newsletter-item-fr-de – The Swiss Spectator

Porrentruy, the Bishop and the canton of Jura

Porrentruy (Pruntrut in German, canton of Jura) was the seat of the bishop of Basel for a long time after he left his episcopal palace at the Münster in Basel during the Reformation in 1529. The large episcopal complex on the hill still bears witness to this period. The canton’s coat of arms still shows the bishop’s red staff.

The bishop was also a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, hence the official name prince-bishop. He resided in Porrentruy until the French invasion in 1792. The French revolutionaries annexed this area of the prince-bishopric and initially called it the Rauracian Republic (la République rauracienne) and, from 1793, départment Mont-Terrible.

After the French annexation of the remaining part of the prince-bishopric in 1797, the entire area became part of the départment of Haut-Rhin in 1800.

After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, the territory of the former prince-bishopric of Basel, including Porrentruy, was assigned to Canton Bern. Basel also acquired some smaller parts. Since 1979, Porrentruy has been part of the canton of Jura.

The bishop never returned to Porrentruy after 1792. The chapter had been residing in Catholic Arlesheim since 1678. The dom and city palaces still characterise this village. The seat of the bishop of Basel was moved to Solothurn in 1828. It is the complex Swiss (religious) history in a nutshell.

Eglise Saint-Pierre (1333)

The grandeur of the bishop’s presence is still visible in Porrentruy, including the Hôtel-Dieu and the glacière from the 18th century. The Glacerie is where the ice blocks were kept to cool the bishops’ drinks and food.

Hôtel-Dieu (1675), former hospital

The (medieval) streets, well-preserved centre, the ubiquitous presence of the watch industry (La Fondation Horlogère, among others), and its proximity to the beautiful Jura give this town a special allure.

For those interested in climate change, the city was situated on a subtropical sea some 20 million years ago. Even further back in time, about 150 million years ago, the Jura was a favourite habitat of Dinosaurs. About 20 thousand years ago, the region had a polar climate.

(Source: J.-C. Rebetez, D. Bregnard (Ed.), De la Crosse à la Croix. L’ancien Évêché de Bâle devient suisse (Congrès de Vienne-1815), Neuchâtel, 2002)

Rekonstruktion und Model of the castle, around 1650. Source: Château de Porrentruy

The Porte de France (14th century) is the only remaining one of the four medieval city gates.

One of the magnificent Renaissance fountains

Town Hall (Hôtel de Ville), 1764, and its wild pig

The Neighbourhood ‘Belle Epoque’. The city prospered when Alsace was annexed by the (second) German Reich in 1871. Trade and (watch) industry flourished

Hôtel des Halles (1766)

Hôtel de Gleresse (1750) and the archives of the former bishopric of Basel

Grand Rue

Ancien Collège des Jésuites (16th century)

Nearby the remains of the city wall

Protestant Church (Temple protestant)

Other impressions of Porrentruy

The City of Fribourg, its Bridges, Abbeys, Cathedral, Churches, Museums, Port and Nature

Fribourg or Freiburg, la Sarine or die Saane, French- or German-speaking, the city is (or was) loyal to the Catholic faith during and after the Reformation in the first half of the 16th century. However, the diversity of monastic orders and abbeys is (or was) all the more significant.

La Sarine or die Saane, the so-called Röstigraben

The Gothic cathedral, dedicated to St Nicholas, was completed in 1490 after a two-century construction period. The city also has an icon. Today, the city is the seat of the diocese of Lausanne, Geneva, Neuchâtel, and Fribourg.

The city was founded in 1157 by the German-speaking Duke Bertold IV of Zähringen (1125-1186) in the predominantly French-speaking area of the former kingdom of Burgundy (888-1032).

His successor founded the city of Bern in 1191. The counts of Kyburg acquired Zähringen in 1218. In 1277, the town came into the hands of the Habsburgs, who ruled until 1452.

The city became embroiled in the wars between Habsburg and the Duchy of Savoy and sided with Savoy from 1452 to 1477. However, Savoie was also an ally of the Duke of Burgundy.

After Duke Charles the Bold’s three defeats against the Swiss Eidgenossenschaft in 1476 (Grandson and Murten) and 1477 (Nancy), the city joined the Eidgenossenschaft in 1481 after having significantly expanded its territory at the expense of Savoie.

The Rote Turm

The city wall, 13th century

Despite the Reformation in Bern, the Catholic city of Fribourg allied with Bern and conquered and split Vaud in 1536. Fribourg acquired Gruyère in 1555, reaching its present size.

After 1530, the city was a bastion of the Counter-Reformation and Jesuit influence, culminating in the Sonderbund and its lost war in 1847.

The former Jesuit college Saint-Michel

The largest existing abbeys are Notre-Dame de la Maigrauge (a Cistercian monastery for women, founded in the 13th century, the Montorge Abbey (Franciscan monastery for monks, founded in 1621) the Abbey d’Hauterive (a Cistercian monastery for monks, founded in 1138), the Capuchin monastery (founded in 1617), the Franciscan-Minorites (or Couvent de Cordeliers, founded in 1256) and several smaller orders. The Jesuits and Augustinians have not been represented in the city since 1848 (after the lost Sonderbunds War). The Dominicans are still present, but mainly as an institution of theology.

An almost forgotten history is Freiburg’s port. In the old town lies an area that has been a storage and trading place for shipping for centuries. Numerous buildings highlight this past.

As with any larger city in Switzerland (Zurich is the largest, with 400,000 inhabitants; Fribourg has only 80,000), nature is always close. Cattle also enjoy the view of St Nicolas Cathedral every day. Where in the world is that (still) possible?

