2023-10-26 11:37:00
The Münsterland knows how to surprise. At Anholt, near the German-Dutch border, the landscape is surprisingly changing: two mountain sticks are surprisingly piling up from a widely free park landscape. Although significantly smaller, they resemble Rigi and Pilate in the Confederation.
This is no coincidence. The Anholter Schweiz landscape park, created in the 19th century, deliberately imitates a Swiss scenery. Around six kilometers of hiking trails lead through the approximately 50 hectare complex – and always in view: a waterfall and the two mountains, well, hills.
So Rigi and Pilatus, built from limestone and lava rock, not with Swiss rock, but at least arranged as close to nature as an Alpine massif – conquerable by everyone. After the “climb”, the “Swiss Cottage” beckons with a stop. The chalet made of dark wood, with a balcony and flowers in front of the parapet, stands on an island in the middle of an artificial lake, which – you guessed it – is modeled on Lake Lucerne.
German dream: The original chalet is located in Anholter Schweiz, a Münsterland landscape park with raised “Alps”
Quelle: imago/alimdi
The landscape park was opened in 1892 and the chalet was built a little later. The decorative elements such as metal fittings, doors, window frames, wooden trim are actually original; they come from a company in Interlaken. The house was intended to remind its owners, Prince of Salm-Salm (1838–1908) and Eleonore, née Princess von Croÿ (1855–1903), of their honeymoon.
Almost every region in Germany has its Switzerland
Landscapes in Germany often have the addition of Switzerland because of a romantic transfiguration of the Alps, which became the preferred destination of wealthy travelers in the 19th century. It is perhaps still understandable that local low mountain ranges were given Alpine name additions such as Saxon Switzerland or Franconian Switzerland.
Franconian Switzerland: A Jura rock towers up next to the old half-timbered house in Tüchersfeld
Quelle: pa/imageBROKER/Ferdinand Hollweck
But Switzerland in the lowlands? Dithmarschen, East Frisia, Münsterland – almost every German region, no matter how flat it is, has its Switzerland. And sometimes just because a local ruler was feeling sentimental.
The Switzerland hype that was rampant around 150 years ago was an international fad. There is a Mongolian Switzerland, ten hours’ flight from Germany, in the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park in Central Asia. It is a beautiful, pleasant mountain landscape with spicy-smelling mountain meadows full of colorful flowers, only here there are yurts in the mountains instead of chalets.
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But most of the landscapes with the suffix Switzerland are found in Germany: above all the Holstein, Franconian and Mecklenburg Switzerland. Gütersloh has its Switzerland, as does Dithmarschen on the North Sea (suitably with lots of cows) or the Ruhr area: Elfringhauser Switzerland stretches between Hattingen, Wuppertal and Velbert.
From Haiti to Namibia – many countries have a Switzerland
For most German-speaking Switzerland – there are more than 100 in total, including the unofficial 130 – there is no need for mountains, just a pleasant landscape. The actually beautiful thing, or a longing for it. A little Switzerland for a short break; a romantic transfiguration. Feelings that people on every continent have.
In Gorkhi-Terelj National Park in Mongolia, there are yurts instead of chalets
Quelle: Getty Images/imageBROKER RF/imageBROKER/Herbert Berger
There is also a Switzerland in Namibia (near Keetmannshoop in the south of the country); in Mongolia, east of the capital Ulan Bator, the aforementioned Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, in Haiti, Martinique, in New Zealand and several in the USA, including Little Switzerland in North Carolina – the name alludes to the surrounding mountains reminiscent of Swiss summits.
Wild West with a Swiss touch: This place in North Carolina has been called Little Switzerland since 1910 in reference to the surrounding mountains
Those: imago/ZUMA Press
Even in Switzerland, more specifically in Bern, people have been aware of the many foreign Swiss people since the capital received a sculpture as a gift from the Swiss artist George Steinmann 30 years ago: five groups of rocks rise on an area covered by white gravel. “Each person represents a continent,” says Steinmann. “Balance of Things” is the name of the installation, which is vaguely reminiscent of a Japanese rock garden.
The sculpture embodies complete harmony because the distances between the stone groups from each other and from the surrounding area are designed according to the rules of the golden ratio. George Steinmann: “The stones in the sculpture come from five continents and were taken from areas, valleys and places that bear the name Switzerland.” In total he laid 45 stones, six of which came from Germany.
“I wondered at the time, why did people call such areas to Switzerland, how did that come about? My impulse was to step into a dialogue with these places and people. The then lawn banquet here in the immediate center of Switzerland offered itself for such a sculpture. ”In the countries from which the artist covered stones, he let yellow signposts post with directional and distance information to the“ right ”Switzerland .
32 countries took part in the art campaign in Bern
According to a survey by the Swiss Tourism Association, there are around 200 Swiss countries in the world. Steinmann therefore had to make a selection and also sought advice from geologists. The sculpture towering next to the Swiss Federal Palace is therefore a geological cross-section of the earth.
For example, you can find tuff from Japan, sandstone from Saxon Switzerland, gneiss from Rantasipi Switzerland in Finland and greenish serpentinite from what is probably the most Swiss of all Swiss mountains, the Gotthard massif.
“Employees from the respective Swiss embassies in the countries organized the handover of the rock and presented a serpentinite from the Swiss Hospental as a return gift. This exchange was a very important gesture of mindfulness,” says George Steinmann.
The Swiss artist George Steinmann donated the installation “Balance of Things” to the city of Bern
Source: George Steinmann/© Pro Litteris
The non-Swiss people apparently liked the campaign. “From Valdez in Alaska, the entire population of the town sent a letter with greetings and wishes,” remembers the artist.
“And when I opened the box from the Switzerland of Himalchal Pradesh and unwrapped the stone from India from the crimson cloth, it smelled of Indian spices. What was also very nice – an indigenous tribe from Peru had a sacred stone delivered to him.” His work actually brought Switzerland into a dialogue with the world, because 32 countries took part in the elaborate art campaign.
Schwyz is the root of Switzerland
George Steinmann still regularly visits his sculpture today. “Here I quickly get into conversation with people. “I once met a representative of an American First Nation in full feathers who was visiting the United Nations in Geneva as a delegate from a non-governmental organization.”
The trail of (Swiss) stones – it actually connects people. And – thanks to the strength of the material – for a long time. And if you don’t have any, you just collect stones, like the prince from Anholt in Münsterland.
An idyllic mountain landscape characterizes the Swiss canton of Schwyz
Source: picture alliance / blickwinkel/A
But if you want to experience the original, you inevitably have to go to Switzerland. In addition to Bern with the Switzerland sculpture, it is also worth taking a detour to the canton of Schwyz with the canton capital of the same name.
The name “Switzerland” (and also the Swiss coat of arms) goes back to this idyllic mountain area; Schwyz is the root of Switzerland, the Swiss and all Swiss people in the world.
Fascinating shots of the Matterhorn
An amateur photographer from the USA has posted a time-lapse video online that shows the beauty of the Swiss mountains. Ferrera spent eight days traveling in the region around the Matterhorn.
This article was originally published in May 2020.
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