Author: Maarten Koning

Wakker Prize, Birsstadt Association, Nature and Climate Awareness

The Swiss Heritage Association (Schweizer Heimatschutz) awarded the Wakkerpreis 2024 to the  (Verein) Birsstadt AssociationThe cooperation of the municipalities of Aesch, Arlesheim, Birsfelden, Duggingen, Grellingen, Muttenz, Münchenstein, Pfeffingen and Reinach (canton of Basel-Landschaft) and Dornach (canton of Solothurn) shows that challenges in agglomerations can be dealt with through municipal and cantonal cooperation.

The award ceremony on 22 June in Arlesheim by the President of the National Council, Eric Nussbaumer

De Schänzli in Muttenz

De Birs in de 18e eeuw. Foto J. Meyer, Staatsarchiv Basel-Landschaft

The last bridge before the Birs enters the Rhine

Development in the 19th and 20th centuries strongly influenced the landscape in the Birs Valley. Industrial, service and trading companies established themselves in the valley, once characterised by agriculture. Residential areas expanded, and cars and railways crisscrossed the Birs region.

Thus, the Birs Valley became an important part of the Basel agglomeration. After 2000, the municipalities decided to collaborate to manage this process. Pilot projects between different municipalities, such as the “Birspark Landschaft”, highlighted the potential for more cooperation. Landscape, settlement, mobility and climate adaptation strategies are negotiated, developed, realised and presented.

The Birs and the Nepomukbrücke in Dornach

De Birs near Birsfelden

Under the association’s umbrella, the industrial character is enhanced while maintaining residential quality, architectural heritage is cherished, and the natural environment is restored or adapted to suit the circumstances.

Mühlematt and Münchenstein

 

The Reinacher Heide and the Widenacker

Together with the Widenacker, the Reinacher Heide is a natural oasis on the Birs. Over 600 plant species and countless animal species live here. In the past, the area was characterised by flooding and alternating between wet and dry habitats.

The Forum Würth Arlesheim stands along the Birs, and the current exhibition Waldeslust can be seen ‘live’ in the Rheinacher Heide.

The village stream is part of the territory of the beaver family. Beavers build small dams in the stream. However, groundwater in this drinking water protection zone should not be polluted by stream flooding, and building is not allowed here anyway. However, the beaver is a protected animal.

This conflict can be countered by laying pipes along the stream to drain excess water. This way, the water level can be kept at a certain level, and at the same time, the beaver can continue to build dams.

Protecting trees is also part of this coexistence.

Swiss Ranger Yannick Bucher

After the Birs correction in the 19th century, the groundwater level sank several metres. A dry heathland, a wet floodplain landscape, and its trees on the Birs came into being. (The nearby Forum Würth Arlesheim currently shows the Waldlust exhibition).

Thanks to establishing the groundwater protection zone (1932) and the nature reserve (1974), the Widenacker and the Rheinacher Heide and its valuable flora and fauna developed in this constantly growing agglomeration.

Primeo Energie Cosmos

As everywhere in the country, great attention is being paid to the relationship between people, nature, and the climate at the local, regional, and national levels. Business and citizens’ initiatives also play an essential role along the Birs.

For example, the company Primeo Energie has created the Primeo Energie Kosmos, an experience and science centre for climate and energy.

Conclusion

The Wakker Prize awardWakker Prize award particularly emphasises the concept of coexistence between humans and nature. The Reinacherheide demonstrates the coexistence of animals, the beaver, and humans at the micro level.

The Primeo Energie Kosmos project along the Birs is one of many examples of the commitment and active participation of citizens and companies.

The Birs, the beaver, the wolf, the Rhone, the Rhine, (rock) avalanches, rockfalls, earthquakes, the coming and going of the seas, glaciers and climate change are nothing new on this planet.

Humankind, however, is a latecomer who has gained the upper hand, especially since 1800, with a twenty-fold increase in population, gigantic settlement areas and the colonisation and use of uninhabited regions until 200 years ago.

Nature is doing what it has always done, and flora and fauna are adapting, which is called evolution, starting with viruses, bacteria and microbes. Switzerland may also have to return valleys and riverbeds to nature, just as polders in the Netherlands (have to) become wetlands again.

(Source and further information: Schweizer Heimatschutz)

A Town, Village or Flecken, the history of Stans

Is Stans, a main town (Hauptort) of Canton Nidwalden, a village, ‘Flecken‘ or a city after all? Like the other ‘Hauptorte’ of cantons in the Urschweiz (and both Appenzeller), Stans has the appearance of a town. Monumental buildings, colossal churches, large monastery complexes and other (public) buildings dominate the street scene.

St Peter and Paul (1647) is an early Baroque church with a Romanesque bell tower (12th century) on the square.

This question is as complicated as the genesis of the cantons of Obwalden, Nidwalden, also called Unterwalden, in the Middle Ages. In any case, the name Unterwalden was first found in documents. King Rudolf of Habsburg (1218-1291) acquired this area from the monasteries of Murbach, Engelberg and Beromünster in 1291.

