Maarten Koning – Page 28 – The Swiss Spectator

No mountain or tower is too high in Switzerland

Der Weisse Turm (White Tower) of Mulegns (canton Graubünden) is breaking all kinds of records. It will be the world’s tallest digitally printed (3D) building (but no Tower of Babylon in the multilingual canton), a unique prototype and an important milestone for global digital transformation.

The White Tower is an architectural icon, installation space and (music) theatre all in one. The tower mediates between the old structure of a tower and the new design language.

The building consists of six floors, which become lighter with height and have different atmospheres. In winter, a translucent membrane protects the tower from wind and snow.

Graubünden has an old storytelling culture. To pass the long winter nights, fairy tales, legends, and stories were told in the villages. The farm salon became a place for storytelling, fables, poetry, and music.

The stories were not written down but passed on orally, changed and embellished. The White Tower continues this storytelling tradition and is a (music) theatre. The round dome hall is the venue for (musical) performances, theatre ballet and other shows. The tower will be completed in 2024.

(Source and more information: Fundaziun Origin, Riom)

Erasmus and Basel

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) spent ten years in Basel in four periods (1514-1516, 1521-1529, 1535-1536). Like many of his contemporaries, the humanist and scholar travelled throughout Europe. The elite of artists, scholars, students, traders, monks and spiritual and secular (aristocratic) rulers was much more European in the Middle Ages than nowadays.

Holbein took care of the artistic design of the publications of Froben’s publishing of Johann Froben (1460-1527) house and Erasmus’ works. His son Hieronymus Froben (1501-1563) took over the printing/publishing business in 1527.

Collection: Historisches Museum Basel

Latin was the lingua franca. They read the same books, listened to the same music, had the same cultural background, and shared the same (university) education. In short, they spoke the same language, which did not detract from the many (religious, economic, political or dynastic) differences, (belligerent) strifes and disagreements. The rise of the nation-state in the nineteenth century changed this attitude and mentality.

Erasmus felt at home in an environment of learning, humanism and (relative) tolerance. Basel was the European centre of humanism and the capital of publishing and printing in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Basel 2022, Rhine, the cathedral (das Münster) and the ancient building and garden of the university (1460)

The Swiss Museum for Paper, Writing, and Printing (The Basler Papiermühle) in St. Alban in Basel is a cultural heritage from the industry’s heydays.

Many of Erasmus’ works were written, printed and published in Basel. His famous Greek translation of the New Testament was, for example, written and published in Basel and published by his friend Johann Froben.

From 1525 to 1529, Basel adopted the Protestant faith. Erasmus left for Freiburg (Baden) but returned in 1535. He died on 11 July 1536 and was buried in the Basler cathedral near his last residence, Haus zum Lufft, in the Bäumleingasse.

Basel, the cathedral

The Münsterplatz

The well-kept Christian Heritage of Switzerland

Even Switzerland, with its many (dissolved or still-functioning) monasteries and monumental (Reformed and Catholic) churches, will not formally be a Christian country in the foreseeable future. In the foreseeable future, most of its citizens will be ‘without religion’.

However, in terms of symbolism, a country cannot be more Christian than Switzerland. The Swiss cross in the national flag, the red cross of the International Red Cross, the arms of various cantons (among others, the bishop’s staff of the cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt and Jura, the keys of St Peter of Obwalden and Nidwalden or Saint Fridolin of Glarus), the national anthem is a psalm and the Constitution begins with the words ‘In the name of the Almighty God’.

Interior of the St. Peter Church in Gelterkinden

Although the Christian religion is rapidly declining in importance, the social, humanitarian and humanistic function of churches at the local level will hopefully not be lost. At least the cultural heritage of Christianity is respected and maintained in Switzerland.

Not only does the country have the oldest dioceses north of the Alps (Chur, Kaiseraugst/Augst (Augusta Raurica)–Basel, Martigny-Sitten, Avenches-Lausanne and Geneva), it also maintains the Frankish, Carolingian, Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical heritage, not to mention some startling 20th-century churches.

The St. Gallus Church in Kaiseraugst

As is well known, Christianity developed within the administrative, logistical, cultural, and political structures of the Roman Empire. The bishopric in Augusta Raurica is one example. The bishop’s palace and church were among the first in Switzerland until the 6th century when he moved to the Münster in Basel.

Kaiseraugst lies on the Rhine, and one of its smaller water suppliers is the stream Ergolz, which flows into the Rhine at Augst. Upstream to its source on the Geissflue in the Jura are various monumental (Catholic and Reformed) churches.

The region was inhabited in Roman times by the Celtic tribe of the Rauraken. The emigration of the German-speaking pagan Alemanni after the departure of the Romans in the fifth century did not mark the end of the Christian world of the Romanised Celts (Gallo-Romans). The Christian Franks defeated the Alemanni. They continued Christianity in this region, and the building of churches began.

Oltingen, St. Nikolaus Church

The towns and villages of Liestal, Sissach, Ormalingen, Otlingen and nearby Arisdorf and Gelterkinden host some sites of Switzerland’s remarkable Christian heritage upstream of the 30-kilometre Ergolz.

Impressions

Oltingen, Kirche St. Nikolaus