Heritage ‘At risk?’ – a building purge on Rigi Kulm
The history of the Rigi is a history of superlatives: this is where Switzerland’s first mountain hotel was built. It is where engineer Niklaus Riggenbach wrote technology history by building Europe’s first cogwheel railway. And it is the former site of one of the most impressive hotels of the Alps, designed by architect Horace Edouard Davinet. But it is also where a remarkable demolition project took place – a striking example of how historical buildings can be threatened by changing values.
By Kathrin Gurtner
A misinterpretation made it a queen
The etymological misinterpretation of the name ‘Rigi’ as coming from the Latin Regina (meaning queen), rather than the Old High German Rigina (meaning layers), referring to the mountain’s geological structure, has stuck. To this day, the Rigi is well-known as the ‘Queen of the Mountains‘.
The Rigi played a key role in the emergence of mass tourism around 1880. The construction of the three Rigi railways between 1871 and 1875 allowed a broader section of the population to enjoy a risk-free and exhilarating mountain experience.
Niklaus Riggenbach and his technical masterstroke
Among the project proposals for the first Rigi railway line were innovative ideas such as a balloon railway, a futuristic monorail, and carriages that were to be pushed upwards using compressed air in pipes. However, it was Niklaus Riggenbach’s ingenious cogwheel railway that ended up being built.
Riggenbach (1817–1899), an internationally renowned locomotive designer and railway carriage and bridge builder, developed a system whereby the locomotive is fitted with a cogwheel that meshes with a toothed rack fitted between the rails. This method made it possible for trains to scale gradients of well over 20%. Riggenbach got a very special present when his design – Europe’s first cogwheel railway –was opened on his birthday on 21 May 1871.
It was not only Riggenbach’s pioneering technical achievement that got people excited, but also the stunning landscape surrounding the rail route. The section that crossed the Schnurtobelbrücke bridge in particular, from where passengers could enjoy spectacular views of Lake Lucerne, subsequently became a popular motif in artworks and photographs.
The Grand Hotel Schreiber
In the Rigi’s heyday during the Belle Époque – between 1880 and the outbreak of the First World War – the boom in tourism led to intensive hotel-building activity. The Grand Hotel Schreiber, designed by Horace Edouard Davinet (1839–1922), was opened on the summit, Rigi Kulm, in 1875. It was a magnificent building that complemented the two older, more modest hotel buildings, offering a diverse range of accommodation.
Davinet had made his name as one of the most sought-after hotel architects. The grandeur of his hotels reflected the spirit of the times, which sought to combine pride in technical achievements with the pursuit of comfort and experiencing nature.
Davinet succeeded in making the most of the topographical features for his construction projects. For the Grand Hotel Schreiber, built in the historicist style, he worked with a doubly angled, symmetrical floor plan featuring a hexagonal central section. The angled shape allowed the building to adapt to the terrain while at the same time orienting it toward the landscape. The facade was shaped by an imposing, fortress-like base storey, pilaster-lined corner turrets, and tall, pedimented windows and balconies.
Risk from ‘its own ranks’
Just after the turn of the 20th century, initial criticism was voiced against the boom in tourism and the associated impact on construction. In its very first year, the Swiss Heritage Society – which was established in 1905 – scrutinised the construction of hotels and mountain railways. The palatial hotel buildings of the Belle Époque that had until recently been promoted with great pride came to be seen as symbols of an outdated system. The historicist architectural style was frowned upon and dismissed as ‘banal’.
After the Second World War, the Swiss Heritage Society ruthlessly pursued an architectural U-turn on the Rigi, pushing for a building purge. In 1951, in the manner of an early crowdfunding project, it organised a chocolate coin sales campaign and chose the Rigi Kulm as the motif to feature on the coins. The goal of the fundraiser, however, was not to preserve the historic building fabric, but rather to demolish the Belle Époque building – as well as all the other hotels, outbuildings, and vending stands.
In the case of the Grand Hotel Schreiber, a partial demolition was considered, but the advocates of a complete demolition won through. And so, one of the most impressive hotels in the Swiss Alps was lost partly at the insistence of a society from which we would nowadays expect the opposite. It was replaced by a new modest and understated hotel modelled on hospice buildings.
It wasn’t until 1974 that values shifted again. As part of the campaign of the Geneva section of the Swiss Heritage Society against the demolition of the Hotel Métropole, hotel buildings from the 19th century were again recognised as windows into another era and designated as worthy of preservation.
Bibliography and sources
- Roland Flückiger-Seiler: «Architektur nach dem Sündenfall». Der Umgang mit Hotelbauten aus der Belle Epoque. In: Bundi, Madlaina (Hrsg.) Erhalten und. Gestalten. 100 Jahre Schweizer Heimatschutz, Baden: hier + jetzt, Verlag für Kultur und Geschichte, 2005, S. 80–89
- Adi Kälin : « Rigi : mehr als ein Berg » ; Baden : hier + jetzt, Verlag für Kultur und Geschichte, 2012