Schöllenen Gorge (german: Schöllenenschlucht; Schöllenen) is a gorge formed by the upper Reuss in the
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
*Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internati ...
canton of Uri
The canton of Uri (german: Kanton Uri rm, Chantun Uri; french: Canton d'Uri; it, Canton Uri) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's terr ...
between the towns of Göschenen to the north and Andermatt to the south. It provides access to the St Gotthard Pass.
Enclosed by sheer granite walls, its road and railway require several spectacular bridges and tunnels, of which the most famous is a stone bridge known as the ''Teufelsbrücke'' ("Devil's Bridge").
Geology
The lower Urseren marks the boundary of the Aar massif with the autochthonous sediment of the
Gotthard nappe The Gotthard nappe (german: Gotthard-Decke, in older literature called the Gotthard Massif) is, in the geology of the Alps a nappe in the Helvetic zone of Switzerland. It consists of crystalline rocks that were, before the formation of the Alps, par ...
("Urseren-Zone"). In Altkirch quarry, on the southern end of the gorge, Triassic and Jurassic sediments are exposed. In the Schöllenen Gorge (at the ''Urnerloch'' tunnel), the Reuss enters the cristalline Aar massif (Aar
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...
), the gorge itself being an exemplary late alpine fluvial
Water gap
A water gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range or mountain ridge and that still carries water today. Such gaps that no longer carry water currents are called wind gaps. Water gaps and wind gaps often offer a pra ...
.
History
Early history
The name of the gorge is from Rumantsch ''*scalinae'' ("stairs, steps"); recorded in German as ''Schellenden'' in 1420. It formed the upper limit of Alemannic settlement in the Alps prior to the 12th century, and the border between the bishoprics of Constance and Raetia Curensis.
The gorge appears to have been passable by a difficult footpath by the mid-12th century. This path was forced to avoid the southern part of the gorge, taking a steep ascent from ''Brüggliwaldboden'', climbing above 1,800 m before descending to Hospental via ''Bäzberg''. The eponymous ''scalinae'' presumably referred to steps hewn into the rock to facilitate the ascent.
The gorge was first opened up as a bridle path with the construction of a wooden bridge in ca. 1230 (before 1234). This was of great strategic importance because it opened the
Gotthard Pass
german: Gotthardpass
, photo = File:Gotthardpass 2008.jpg
, photo_caption = The area of the Gotthard Pass from the west
, elevation_m = 2106
, elevation_ref =
, traversed = National Road 2 Old paved road ( Tremola) Gotthard Rail Tunnel G ...
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
.
The original bridle path across Schöllenen was realised by means of a wooden ledger attached to the rock wall, known as ''Twärrenbrücke'', and a wooden bridge across the gorge, recorded as ''stiebende Brugge'' ("spray bridge") in 1306. The ''Twärrenbrücke'' (from ''twer'' "across, athwart") rested on beams laid across the gorge. A tradition imagining it as supported by hanging chains developed only after its collapse in the 18th century. The technology associated with the construction of the ''Twärrenbrücke'' is attributed to the
Walser
The Walser people are the speakers of the Walser German dialects, a variety of Highest Alemannic.
They inhabit the region of the Alps of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as the fringes of Italy and Austria.
The Walser people are named ...
, who are known to have begun settlement in Urseren still in the 12th century. 16th-century historiography attributes the construction of the bridge to one ''Heini'' (Heinrich), blacksmith in Göschenen.
Robert Schedler
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
published a
historical novel
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other t ...
surrounding the construction of the Schöllenen bridle path, ''Der Schmied von Göschenen'', in 1919.
Devil's Bridge legend
In
Early Modern Switzerland
The early modern history of the Old Swiss Confederacy ('' Eidgenossenschaft'', also known as the "Swiss Republic" or ''Republica Helvetiorum'') and its constituent Thirteen Cantons encompasses the time of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648 ...
, a legend developed which attributed the construction of the bridge to the
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
. This is a motif attached to numerous old bridges in Europe (see Devil's Bridge for a comparative account). The name ''Teiffels Brucken'' ("Devil's Bridge", modern German: ''Teufelsbrücke'') is first recorded in 1587.
The legend is related by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1716). According to Scheuchzer, he was told a local legend according to which the people of Uri recruited the Devil for the difficult task of building the bridge. The Devil requested to receive the first thing to pass the bridge in exchange for his help. To trick the Devil, who expected to receive the soul of the first man to pass the bridge, the people of Uri sent across a dog by throwing a piece of bread, and the dog was promptly torn to pieces by the Devil. Enraged at having been tricked the Devil went to fetch a large rock to smash the bridge, but, carrying the rock back to the bridge, he came across a holy man who "scolded him" (''der ihn bescholten'') and forced him to drop the rock, which could still be seen on the path below Göschenen. A modern retelling was published by Meinrad Lienert, ''Schweizer Sagen und Heldengeschichten'' (1915). According to Lienert's version, a goat was sent across the bridge instead of a dog, and instead of the holy man, the Devil, when he was taking a break exhausted from carrying the rock, came across an old woman who marked the rock with a cross, forcing the Devil to abandon it and flee.