(Bron en verdere informatie: Ville de Fribourg)

La Sarine of die Saane

Power station Oelberg

The Dam near Notre-Dame de la Maigrauge

The former Augustiner Order and Kirche

The former Johanniter Order and garden (now a restaurant)

The cathedral and the Liebfrauen Kirche

In the background, the snow-covered summit of Le Chasseral (canton of Bern)

The Liebfrauenkirche

Monasteries

Franciscan Monastery

The Abbey of Montorge

The Abbey of Hauterive

Porte de la Maigrauge/Sonnenbergtor

The Abbey Notre-Dame de la Maigrauge

The Bridges

Pont du Gottéron

Pont de la Madeleine

The Viaduc de Grandfey , the railway Bern-Fribourg-Lausanne, 1862

Pont de la Poya

Pont de Zaehringen/Zähringenbrücke

Die St. Johannbrücke (le pont de Saint-Jean), die Mittlere Brücke (le pont du Milieu), and die Bernbrücke (le pont de Berne) are the three oldest bridges in the city (all dating back to the 13th century).

They were originally made of wood, but in the 18th century, the St. Johannbrücke/ pont de Saint-Jean and the Mittlere Brücke/pont du Milieu were rebuilt in stone. Only the Bernbrücke/ pont de Berne remained wooden for strategic reasons. In the event of attacks from the east, the people of Fribourg removed the bridge’s planks to keep the invaders on the other side of the Saane/Sarine.

Bernbrücke/ pont de Berne

Mittlere Brücke/pont du Milieu

St. Johannbrücke/ pont de Saint-Jean

Bourguillon Castle and the Lorette Chapel

The heraldy of Habsburg

The Lorette Chapel

The chapel St. Jost (1684), belonging to the monastery of Montorge

The old town and port

Impressions of the city

The funiculaire (1899)

The Museum of Art and History (Musée d’art et d’histoire)

The city hall (Hôtel de Ville). The Eternal Peace Treaty (la Paix perpétuelle) with France was signed in this building in 1516 after the defeat at Marignano (1515)

Espace Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle

The Surroundings

The ancient mill in Richterswil

Philosophy and an arbitration case in the Eigenthal at the foot of Pilatus

Nowadays, many doctors prescribe walks in nature instead of medication or recommend a hike. The beneficial effects may be even more significant if a hike begins unexpectedly in a philosophically designed environment. This is even more true if mythical mountains, waterfalls, streams, and wooded hills form the snowy landscape.

The Eigenthal Even mythical mountains are entitled to privacy and sometimes shroud themselves in clouds. The Pilatus chooses its days and moments.

Only a few restaurants welcome guests with a history of philosophy and celebrities from ancient times to the present. As we know, almost every village in Switzerland has cultural, historical, or natural peculiarities.

Schwarzenberg

However, coffee with gipfeli under the watchful eyes of Socrates, Copernicus, Churchill or the Pilatus is exceptional. On the outskirts of the village of Schwarzenberg (canton of Lucerne), however, a Hotel-Bildungszentrum complex links the pleasant with the useful.

The village along the Rümlig stream lies at an altitude of 831 metres in the Eigenthal at the foot of the Pilatus. Around 10,000 years ago, the temperature sharply rose, and the Rümlig glacier in the valley turned into a lake. This lake silted up in the following millennia, and humans started cultivating the valley.

The Rümlig stream

Eigenthal first appears in a document from 1287 under the name Oegenthal. Murbach Monastery in Lucerne owned it for centuries, and eventually, the city of Lucerne acquired the area.

From 1850 onwards, the English introduced mountaineering and winter sports to many places in Switzerland. However, Eigenthal’s development into a renowned winter sports resort is ‘homemade’.

Residents of Lucerne founded the Lucerne Ski Club in 1903, and the Eigenthal and Pilatus were the favourite destinations. Residents of Schwarzenberg founded the Schwarzenberg ski club in 1925. In 1943, some members split off and called themselves Ski Club Eigenthal.

The old club Schwarzenberg changed its name to Ski Club Malters because most of its members lived in this municipality. Eigenthal then wanted the name Ski Club Schwarzenberg back, but Ski Club Malters did not allow it.

It led to a unique case that led to the highest level of the national ski federation. After a four-year (!) procedure, an arbitral tribunal decided that the new club Malters had wrongfully stopped the (re)use of the name Schwarzenberg.

This club even had to pay high damages. Socrates had not yet arrived in the valley. Today, the Schwarzenberg and Malters ski clubs are back on ‘speaking terms’ and organise annual competitions and meetings.

Eigenthal even had its ski jump, die ‘Grosse Pilatusschanze,’ until 1949. Moreover, several national cross-country skier championships, ’50-km-Dauerlauf, ‘ took place in Eigenthal from 1929 to 1966.

An astronomer in the Eigenthal

The valley not only hosts facilities for summer and winter sports. As is well known, ‘light pollution’ in the mountains is considerably lower than in urban areas. Consequently, astronomers often envision a bright universe, and Eigenthal offers this opportunity.

The road to the Pilatus and its mountain range offers views of the city of Lucerne, the Reuss, Lake Lucerne, the Rigi, and the Bürgenstock, including the Swiss livestock.

The Pilatus and the Rigi also make impressive appearances in Lucerne. Unsurprisingly, the greatest composers felt at home in this area: Richard Wagner (1813-1883) on one side of the shore and Sergei Rachmaninoff (1843-1943) on the other side of the lake.