Author: Maarten Koning

Palace in the Air

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first flight between St. Moritz (Canton Grisons) and London. One of the initiators in 1920 was Hans Badrutt (1876-1953), owner of the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz.

The St. Moritz lake (St. Moritzersee), right in front of the hotel, was also the location of the first flights by airplane in Switzerland in 1910.

The first Swiss airlines were founded shortly after the First World War, one of them, Ad Astra, was owned by Alfred Comte (1895-1965).

Comte flew more than 230 flights in the skies of Grisons in the winters of 1919 and 1920. Winter tourism was booming, again, and British aristocrats, captains of industry and artists formed the most significant group of tourists.

The direct flight from St. Moritz to London and back with an estimated travel time of nine hours was the next logical step

It was made possible by the new international aviation agreement between France, Great Britain and Switzerland, signed shortly after the war.

The first flight with Comte as pilot took place on March 4th, 1920, with a Condor CH-2. The Badrutt’s Palace hotel celebrates this centennial anniversary and organises the ‘Palace in the Air’ line between St. Moritz and London.

The first flight from London landed after less than two hours on Friday, February 14th, 2020, not on the St. Moritz lake anymore, but on the nearby Airport of Samedan, and left St. Moritz again the same day.

On 22 and 23 February, there will be two more flights London-St.Moritz and back.    

The Swiss Railway Company

Basel had the first Railway in Switzerland. Trains ran via Saint-Louis to Strasbourg in 1845 and to Paris in 1852. The “Spanisch-Bröstli-Bahn” between Baden and Zurich functions since 1847 .

In 1850, the country had only 25 kilometers of railways and only three stations in Basel, Baden, and Zurich. Europe had more than 20 000 kilometers and more than 700 stations.

The sovereign cantons were unable and unwilling to develop the network until 1848.

The new Confederation and the visionair Alfred Escher  (1819-1882) made it possible.  Around 1860 there were 650 kilometres of railways, 1 300 kilometres in 1864 and 2 730 kilometres in 1870, mainly in the north of the country.

The Alpine region was different. The Gotthard was the first breakthrough. The Gotthardgesellschaft was founded in 1871, Alfred Escher was the president.

The tunnel was ready in 1882 and in 1902 the Swiss Railway Company (SBB, CFF, FFS) was founded. The arduous feat of the Gotthard Tunnel was repeated in 2016.

The Field Barns of Baselbiet

Field barns are witnesses of the ancient agricultural culture in the rural area of Baselbiet (Canton of Basel-Landschaft).

Most of the field barns are in decline because they have lost their use.

Hay sheds and small barns for cattle were built in large numbers in the 18th century to provide shelter for hay, cattle and people.

Since the 1950s, motorisation and rationalisation made these buildings redundant. Around 280 field barns and hay sheds were built in the 17th and 19th century.

The association Baselbieter Feldscheunen (Baselbieter Field barns) was founded in 2010. The goal is to draw attention to the cultural heritage of the barns.

(Source and further information: www.feldscheunen.ch).