The legend does not appear to have existed before the 16th century, and its origin in local tradition is uncertain. Lauf-Belart (1924) surmised that the name ''Teufelsbrücke'' was originally due to an erroneous interpretation by learned travellers, which only in the 17th century gave rise to the local legend involving the Devil.
The Devil's Stone (''Teufelsstein'') is a large block of granite near Göschenen, with a height of c. 12 m and a mass of c. 2200 tons. In 1887, it was sold to the ''Maestrani Schweizer Schokoladenfabrik'' for 80 francs. Painted yellow, it now served as an advertisement for chocolate. In 1923, there were plans to demolish it, but it was preserved on the initiative of Max Oechslin, president of ''Naturforschende Gesellschaft Uri''. In 1970, the Devil's Stone was again scheduled for destruction, to make way for the N2 motorway. This time, there was a broad movement to preserve it, and in 1971, federal authorities agreed to move the stone, with projected costs of 250,000 francs (of which the canton of Uri was to contribute 7,000). This led to a popular campaign opposing the plan because the cost was seen as excessive. The liberal newspaper ''Gotthard-Post'' proposed to spend the money on the construction of a retirement home instead, collecting 1,000 signatures in support. The cantonal government now argued that there was no legal basis for the destruction of the stone because it had been the property of ''Naturforschende Gesellschaft Uri'' since 1925. On 1 September 1972, the Federal Council finally agreed to moving the stone, and it was moved 127 metres in an operation costing CHF 335,000. It is now situated on the ramp of exit 40 (Göschenen) of the motorway, at the entrance of Gotthard Road Tunnel, visible both from the railway and from the motorway.
Early modern history
The wooden bridge ''Stiebender Steg'' was replaced by a stone bridge in 1595, which came to be known as Devil's Bridge (''Teufelsbrücke'').
On St Patrick's Day (17 March) 1608
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
Hugh O'Neill ( Irish: ''Aodh Mór Ó Néill''; literally ''Hugh The Great O'Neill''; – 20 July 1616), was an Irish Gaelic lord, Earl of Tyrone (known as the Great Earl) and was later created ''The Ó Néill Mór'', Chief of the Name. O'Ne ...
was fleeing the English with 98 of his fellow-Gaels when, crossing the Devil's Bridge, one of the horses carrying his fortune plunged into the torrent below; the horse was recovered, but not the gold, which was lost in the raging torrent.
A new road, including a tunnel with a length c. 60 m, replacing the ''Twärrenbrücke'' was built in 1707/8. The tunnel, known as ''Urnerloch'', was the first road tunnel to be built in the Alps. It was constructed by Pietro Morettini (1660–1737). Following its construction, the ''Twärrenbrücke'' was no longer maintained and allowed to collapse.
H. R. Schinzin in 1783 mentions another bridge, marking the border between Uri and Urseren, known as ''Mittelbrücke'' or ''Tanzenbein''.H. R. Schinz, ''Beiträge zur nähern Kenntniss des Schweizerlandes' p. 29
In 1799, it was the site of one of the most dramatic battles of
Suvorov's Italian and Swiss expedition
The Italian and Swiss expedition of 1799 was a military campaign undertaken by a combined Austro-Russian army under overall command of the Russian Marshal Alexander Suvorov against French forces in Piedmont and Lombardy (modern Italy) and the H ...
during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. The bridge was heavily damaged by the retreating French army. As a result, the route's trade with Italy shifted to the Splügenpass. The Suvorov monument, just south of the Devil's Bridge, was commissioned by the Russian Empire in 1899.
Modern engineering
A replacement cut stone bridge was planned and executed by Karl Emanuel Müller (1804-1869), the cantonal engineer in charge of the stretch of the new Gotthard road between Göschenen and Hospental. Construction took 10 years, and was the subject of a famous painting by Karl Blechen in 1830-32. The new bridge allowed (single-lane) motorized traffic, opening the Gotthard Pass to automobiles. The 1595 bridge fell out of use after the completion of the second bridge in 1830, and it collapsed in 1888.
The
Gotthard railway
The Gotthard railway (german: Gotthardbahn; it, Ferrovia del Gottardo) is the Swiss trans-alpine railway line from northern Switzerland to the canton of Ticino. The line forms a major part of an important international railway link between nort ...
rack railway
A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack and pinion, rack rail, usually between the running Track (rail transport)#Rail, rails. The trains are fitted with one or ...
, was built through the gorge in 1917. The modern road bridge and tunnel date to 1958. It served as the main road across the Central Alps during the 1960s and 1970s, but since the construction of the Gotthard Road Tunnel in 1980 it has only been of regional importance, connecting Uri with
canton of Valais
Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the S ...