Mutschellen is the name of a

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower place in a mountai ...

in the canton of

Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capita ...

in the district of Bremgarten near the border of

canton Zurich Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

. Three municipalities,

Berikon Berikon is a municipality in the district of Bremgarten in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. The village lies on a hill above and to the east of the Reuss Valley, covering part of the Mutschellen Pass. This municipality is bounded by R ...

Widen Widen is a municipality in the district of Bremgarten in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History At the end of the 12th century a manor called "Wyda" is mentioned the first time, there's no exact year. "Widen", in the way like it's writ ...

, and

Rudolfstetten-Friedlisberg Rudolfstetten-Friedlisberg is a municipality in the district of Bremgarten in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. Prior to 1953, the municipality was officially known simply as Rudolfstetten. History Rudolfstetten-Friedlisberg is first menti ...

, meet directly atop the pass.

Location and Development

The pass Mutschellen connects the

Reuss Reuss may refer to: *Reuss (surname) *Reuss (river) in Switzerland *Reuss (state) or Reuß, several former states or countries in present-day Germany, and the Republic of Reuss *Reuss Elder Line and Reuss Younger Line (House of Reuss), members incl ...

valley in the west with communities of greater Zurich in the east. Due to its very low summit of 551 meters above sea level, Mutschellen is often called the lowest pass of Europe. Directly on the mountain there are three municipalities:

and

. These three villages have grown together very closely; only those who know the place are able to say where the municipality borders are. Also considered to be part of the Mutschellen region are the municipalities of

Zufikon Zufikon is a municipality in the district of Bremgarten in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History A single archeological find dates human habitation in the area to the Bronze Age. The first written reference to the village occurred in ...

to the west and

Oberwil-Lieli Oberwil-Lieli is a municipality in the district of Bremgarten in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History During the Roman era the municipal area was lightly settled. On the site of the current church there was a Roman farm. The ruin ...

to the southeast. Mutschellen is actually a

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

, which emerged during an

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

. At this time the Reuss glacier and the Linth glacier went northbound as far as the river

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

. Even today one can see the traces of these monumental glaciers. The glaciers left huge furrows behind and during their retreat left lakes like the lake of Zurich. The pressure of the two glaciers also created the Mutschellen.

Transportation

The pass is crossed by a busy road from Bremgarten to Zufikon. The road has been significantly improved over the past ten years, particularly as it winds down into Bremgarten. The pass is also crossed by the Bremgarten-Dietikon-Bahn, a

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

light railway that is heavily used by commuters traveling into Zurich for work. The top of the pass features a large intersection and train station that connects to several bus routes. Connecting travelers with the route that runs along the top of the Mutschellen. The area is also a bustling commercial area with a supermarket,

Migros Migros () is Switzerland's largest retail company, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It is also one of the forty largest retailers in the world. It is structured in the form of a cooperative federation (the Federation of Mig ...

and Denner stores, as well as smaller independent stores.

External links

*
MutschellenBerikonWidenRudolfstettenOberwil-LieliFriedlisberg
{{Coord, 47, 21, 45.01, N, 8, 22, 02.62, E, dim:10000_region:CH_type:mountain_source:dewiki, display=title Mountain passes of Aargau Mountain passes of Switzerland