 31, 2014)
Population density :	2 inhabitants per km²
Website:	www.surses.ch
Marmorera from the Marmels Castle seen from
map

Marmorera ( German / Italian ; German obsolete and officially Marmels until 1902 , Romansh Murmarera ) was until December 31, 2015 a political municipality in Oberhalbstein ( Romansh Surses ; District Surses ) in the Albula district of the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland . On January 1, 2016, Marmorera merged with the municipalities of Bivio , Cunter , Mulegns , Riom-Parsonz , Salouf , Savognin , Sur and Tinizong-Rona to form the new municipality of Surses .

coat of arms

Blazon : split of silver (white) and black, in black a silver chalice

The split coat of arms of the Lords of Marmels is complemented by the attribute of St. Florinus as the patron of the parish church.

history

The historical place Marmorera was already settled in the Middle Ages. After 1838, after the expansion of the road over the Julier Pass , Marmorera benefited from the increasing postbus traffic and the emerging tourism. After the Gotthard and Albula Railway opened, stagecoach traffic collapsed and the community became impoverished.

After the Second World War , Marmorera offered the city of Zurich a concession for a reservoir on favorable terms. The negotiator Walther Pfister from the industrial companies Zurich negotiated individual contracts with the individual house and landowners and obliged them to maintain confidentiality. He took advantage of the fact that many residents only spoke Italian or Romansh and signed without understanding a word of German. On October 17, 1948, the municipal assembly approved the concession to use water power for a period of 80 years and the construction of a reservoir with 24 yes against 2 no votes . The canton of Graubünden rejected an appeal by the opponents against the decision of the municipal assembly.

In 1954 the flooding began. Before that, all the buildings in the old village were destroyed. The cemetery should be concreted over, but the residents managed to have the dead exhumed and buried a second time in a new cemetery above the old village near the old grave crosses. The church and schoolhouse, 29 houses and 52 stables fell victim to the construction of the Marmorera reservoir .

• 

  Marmorera around 1900

• 

  new cemetery

• 

  Aerial photo from 2500 m by Walter Mittelholzer (1925)

In contrast to a natural event, the man-made event was a disaster that was difficult to process, from which the village community could hardly recover, as substitute farms were offered for the farmers in the distant Thurgau and the community dissolved in great disagreement. If you look at the first house on the street near Neu-Marmorera (originally Bardella ), you will find the name La Resistenza (resistance). In 1956 the new reservoir was filled for the first time.

The Julier Pass road, which previously ran on the valley floor, was relocated to the east side of the reservoir. A new Marmorera was built above the reservoir and the Julier Pass road. Village life is hardly visible without a shop and without a school (after 2006).

On March 10, 2006, the inhabitants of Marmorera and other communities in the Surmeir valley refused to merge all the communities in the Oberhalbstein.

The ruins of Marmels Castle are in the municipality above the western end of the dam .

population

Population development

year	1850	1900	1920	1941	1950	1960	1980	1990	2000	2005	2014
Residents	156	143	100	94	140	28	27	38	49	47	31

languages

Most of the residents used to speak Rhaeto-Romanic Surmeir . Until the Second World War, the community remained almost monolingual in Romansh. This value dropped to 78% in 1970. Since 1980 a small majority of the population speaks German. Due to the small number of inhabitants, however, the conditions can fluctuate greatly.

Languages ​​in Marmorera

languages	1980 census		1990 census		2000 census
	number	proportion of	number	proportion of	number	proportion of
German	14th	51.85%	20th	52.63%	28	57.14%
Romansh	11	40.74%	18th	47.37%	17th	34.69%
Italian	1	3.70%	0	0.00%	3	6.12%
Residents	27	100%	38	100%	49	100%

In 2000, 53% of the population still spoke Romansh, which, together with German, is the official language.

Origin and nationality

Of the 47 residents at the end of 2005, 46 were Swiss nationals.

politics

The last mayor before the merger was René Müller (as of 2010).

school

The former community with Mulegns and Sur has operated the primary school since 1975 . From 2006 the primary school students were taught in Bivio , and since the school year 2014/2015 in Savognin . Secondary school students have had to go to Savognin since 1963.

Movie

In 2007 Markus Fischer published the mystery thriller Marmorera .

Attractions

See also : List of cultural assets in Surses

literature

• Erwin Poeschel : The art monuments of the canton of Graubünden III. The valley communities Räzünser Boden, Domleschg, Heinzenberg, Oberhalbstein, Upper and Lower Engadine. (= Art Monuments of Switzerland. Volume 11). Edited by the Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 1940. DNB 760079625 .
• Paul J. Mark: A mountain village goes under; Terra Grischuna-Verlag, Chur 2005.
• Gion Peder Thöni: Marmorera. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2016 .

Web links

Commons : Marmorera  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Marmorera on the ETHorama platform
• History of Marmorera

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paul J. Mark: A mountain village goes under. Terra Grischuna-Verlag, Chur 2005.
2. ^ Electricity for Zurich - A Requiem for Marmorera. ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Swiss television, February 13, 1997. 
3. ^ Swiss Folklore Society: Vanished valleys
4. ↑ Radio SRF 1 "Treffpunkt" ( Memento of the original dated November 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from September 4, 2013 from 1:23:30. 
5. ↑ Ruedi Baumann in the Tages-Anzeiger on May 8, 2013, p. 16.