Lörrach, Rötteln Castle and the Chapel of Kaiserstuhl

26 September 2021

The small town of Kaiserstuhl (Canton Aargau) is one of those surprisingly well-preserved medieval towns in Switzerland. Situated on the Rhine, it has a history of Celts, Romans, Alemanni, Franks, the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburgs, the domination by the Eidgenossen as an occupied or Untertanengebiet (1415-1798) and then merging into the Canton of Aargau.

The tower of Kaiserstuhl marks the beginning of the small town’s history. Around 1260, the Barons (Freiherren) of Regensberg built the tower and the city wall at the Rhine crossing. They controlled the vital trade route between southern Germany and the Swiss Plateau.

The town became the property of the Bishop of Constance in 1294. The bishop’s bailiffs resided on the right bank of the Rhine in the Rötteln Castle. The Rhine was not a border yet.

One of the jewels is the small chapel (Friedhofkapelle zu den Vierzehn Nothelfern) from 1530 near the cemetery. It is a late Gothic polygonal building with a pointed arch window and an interior from the Baroque period.

This chapel is also the last resting place of two fathers from the Rheinau monastery in the Protestant canton of Zurich, which closed in 1862. The Fathers Ambrosius Widmer (1807-1874) and Basilius Maienfisch (1808-1881) were renowned art experts and scientists of their time.

This situation changed in 1803. Kaiserstuhl was assigned to the new canton of Aargau; the Rhine became the national border.

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