Relocation

closed

Updated on 24 Sept 2026

One-month closure due to the move: From 30 October at 6.00 pm until 29 November 2026 inclusive. Reopening on 30 November at 9.00 am at the new address: Monbijoustrasse 74, 3003 Bern.

Published on 27 October 2026

In search of submerged sites

In the dim light beneath the calm surface of several Swiss lakes lie submerged villages with churches, stables, homes and bathhouses. They were not flooded as the result of a disaster – but were intentionally submerged. The affected populations moved their settlements to higher locations, or found new homes in different places. Three of these places tell their stories.

Julierstrasse by Marmorera with the centre of the village in the background. An ox-drawn cart stands on the kerbside while the road foreman shovels gravel.

The Wägital

Although the Wägital had been mooted as a location for a reservoir since 1885, the project only started to take concrete shape during the First World War, when Switzerland became acutely aware of its heavy reliance on coal imported from abroad. The Cantonal Parliament of Schwyz unanimously decided to award the licence for the plant and to draw up a plan for the relocation of the local population. It was only partially carried out. Around 40% of the people who had lived in Innerthal in 1920 had to seek a future outside of the valley.

View of the village of Innerthal, canton of Schwyz, with parish church and covered wooden bridge, pre-1920

A number of farmhouses were dismantled and re-erected on higher ground. Many central buildings in the village could not be preserved and were submerged when the two dams Schräh and Rempen were completed and caused the lake water level to rise.

Aerial photo of the Wägitalersee with the Schräh dam. Neu-Innerthal is now located higher up than it used to be.

Marmorera

Anyone travelling from the Julier Pass to Savognin passes Lake Marmorera. It too has a submerged village lying hidden beneath its surface. When the Zurich power utilities were looking for a site to expand the Julia works between 1945 and 1948, they opted for this valley in Graubünden. Following lengthy and difficult negotiations, which in some cases took place under pressure and under dubious conditions, most land owners signed.

Marmorera, Graubünden, view of the village with St. Florinus church. Exterior view from the south, with outbuildings, 1909.

Because they didn't have the right to vote at the time, women who owned property were not involved in the process. The last two landowners who opposed the plans ended up being expropriated. In 1954, the church, 29 homes and 52 stables disappeared under the floodwaters. The village's residents and its dead got a new home higher up.

Bad Bonn

Today, the name ‘Bad Bonn’ calls to mind the annual ‘Bad Bonn Kilbi’ music festival, or the former West German capital. But in fact ‘Bad Bonn’ refers to a famous former spa, whose healing powers had been harnessed since Roman times and which today lies hidden beneath the surface of the Schiffenen reservoir in the canton of Fribourg.

It is difficult to say with certainty whether the name ‘Bad Bonn’ was derived from ‘pons’ (the bridge over the River Sarine), or from ‘aquae bonae’ (meaning 'good waters'). However, there is detailed evidence of the illnesses and ailments that the sulphurous water promised to cure. For example, there is a report dating from around 1760 in which Johannes Schuler reports on the wondrous healing of a young man from Fribourg who was paralysed as a result of rheumatism and who arrived at the Bad Bonn baths. Four days afterwards he was said to be able to walk again, and by the tenth day he was cured.

Illustration announcing the reopening of the Bad Bonn spa resort. Engraving of the whole site, including the chapel and Petit-Vivy Castle high above the rocky backdrop of the river valley.

The importance of Bad Bonn as a spa resort is reflected not only in the many reports of its alleged healing power, but also in the efforts of the authorities to regulate bathing activities there. For example, in the 17th century; Fribourg city physician F.P. Dugo drew up detailed instructions on preparing for a spa cure and on how to behave while there. The baths were long held in high regard: in 1823 the site was even proposed by the Fribourg government as a potential location for the planned cantonal hospital. It was only later that the site started to gradually lose importance.

The impressive property, featuring halls, baths, dining facilities and its own chapel was used as a set for the filming of Franz Schnyder's ‘Anne Bäbi Jowäger’ in 1960. Three years later it was demolished and flooded.

Aerial photo of the Schiffenenesee from south-southwest, with Petit-Vivy Castle high above the submerged Bad-Bonn spa, 1974.

Bibliography and sources

Swiss National Library

SwissInfoDesk
User services
Monbijoustrasse 74
3003 Bern