Upper Hauenstein

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Upper Hauenstein
Oberer Hauenstein, top of the pass
Compass direction	North	south
Pass height	734  m above sea level M.
Canton	Basel-Land	Solothurn
Valley locations	Waldenburg	Balsthal
expansion	Pass road
Mountains	law
profile
Ø pitch	4.2% (197 m / 4.72 km)	3% (234 m / 7.9 km)
Max. Incline	9.5%	4.9%
Map (Basel-Country)
Coordinates	624 576  /  244586 coordinates: 47 ° 21 '6 "  N , 7 ° 45' 50"  O ; CH1903:  six hundred twenty-four thousand five hundred seventy-six  /  244586

The Obere Hauenstein is a pass in the Swiss canton of Basel-Land in the municipality of Langenbruck between Balsthal in the canton of Solothurn and Waldenburg . The top of the pass is on the watershed at a height of 734  m above sea level. M. The historic pass road is considered a traffic route of national importance.

history

Oberer Hauenstein versus Balsthal, 1824

The "Howenstein" was first documented in 1145. It connected the Rhine Valley with the Swiss Plateau and was one of the central Jura crossings, which were important as good traffic routes for the cohesion of the huge Roman Empire. Roman coins and a votive altar that were found in the area of ​​the pass and point to a Roman pass sanctuary testify to this. The historic pass was the shortest connection from Aventicum via Solodurum to Augusta Raurica in Roman times .

With the opening of the Gotthard Pass road near the Schöllenen at the beginning of the 13th century, the more favorably located Untere Hauenstein was preferred. The Obere Hauenstein remained important for traffic to western Switzerland : Emperor Sigismund is said to have passed it around 1414/15, Joseph II in 1777 and Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797.

Old stretches of road (so-called " Roman roads ") can be found east of the pass near Langenbruck and on the hiking trail between Holderbank and Balsthal . From the old paved road, cart channels carved into the stone have been preserved. These are safety measures from the early Middle Ages, so that the heavy carts could pass the steep, dangerous places secured with ropes in the predetermined lane without slipping into the forest with wheel blockages. Deeply cut ravines and the paving of the Chaussée from the 18th century attest to the importance of the street at that time.

Pass road today

Main road 12 runs over the pass from Bern and Solothurn to Basel . It creates the connection between the roads at the southern foot of the Jura near Oensingen and the Ergolztal near Liestal . Until the opening of Autobahn 1 , it was the most important road between Basel and Solothurn.

Lock point Oberer Hauenstein

The Obere Hauenstein has been an important transport link to the Swiss Plateau since Roman times. For the military strategists the problem of the effective defense of this north-south axis arose again and again.

The locking point was planned in detail in November 1938, and the troops of Grenzbrigade 4 began building the works in the summer of 1940. The artillery positions in Spittel were built in July / August 1941 by the "Renfer" building department. The road from Liestal to Oensingen consists of eight successive blocks. Possible bypass roads have also been blocked.

The narrow of Waldenburg was closed with four infantry bunkers. A civil defense system was built at the foot of the rock under the A 3606 bunker. The bunker association Waldenburg , founded in 2018, conducts several annual tours.

The blocking point in the Spittel area consists of two bunkers, four artillery positions, six modern shelters and an anti-tank barrier with road and brook barricades.

The blocking points were decommissioned in 1994 with the dissolution of Border Brigade 4. It is considered a military historical monument of national importance.

Infantry bunker A 3604 Waldenburg

• Infantry bunker A 3600 Talhaus ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3601 Bubendorf ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3602 Oberdorf ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3603 Oberdorf ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3604 Waldenburg Ost: Pak (formerly 7.5 cm field cannon) ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3605 Waldenburg West ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3606 Waldenburg Ost: Pak (formerly 7.5 cm field cannon) ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3607 Waldenburg West: Pak (formerly 7.5 cm field cannon) ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3608 Spittel ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3609 Spittel ⊙
• Artillery bunker A 3610 Spittel-Nünbrunnen ⊙
• Artillery bunker A 3611 Spittel-Nünbrunnen ⊙
• Artillery bunker A 3612 Spittel-Nünbrunnen ⊙
• Artillery bunker A 3613 Spittel-Nünbrunnen ⊙
• Infantry plant A 3614 Chräiegg ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3615 Schönthal ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3616 Lochhus ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3617 Beuggen ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3618 Beuggen ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3619 Titterten ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3620 Titterten ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3621 Titterten ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3622 Titterten ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3623 Reigoldswil-Grund ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3624 Reigoldswil-Grund ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3625 Reigoldswil-Nord ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3626 Reigoldswil-Kuweid ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3627 Reigoldswil-Kuweid ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3628 Seewen ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3629 Seewen ⊙
• Mobile artillery gun stand A 3630 Bretzwil ⊙
• Mobile artillery gun stand A 3631 Bretzwil ⊙
• Mobile artillery gun stand A 3632 Bretzwil ⊙
• Mobile artillery gun stand A 3633 Bretzwil ⊙
• 8.4 cm artillery bunker A 3634 Gilgenberg castle ruins ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3635 Meltingerbrücke ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3636 Meltingerbrücke ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3637 Nunningen-Enge ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3638 Roderis ⊙
• Infantry bunker A 3672 Balsthal ⊙
• Infantry plant A 3673 Balsthal ⊙

literature

• Theophil Burckhardt-Biedermann : The road over the upper Hauenstein in the Basler Jura. In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde , Vol. 1, 1902, pp. 1–52. Part 1. , Part 2.
• Werner Reber: On the traffic geography and history of the passes in the eastern Jura. Sources and research on the history and regional studies of the canton Baselland 11, Liestal 1970.
• Beat Horisberger: On the problem of the “Roman” cart tracks in the Swiss Jura . Archeology of the Canton of Solothurn 8, 1993.
• Jan von Wartburg: Liestal, Langhagstrasse 36: dating of a historic street. Archeology Baselland, annual report 2017.
• IVS: Historic traffic routes in the canton of Solothurn
• IVS: Historic traffic routes in the canton of Basel-Landschaft

Web links

Commons : Oberer Hauenstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Peter Frey: Hauenstein. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Gradient profile from the direction of Waldenburg
• Gradient profile from the direction of Balsthal

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Solothurner Zeitung of August 8, 2017: The Obere Hauenstein is a protected historical traffic route
2. ↑ Archeology Basel-Landschaft: The Obere Hauenstein - In search of the Roman road
3. ↑ bunker friends: Equipment Waldenburg BL
4. ↑ Bunker Association Waldenburg
5. ↑ Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa, Thomas Bitterli: Military-historical monuments in the cantons of Solothurn, Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft, VBS 2001 [1]