Susten VS

Coordinates: 46 ° 19 '  N , 7 ° 38'  E ; CH1903:  615557  /  128853 Susten ( Valais German : Suschtu ; French: La Souste ) is a parish of the deanery Leuk and a town in the municipality of Leuk in the same district in the German-speaking part of the Swiss canton of Valais .

geography

The village of Susten is located on the left side of the Rhone on the eastern part of a large cone of rubble that was created after the last Ice Age by countless debris flows from the Illgraben torrent . The river bed of the Rhone runs in this region directly on the northern flank of the Rhone valley.

The place itself is bordered to the west by the Illgraben, to the north by the Rotten and to the east and south by a distinctive meadow and hedge landscape. The area outside the actual village is known as Leukergrund. The hamlets of Feithieren, Gampinen, Pletschen and Briannen, which is already adjacent to Agarn , are still located there. Connected by roads, practically all settlements have grown together today.

history

The area has always belonged to the influential Leuk citizenry . Located on what was then the country road, as Suste it was an important warehouse transshipment point and an important source of income for the town of Leuk during the Middle Ages . No buildings have survived from this period. The oldest buildings today include parts of the St. Josef retirement home , the former castle of the von Werra family, the former Hotel Susten and the so-called Alte Suste .

The village, formerly known as "Leuker Suste", comprised around eighty households in 1910. In the 60s and 70s there was brisk construction activity as more and more families from the surrounding mountain villages moved into the valley floor. Today Susten, together with the Leukergrund, has more than 2500 inhabitants, making it the most populous place in the Leuk district .

Ecclesiastically, Susten and Leukergrund belonged to the parish of Leuk, which formerly included the whole of Zenden Leuk. As early as 1910, the desire for a rectorate and its own chapel was expressed. In 1934, Bishop Viktor Bieler gave consent to the establishment of a rectorate and proposed the construction of a church. The barn next to the school house was converted into a chapel in 1935 and in 1936 the rector of the parish of Leuk took up residence in Susten. The procurement of the necessary funds for the church building dragged on because of the economic situation and because of the Second World War . The church was finally built in 1949. Bishop Nestor Adam inaugurated the church in 1954 and in 1962 elevated the previous rectorate to the parish of Susten-Leukergrund.