Safiental

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Facing south
Historical aerial photo by Werner Friedli, 1949

The Safiental ( Rhaeto-Romanic Val Stussavgia ) is a valley in the Swiss canton of Graubünden . Today it extends as the municipality of Safiental in a north-south direction from the confluence of the Rabiusa in the Vorderrhein to the Safierberg at the transition to Splügen . It covers 151 km². Until the merger of the former municipality of Safien with Tenna in 2013, the Safien valley ended in the north at the Aclatobel or at the southern end of the long impassable Versamer gorge of the Rabiusa, which was already known as vallis Versamia in 1015 .

history

Originally the valley was mainly used for alpine farming by Romanen, which is evident in many old field names. However, individual finds were made in the area as far back as the Bronze Age, which is not surprising in view of the Bronze Age fortified settlement Crestaulta in the Val Lumnezia between Surin and Vrin.

The actual Safien valley was first mentioned under the name Stosavia in 1314 as an episcopal fief of the barons of Vaz . At that time, these promoted the settlement of German-speaking Walser in several of their sparsely populated properties . These were organized here in four farmers ( neighborhoods ), from south to north: Malönnia (today Thalkirch), Camana (still like this today), Zalön (today Safien-Platz and Alpine settlement) and Gün mit Salpänna (today Neukirch).

The manorial rule without Tenna belonged to the Cazis Monastery , which can be reached via the Glaspass and which was also responsible for pastoral care until the Reformation, such as the new building of the older church in Safien-Platz in 1510. Tenna, on the other hand, was originally an alp in the village of Valendas in the rulership of Rhäzün, which was accessible via the Tenner Chrüz .

When the Walsers immigrated from Upper Valais to Graubünden from the end of the 12th century, they also increasingly settled the Safien Valley up to Versam. 1338 bailiwick came over the Safiental to the Counts of Werdenberg-Sargans 1383, the barons of Rhäzüns , 1443 back to the Werdenberg-Sargans and for a greater freedom of the valley people guaranteeing screen letter from 1450 in 1493 to Count Gian Giacomo Trivulzio from Milan. In 1523, relatively early in the Swiss comparison, the Reformation began in the Safien Valley with the increased replacement of the ecclesiastical rulership, especially of the Cazis monastery. But it was not until 1696 that the valley people of the four burdens of Safien (without Tenna) could replace the last external sovereign rights.

The different orientation of the four burdens in the south and from Tenna was also reflected until the fall of the Old Confederation in the fact that the former belonged to the joint high court with Heinzenberg and Thusis in the east , while Tenna, as part of the rule of Rhäzüns, belonged to the Gruob high court in the north.

Today's settlement and economy

In the last two centuries, the valley has suffered mainly from the loss of population due to emigration. In 1850 a total of 1798 people lived in the four municipalities, in 1980 only 994. This development has now stopped and the population is over 1000 people.

Today the valley lives mainly from mountain agriculture, water interest, tourism and support payments from the federal government, the canton and sponsored communities. A widely ramified road and electricity network, numerous water supplies and wastewater treatment plants have to be maintained.

On January 1, 2013, the previously independent municipalities of Safien , Tenna and Versam , as well as Valendas outside the Safiental, merged to form the new municipality of Safiental .

geography

The Safien Valley includes the area of ​​the municipalities of Safien, Tenna and Versam, which were independent until the end of 2012, as well as the southwestern part of the municipality of Bonaduz (hamlets Scardanal and Alp Sut).

In the rear Safiental near Thalkirch there is the compensation basin Wanna , which belongs to the catchment area of Kraftwerke Zervreila AG and is connected to the Zervreila lake in the Valser valley by a transfer tunnel . This usable water then reaches the lower-lying compensation basin at Safien-Platz and is then transferred to the Rothenbrunnen headquarters , where electricity is generated. The Rabiusa and Carnusa rivers belonging to the catchment area and the Egschi reservoir were also integrated into the group of works. After processing in Rothenbrunnen, the usable water is fed to the Hinterrhein .

nature

Many meadows in the Safiental could not be cultivated intensively due to their altitude. Thanks to subsidies, these have been preserved and untouched to this day. Flowers such as the globe flower , anemones , various orchids and gentians grow on the Fettwiesen .

  • Middle valley, north facing

  • Safien Square

  • Hinteres Safiental, view from the ascent to Safierberg

Personalities

  • Friedrich Schaltegger (1851–1936), later Thurgau canton archivist and librarian, was pastor in Safien from 1879–1888

literature

  • Hans Bandli, Leonhard Bandli: In the Safiental . Walservereinigung Graubünden, 2002, ISBN 978-3-9052-4124-2 .
  • Konrad Buchli: Stories from the Mountains. Memories of a Safier . Walser Association of Graubünden, 2005.
  • Mattli Hunger: Thinking and doctoring. Sòòfier Gschichtä vo äsiä and hüt . Walser Association of Graubünden, 2008, ISBN 978-3-909210-02-2 .
  • Mattli Hunger: place and field names of Safien and Tenna. 2013, ISBN 978-3-033-03744-1 .
  • Jürg Simonett: Safien. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Barbara Steinmann, Elisabeth Bardill, Maria Hunger-Fry: Safiental - Ruinaulta. From Safierberg to the Rhine Gorge . Terra Grischuna publishing house, Chur 2008, ISBN 978-3-7298-1152-2 .
  • Otto Wettstein: Anthropogeography of the Safiental. In: Annual reports of the Geographical-Ethnographic Society in Zurich, Volume 10 (1909–1910), pp. 1–112 ( digitized version ).

Movie

Most of the feature film The Hour of Living (UK / Switzerland, 2012) was shot in Safiental, with the Grossalp Piggamad in particular, but also Z'hinderst, Bodaälpli and Alperschällihorn with its glacier lake offering prominent locations.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Janine Hosp: A village wants to stay. Remote mountain valleys should be left to their own devices, calls for Hotelleriesuisse President Andreas Züllig. In Safiental, the residents are fighting to ensure that their homeland will still be alive in a hundred years - with some success. Tagesanzeiger, Tamedia Zurich, August 13, 2016, pp. 37–38
  2. ^ IMDb entry for The Hour of Living, accessed on February 21, 2013
  3. ^ Official website The Hour of Living Accessed February 21, 2013

Coordinates: 46 ° 42 '  N , 9 ° 19'  E ; CH1903:  744 225  /  173 450