Simmental
The Simmental ( Freiburger Patois ) is a valley in the western Bernese Oberland in the canton of Bern in Switzerland .
location
The Simmental extends from Lenk to Boltigen approximately in a south-north direction ( Obersimmental ), and from there to the valley exit at Wimmis near Spiez, it adopts a west-east orientation ( Niedersimmental ). It includes the communities of Lenk, St. Stephan , Zweisimmen , Boltigen, Oberwil , Därstetten , Erlenbach , Diemtigen and Wimmis. The Simme flows through the valley .
A side valley of the Simmental is the Diemtigtal .
Origin of name
The name comes from septem valles ('Seven Valleys'), which is documented as early as 1175. The name Siebnethal was still an official language until 1694, and Siebent (h) al was still used in the early 19th century.
The Simmental cattle breed was named after the Simmental .
history
The Simmental was already crossed in prehistoric times as a transit area from the Aare valley over the Kaltwasserpass , the Rawilpass or the Schnidejoch into the Valais, which is proven by Bronze Age and Roman finds.
In the Middle Ages it was first part of the High Burgundian Kingdom with the Wimmis and Matten farms, which were mentioned in 994. There were also imperial fiefdoms in the Obersimmental. Local or neighboring gentlemen such as Freiherr von Strättligen, Weissenburg, Raron, Brandis and the Counts of Gruyères ruled on site. About 20 castle ruins are evidence of their fortifications and administrative buildings. Medieval churches were the centers of large parishes. From 1300 the valley was divided into the two associations Obersimmental and Niedersimmental with their own land law and Landesvenner. At the end of the 14th century, the city of Bern acquired the Simmental from local aristocrats and Bernburgers, and from 1386 and 1449 it was divided into the Obersimmental and Niedersimmental castles.
The Lower Simmental joined the Reformation as early as 1527, the Upper Simmental with resistance in 1528. Around the same time, thanks to secure grain markets, the farmers switched to cattle farming in the valley, Maiensäss and Sommeralp. After that, beef cattle were exported to Italy via the passes, and after 1600 Erlenbach horses were also sold. Traders visited the markets in Lenk and Boltigen and from 1644 also in Erlenbach and Zweisimmen. In the 19th century, the focus was on cattle breeding, the Simmental Red Schecken or Fleckvieh, which were suitable as both dairy and meat breeds. From 1798 to 1803 the Simmental belonged to the Helvetian canton of Oberland, while Niedersimmental and Obersimmental each formed a district. This division was also adopted in 1803, when the Bernese Oberämter of the same name were set up with the main towns of Wimmis and Zweisimmen. It was not until the unpopular district reform in 2010 that these administrative centers had to be closed and given to Saanen and Frutigen , which are located outside the Simmental.
Spa tourism began in the 17th century with the baths in Weissenburg, Lenk, Rotbad and Grimmialp. It became an important branch of business and a forerunner of modern tourism, which only experienced its breakthrough after the expansion of roads and railways. The Simmentalstrasse was widened and expanded from 1815 to 1828, the Saanenstrasse in 1835 and the road over the Jaunpass from 1874 to 1878. The Spiez-Erlenbach Railway was opened in 1897, the Erlenbach-Zweisimmen Railway in 1902 and the Montreux-Oberland Bernois Railway, which ran through Saanenland to Zweisimmen, in 1905. The connection to the national motorway network has existed in Wimmis since 1971. The project of a high-speed car road through the Simmental and a Rawil tunnel into Valais failed around 1980 due to popular resistance. Since the 1960s, municipalities and private entrepreneurs have been investing in the construction of mountain railways, ski slopes, hiking trails, hotels and holiday apartments.
tourism
Various places play an important role, especially in winter tourism in the Bernese Oberland , such as B. Lenk or Zweisimmen. From Zweisimmen you can get to Gstaad and Château-d'Oex . Further crossings are the Jaunpass , over which you can get from Boltigen to Bulle in the canton of Friborg , and the Hahnenmoos , which connects the Lenk with Adelboden .
View over the upper Simmental to the south
Farmhouse near Erlenbach
literature
- David Andrist et al. a .: The Simmental in the Stone Age. 1964.
- Bärner Visite - A la rencontre des districts. 1991.
- Armin Bratschi, Rudolf Trüb a . a .: Simmental vocabulary. Dictionary of the dialect of the Simmental (Bernese Oberland). With a grammatical introduction and registers. Edited by the Swiss German Association. Ott, Thun 1991.
- The last cheese carrier from the Talberg. Story from the Simmental. Blaukreuz, Bern 1987. ISBN 978-3-85580-197-8 .
- Anne-Marie Dubler : Simmental. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Collection of Swiss Legal Sources , Section II: The Legal Sources of the Canton of Bern, Part Two: Rights of the Landscape, Volume 1: The statutory law of the Simmental until 1798 , edited and edited by Ludwig Samuel von Tscharner, 1st half-volume: Das Obersimmental. Sauerländer, Aarau 1912 ( online ), 2nd half volume: The Lower Simmental. Sauerländer, Aarau 1914 ( online ).
- Simmentaler Heimatbuch. 1938.
- Ernst Zbären: Simmental and Diemtigtal. 2009.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Simmental. In: Julius Studer: Swiss place names: a historical-etymological attempt. F. Schulthess, Zurich 1896, p. 234 ( Google eBook, limited preview of a new edition 2015 ).
- ↑ z. B .: K. Kasthofer: Hike to the Siebenthal. Alpenrosen, a Swiss almanac from 1813.
- ^ Anne-Marie Dubler : Simmental. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Coordinates: 46 ° 33 ' N , 7 ° 22' E ; CH1903: 594.48 thousand / 155 415