UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Switzerland

UNESCO's Description

The Convent of St Gall, a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery, was, from the 8th century to its secularization in 1805, one of the most important in Europe. Its library is one of the richest and oldest in the world and contains precious manuscripts such as the earliest-known architectural plan drawn on parchment. From 1755 to 1768, the conventual area was rebuilt in Baroque style. The cathedral and the library are the main features of this remarkable architectural complex, reflecting 12 centuries of continuous activity.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

Around 612 Gallus, according to tradition, an Irish monk and disciple and companion of Saint Columbanus, established a hermitage on the site that would become the monastery. He lived in his cell until his death in 646, and was buried there in Arbon (Canton of Thurgau). Afterwards, the people venerated him as a saint and prayed at his tomb for his intercession in times of danger.

Following Gallus' death, his disciples remained living together in his cell and followed the rule of St. Columban, which combined prayer, work of the hands, reading, and teaching. They aided and taught virtue to the many pilgrims who came to St. Gall's tomb. St. Magnus was the first successor of St. Gallen, but he soon left on a mission to Allgäu, Swabia.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q155699 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

Founded in the 12th century on a hill site surrounded by the Aare River, Berne developed over the centuries in line with a an exceptionally coherent planning concept. The buildings in the Old City, dating from a variety of periods, include 15th-century arcades and 16th-century fountains. Most of the medieval town was restored in the 18th century but it has retained its original character.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The earliest settlements in the valley of the Aare date back to the Neolithic period. During the second century BC, the valley was settled by the Helvetii. Following the Roman conquest of Helvetia, a small Roman settlement was established near the Old City. This settlement was abandoned during the second century AD. From that time until the founding of Bern the area remained sparsely settled.

The history of the city of Bern proper begins with its founding by Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen in 1191. Local legend has it that the duke vowed to name the city after the first animal he met on the hunt, which turned out to be a bear. Both the name of the city (Bern can stand for Bär(e) n, bears) and its heraldic beast, come from this legend.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q687973 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

The Convent of Müstair, which stands in a valley in the Grisons, is a good example of Christian monastic renovation during the Carolingian period. It has Switzerland's greatest series of figurative murals, painted c. A.D. 800, along with Romanesque frescoes and stuccoes.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The Carolingian Renaissance is deeply in debt to the success of Charlemagne as a king and patron, and the driving force behind what we see in St John Abbey. Throughout history, art, education and leisure have all only truly thrived in times of peace, although war is often the most important factor for technological change. In the early Middle Ages the constant conflicts between the Frankish Kingdoms hindered the artistic progress previously enjoyed by the Romans when their empire was at its height. Under Charlemagne's prosperous kingship, the introduction of a new peacetime monastic order began, paving the way for the frescos and architecture seen at Saint John Abbey.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q757067 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

The Bellinzona site consists of a group of fortifications grouped around the castle of Castelgrande, which stands on a rocky peak looking out over the entire Ticino valley. Running from the castle, a series of fortified walls protect the ancient town and block the passage through the valley. A second castle (Montebello) forms an integral part of the fortifications, while a third but separate castle (Sasso Corbaro) was built on an isolated rocky promontory south-east of the other fortifications.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

Bellinzona has always occupied an important geographic location in the Swiss Alps. It is situated a few kilometres south of Arbedo, where the Ticino and Moesa meet. Several key Alpine pass routes, connecting northern to southern Europe, including the Nufenen, St. Gotthard, Lukmanier and San Bernardino, all converge in the area around Bellinzona making it a key trading center.

While the region has been occupied since the early Neolithic age it was not until the late 1st century BC that a fort was built on the massive gneiss outcropping known as Castelgrande during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. While the fort fell into disrepair in the following centuries, it was rebuilt and greatly expanded in the 4th century AD.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q510279 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

The extension of the natural World Heritage property of Jungfrau - Aletsch - Bietschhorn (first inscribed in 2001), expands the site to the east and west, bringing its surface area up to 82,400 ha., up from 53,900. The site provides an outstanding example of the formation of the High Alps, including the most glaciated part of the mountain range and the largest glacier in Eurasia. It features a wide diversity of ecosystems, including successional stages due particularly to the retreat of glaciers resulting from climate change. The site is of outstanding universal value both for its beauty and for the wealth of information it contains about the formation of mountains and glaciers, as well as ongoing climate change. It is also invaluable in terms of the ecological and biological processes it illustrates, notably through plan succession. Its impressive landscape has played an important role in European art, literature, mountaineering and alpine tourism.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Geography and climate

The Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area is located in the Swiss Alps between the Bernese Oberland and north-eastern Valais, about 25 km south of Interlaken and 20 km north of Brig. The site covers the whole Aar massif from the Oeschinensee in the west to the Grimselsee (not comprised) in the east, including the basins of the Aletsch, Fiescher, Aar and Grindelwald glaciers.

The culminating point is the Finsteraarhorn which, with its 4,270 metres, is also the highest mountain in the Bernese Alps. 8 other summits above 4,000 metres are located in the area: Aletschhorn, Jungfrau, Mönch, Schreckhorn, Gross Fiescherhorn, Hinter Fiescherhorn, Grünhorn and Lauteraarhorn.

The summit ridge separating the cantons of Valais and Bern is the main watershed of Europe.

