Upper frames

Upper frames
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Valais (VS)
District :	Goms
Municipal municipality :	Obergoms
Postal code :	3988
former BFS no. :	6065
Coordinates :	668 106  /  151936 coordinates: 46 ° 30 '55 "  N , 8 ° 19' 34"  O ; CH1903:  668106  /  151936
Height :	1355  m above sea level M.
Area :	14.6  km²
Residents:	209 (December 31, 2007)
Population density :	14 inhabitants per km²
Website:	www.obergesteln.ch
Obergesteln as seen from the Gommer Höhenweg
map

Parish before the merger on December 31, 2008

Obergesteln ( Valais German : Geschle, Obergeschle [geʃːlə ˈobərgeʃːlə] ) is a village in the Valais municipality of Obergoms and a parish in the deanery of Ernen .

history

Aerial photo (1949)

The place is first attested in 1322 in the phrase Willermus ab püle de castellione . It goes back to Latin-Romanesque castelliône , which is the diminutive of Latin castellum "fortified camp, castle".

The village has been hit by natural disasters and fires several times. Like the neighboring communities of Oberwald and Unterwassern, the village was reduced to rubble by the Bernese during the Rarner War in 1419, although older mentions have been preserved for this village. A rock fall took place here in 1417 . The church is mentioned for the first time in 1309, and on the church hill where it is located, one suspects even a Roman fort.

In 1658 an avalanche caused the bakery to be relocated. On February 18, 1720, the western part of the village was hit by a dust avalanche. There are reports of 83 affected ridges on 35 houses (also 56 buildings and 27 residential buildings with 83 rooms). The avalanche also dammed the Rotten and fire broke out. The memorial cross on the outer southern church wall reminds of this catastrophe. In 1725 an avalanche tore away the newly built houses again, so it was decided to only build between Rotten and Kirchhügel.

A fire in 1806 devastated nine buildings in the village. At the end of the fire, which broke out on September 2, 1868, only four utility buildings and the bakery remained. The State Council of the Canton of Valais commissioned the engineer Ernest von Stockeralper (1838-1919) and the architect Joseph de Kalbermatten (1840-1920) with the reconstruction. Architect de Kalbermatten - he had studied under Gottfried Semper at the Polytechnic in Zurich - was inspired by the reconstruction plans for the city of Glarus , which was destroyed by fire in 1861 . Typical of Obergesteln are stone buildings arranged like a chessboard with stone slab roofs and wide, elongated alleys to prevent further conflagrations. As a result of the fire, there was a wave of emigration to America, mainly to California, which lasted until 1911.

On November 25, 2007, a referendum approved a merger of the three previously independent Obergommer municipalities of Obergesteln, Oberwald and Ulrichen . The new municipality of Obergoms has existed since January 1st, 2009.

population

Population development
year	1850	1900	1950	1990	2007
Residents	249	242	240	195	209

Natural monument

Probably the oldest tree in Switzerland is in Obergesteln, an approx. 700 year old larch. Since the larch with a circumference of 7.4 meters is hollow up to a height of around 20 meters, it is not possible to drill a core to determine the age precisely using tree rings. Age was estimated based on comparisons.

Attractions

See also : List of cultural assets in Obergoms

Personalities

• Markus Andereggen (* 1921–2018), cross-country sponsor and founding member of the SC Obergoms, born and raised in Obergesteln
• Konrad Hallenbarter (* 1953), Wasalaufwinner 1983, born and raised in Obergesteln
• Beat Jost (* 1954), trade unionist, journalist and Valais politician, born and raised in Obergesteln
• Martin Werlen (* 1962), Abbot of Einsiedeln Monastery (2001–2013), born and raised in Obergesteln

literature

• Robert Walpen: Obergesteln. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2017 .
• Walter Ruppen: Obergesteln . In: Society for Swiss Art History (Hrsg.): Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz (=  vol. 64 ). Das Obergoms vol. 1. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1976, ISBN 3-7643-0728-5 , p. 194-213 .

Web links

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

• Obergesteln on the ETHorama platform
• Website of the municipality of Obergoms
• Federal inventory ISOS: Obergesteln

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Lexicon of Swiss municipality names . Edited by the Center de Dialectologie at the University of Neuchâtel under the direction of Andres Kristol. Frauenfeld / Lausanne 2005, p. 662.
2. ^ Walliser Wappenbuch. Zurich, no year.
3. ↑ In Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz Volume 64 there are two actually contradicting statements
4. ↑ Roland Flückiger-Seiler: The farmhouses of the canton of Valais. Les maisons rurales du Valais. Volume 2: The stone dwelling and the multi-purpose buildings (Val d'Illiez), tome 2, L'habitation en pierre et la maison concentrée (Val d'Illiez). Basel 2000, ISBN 3-907624-13-0 . (The Farmhouses of Switzerland, Volume 14).
5. ↑ swissinfo 19 September 2007  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.