Obergesteln

Obergesteln eastwards from Goms high level as seen postcode = 3988

Obergesteln ( Valais German: Obergeschle ) was until December 31, 2008, a municipality in the district of Goms in the German-speaking part of the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

On 25 November 2007, a merger of the three communities Obergesteln, Upper Forest and Ulrichen was approved in a referendum. The new Obergoms existed since 1 January 2009.

History

Unlike other Valais villages, most houses here are built of stone. This is due to a devastating fire in the village in September 1868.

The village was repeatedly affected by natural events and Feuerbrünsten. Like the neighboring communities of Upper Forest and lower waters, the village was laid by the Bernese in ruins during the war Rarner 1419 for this village elder mentions, however, are obtained. Thus, a rockslide took place here in 1417. The church is first mentioned even in 1309, and on the church hill where it is located, one suspects even a Roman fort.

In 1658 an avalanche prompted the relocation of the bakehouse. On February 18, 1720, the western part of the village was hit by a dust avalanche. It is from 83 to 35 houses affected ridges reported ( also 56 buildings and 27 apartment buildings with 83 apartments ). Due to the avalanche also the Rhone was dammed and fire broke out. At this disaster reminds the Memorial cross on the outer southern wall of the church. In 1725 an avalanche swept away again the just newly built houses, has been decided that, just have to build between Rotten and church hill.

A fire in 1806 put nine buildings in the village in ruins. At the end of the fire, which broke out on September 2, 1868, there were only four commercial buildings and the bakehouse. The State Council of the Canton of Valais then commissioned the engineer Ernest Stocker Alper (1838-1919) and the architect Joseph de Kalbermatten (1840-1920) to rebuild. Architect de Kalbermatten - he had studied in Zurich with Gottfried Semper at the Polytechnic - was inspired by the reconstruction plans of 1861 destroyed by fire in town of Glarus in his plans. Typical of Obergesteln are arranged like a chessboard stone with stone roofs and wide, elongated streets, this to prevent further fires. As a result of the fire a wave of emigration to America was, above all, to California, which lasted until 1911.

Natural Monument

In Obergesteln is probably the oldest tree in Switzerland, an approximately 1,500 -year-old larch. Since the larch is hollow with a circumference of 7.4 meters to a height of about 20 meters, a core drilling to determine the exact age by tree rings is not possible. The age was estimated on the basis of comparisons.

Personalities

• Martin Werlen (* 1962), abbot of the monastery Einsiedeln ( 2001-2013 ), born and raised in Obergesteln