Tourism

The regions of the Bernese Oberland and Valais have been popular tourist destinations since the 19th century. The Jungfrau was first climbed in 1811 and the Finsteraarhorn in 1812. The first tourists came mostly in summer, but in the 1930s winter sports became also popular. On the north side visitors are only able to visit the site via the Jungfrau railway which leads to the Jungfraujoch. The railway has turned the site from an inaccessible mountain face to a very accessible site visited by large nearby populations. The Jungfrau railway was built between 1870 and 1912, taking visitors from Kleine Scheidegg (2,061 m) to Jungfraujoch (3,454 m), the saddle between the Mönch and Jungfrau. On the south side the area of Riederalp-Bettmeralp hosts most of the visitors.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q616912 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

The pyramid-shaped, wooded mountain of Monte San Giorgio beside Lake Lugano is regarded as the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic Period (245–230 million years ago). The sequence records life in a tropical lagoon environment, sheltered and partially separated from the open sea by an offshore reef. Diverse marine life flourished within this lagoon, including reptiles, fish, bivalves, ammonites, echinoderms and crustaceans. Because the lagoon was near land, the remains also include land-based fossils of reptiles, insects and plants, resulting in an extremely rich source of fossils.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Geology

The geological layers of Monte San Giorgio span more than 100 million years, from the Permian to Jurassic periods. The rocks forming the mountain dip southwards, with older rocks exposed as one travels north and younger rocks exposed as one travels south. The oldest rocks are Permian volcanic basement material on the mountain's steep north slope. These are followed by Triassic sediments and carbonates at higher elevations on the mountain. Middle Triassic layers are the most fossiliferous and extraordinary from a global perspective, and are encompassed by the protected area north of Meride. South of Meride, they are replaced by Late Triassic coastal sediments which give way to Early Jurassic limestone overlooking the Po Plain.

History and cultural heritage

Humans have inhabited Monte San Giorgio at least since the area's equivalent of the Neolithic Period, around 6,000 years ago. The south side of the mountain is home to Tremona-Castello Archaeological Park, a fortress and settlement which was continuously inhabited by artisans from the Neolithic up until the 14th century. Artifacts, architecture, and other evidence of Roman and medieval activity are abundant on and around the mountain. Productive limestone quarries were active during this period and beyond in Italy (Viggiù and Saltrio) and Switzerland (Arzo).

The mountain's fossil fuel deposits were exploited more recently.

UNESCO's Description

The Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, stretching for about 30 km along the south-facing northern shores of Lake Geneva from the Chateau de Chillon to the eastern outskirts of Lausanne in the Vaud region, cover the lower slopes of the mountainside between the villages and the lake. Although there is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the present vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area. It is an outstanding example of a centuries-long interaction between people and their environment, developed to optimize local resources so as to produce a highly valued wine that has always been important to the economy.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Description

Lavaux is a region of terraced vineyards in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, stretching for around 30 km (19 mi) along the northern shore of Lake Geneva. Since July 2007, it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the formal name Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces.

Since 2016, the vineyards of Lavaux are no longer treated with synthetic pesticides.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q688060 (CC0).

Visiting Lavaux

Lavaux is internationally famous as a terraced wine-growing region on the shores of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) in western Switzerland. It covers the territory roughly from Lausanne to Montreux, extending to an altitude of roughly 500 meters above lake level and including 6 lake shore villages and the city of Vevey.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Lavaux (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UNESCO's Description

The Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona in the north-eastern part of the country covers a mountainous area of 32,850 ha which features seven peaks that rise above 3,000 m. The area displays an exceptional example of mountain building through continental collision and features . excellent geological sections through tectonic thrust, i.e. the process whereby older, deeper rocks are carried onto younger, shallower rocks. The site is distinguished by the clear three-dimensional exposure of the structures and processes that characterize this phenomenon and has been a key site for the geological sciences since the 18 th century. The Glarus Alps are glaciated mountains rising dramatically above narrow river valleys and are the site of the largest post-glacial landslide in the Central Alpine region.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The first naturalist to examine the Glarus thrust was Hans Conrad Escher von der Linth (1767–1823). Escher von der Linth discovered that, contradictory to Steno's law of superposition, older rocks are on top of younger ones in certain outcrops in Glarus. His son Arnold Escher von der Linth (1807–1872), the first professor in geology at the ETH at Zürich, mapped the structure in more detail and concluded that it could be a huge thrust. At the time, most geologists still accepted the theory of geosynclines, which states that mountains are formed by vertical movements within the Earth's crust. Escher von der Linth had therefore difficulty with explaining the size of the thrust fault.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q312118 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes, brings together two historic railway lines that cross the Swiss Alps through two passes. Opened in 1904, the Albula line in the north western part of the property is 67 km long. It features an impressive set of structures including 42 tunnels and covered galleries and 144 viaducts and bridges. The 61 km Bernina pass line features 13 tunnels and galleries and 52 viaducts and bridges. The property is exemplary of the use of the railway to overcome the isolation of settlements in the Central Alps early in the 20th century, with a major and lasting socio-economic impact on life in the mountains. It constitutes an outstanding technical, architectural and environmental ensemble and embodies architectural and civil engineering achievements, in harmony with the landscapes through which they pass.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q2962401 (CC0).