The Beinhaus next to the St Peter and Paul

Two Orte developed in Unterwalden after 1330 and the formation of the first Eidgenossenschaft: Obwalden with Sarnen as its main town and Nidwalden with Stans as its regional centre.

For a long time, Obwalden and Nidwalden shared the vote (Obwalden had two-thirds, and Nidwalden one-third)  in the Diet (Tagsatzung), and later, they had one rotating vote until 1798. The growing identity and interests of both cantons sometimes caused disagreements.

Stans in the 17th century. Anonymous painting in the church of St Clara monastery

In the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803), the canton of Unterwalden made a short-lived reappearance. Stans was the capital. From 1803 until 1999, the semi-cantons Obwalden and Nidwalden had each one vote in the Senate (Ständerat (as well as the two Basler and the two Appenzeller cantons).

Since the 1999 constitutional amendment (effective 1 January 2000), the semi-cantons have been formally cantons, but they still have one vote in the Ständerat.

But why is Stans not formally a town, while, say, Fürstenau (canton of Graubünden) is a city? Stans did have other relevant privileges of a city, such as Marktrecht and jurisdiction.

However, Stans did not have a city wall in the Middle Ages, and therefore, by medieval law, it was not a city. Because of other privileges, it is not a village but a so-called ‘Flecken’.

This legal hair-splitting does not diminish the importance of these ‘Flecken’ and Hauptort Nidwalden (and Obwalden) in the development of the Eidgenossenschaft, starting, of course, with 1291 (Rütli), 1309 (independent jurisdiction) and 1315 (the battle of Morgarten and renewal of the alliance of the three Orte).

Monumental (religious) buildings and crucial treaties give Stans the allure of a capital. The Stanser Verkommnis of 22 December 1481 was another milestone in developing the Eidgenossenschaft.

The Winkelried monument, the baroque town palaces, the Rathaus, the Rosenburg(13th century), the old and new Zeughaus, the Winkelriedhaus (15th century, the (former) Capuchin monastery (1583), and the (former) women’s convent St Klara (1618) complement the urban impression of this ‘Flecken’.

The former Capuchin monastery (Culinarium Alpinum)

(Source and further information: Gemeinde Stans)

The former St. Klara Monastery and Church

Relics

Saint Prostor (above) and in shrouds in an alternate projection!

Painting 17th century (anonymous) in a reception room, on the left the French king, on the right (probably) the soldiers Ursus, Victor and Mauritius; in the middle saints and other religious personalities

Reception room

The Rosenburg/Höfli (13th century)

Baroque city palaces, their interiors and gardens

The town hall on the left

Impressions of Stans

Winkelriedmonument

The Winkelriedhaus (Nidwalder Museum)

The old armory (das alte Zeughaus)

The new armory (das neue Zeughaus)

  

Art Nouveau building, a. 1905

Seat of the Government of the canton 

No birthday without a cake in Zoo Basel

Basel Zoo celebrated its 150th anniversary on 3 July. Switzerland’s first zoological garden opened in Basel on 3 July 1874. Basel Zoo—also known as Zolli—was founded by the Basel Ornithological Society to awaken and promote the interest of Basel’s urban population in nature and the local animal world.

When it opened, it focused on native animals such as ibex, chamois, wild boar, and birds. The animals in the predator house, such as the wolf, lynx, badger, fox, and marten, and the bear kennel and the pool with otters and beavers, were a particular attraction. Individual representatives of an animal species were presented side by side in small cages.

Today, the zoo’s themed enclosures bring people and animals closer together, protect endangered species and promote biodiversity.

On 3 July, the zoo opened its doors to the public with various activities. But the zoo had even more to celebrate. On 11 March 2024, a male pygmy hippopotamus was born at the zoo. The mother is Ashaki (19 years), and the father is Napoleon (17 years).

Mother Saada with an offspring

Four cheetahs were also born on 19 May 2024. The cubs, two males and two females, spent their first weeks hidden in the barn. Now, they can be seen with their mother, Saada (3 years), in the outdoor enclosure. This birth is the first litter for Saada and the father, Drogo (4 years).

Photo: Guido Wasser, Basel

Photo: Guido Wasser, Basel

There is no birthday without a cake, in this case financed by sponsors. A large birthday cake was presented on 3 July. This beautiful animal farm presented the zoo animals and the cycle of life in nature. The zoo is not immune to this either.

Photo: Guido Wasser, Basel

After speeches by zoo director Olivier Pagan, the President of the Government Council Conradin Cramer, and the President of the Zoo’s Board of Directors Martin Lenz, the many attendees sang Happy Birthday to the Zoo, the four baby cheetahs, and the pygmy hippopotamus. Then, the circle of life took its course.

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

Impressions of Zoo Basel