DIE SCHWEIZ - EIN TRAUMLAND

SWITZERLAND is a country of dreams.  Dreams of snow-capped peaks, country chalets, castle ruins, lush meadows, rapid rivers, shimmering lakes, dark forests, precipitous canyons and gorges, half-timbered inns, colorful festivals and banners, chic sports resorts.

Yet, the Swiss people themselves, though they too may often dream, are a practical and industrious people, fiercely independent and freedom-loving, knowledgeable in scientific, commercial and financial matters as well as in the management skills that have made Switzerland also a land of recreation, sports, holidays and relaxation. Theirs is a land uniting the powerful and industrial cities of the northern and western plains to the almost unimaginable beauty and sublimity of their mountainous south and east.  They have learned to use their power and industry without spoiling their natural treasures.

Nowhere is this blend of values more evident than among the residents of Switzerland's  largest and most rugged Canton, the "GRISONS".  Despite their Canton being, now and for millennia past, at the cross-roads of trade between northern and southern Europe, their determination to preserve their eden has helped create an environment unmatched anywhere, even in the rest of Switzerland, for the flourishing of people without marring the land.  The name "Grisons" , English and French for "Grischun" or "Graubünden" reminds us of the "Grey Leagues", once a cluster of small kingdoms, one of the last regions to be integrated as a canton within the Confederation.  Though host to places famous for their appeal to vacationers and diplomats alike, such as Davos,  Pontresina, Flims and St. Moritz, to name but some, the Grisons are largely uncrowded, unsullied, unexplored, unpretentious, pristine and restful.

Ancient Romans used the Grisons as a hub for their salt and marble trade, accessible from the plains of Lombardy through high passes, such as the Septima and the San Bernardino, following the nascent Rhine through the Via Mala, establishing a "Curia", or Court, in what is now known as "Coira" or "Chur", the cantonal capital, exploring the back country to what is now known as "Davos" (the place "behind"), and mining the rose marble of that remote mountain spot now known as "Arosa".  Since the beginning of the 19th century, the Grisons' population centers have become the gathering places for excursionists and sportsmen from all corners of the British Empire, the diplomats of Bavaria, Prussia and Austria-Hungary, celebrities from the United States, and other travelers from the world over, but  this influx of sophistication did not reach, as it has in the west and south, the numerous little valleys nestled between population centers and atop rugged crags. 

These little valleys were largely inaccessible to all but experienced locals and remained inaccessible till well into the 20th century. During the last 50 years, new, comfortable roads have been built to open them up, but there are still many little side roads, vestiges of medieval access, frequently leading to nowhere but some verdant grass patch.  There, a few cows will pasture, a "Bündner" mountain man will be mowing his clover, a tiny village will balance on an escarpment, and a chalet or two, festooned with flower boxes and variegated shutters, will betray the arrival of newcomers, perhaps newly marrieds, sons and daughters from burghers in a larger village below.

Thus, the Grisons are much unlike the internationalized center, west and south of Switzerland, where places like Gstaad, Montreux, Interlaken, Villars and the many smaller towns around them, have morphed, in the minds of foreign travelers, the model of  resorts for the very wealthy and the sophisticated.  In the Grisons, the character of most of the countryside is still local, prices are still reasonable, and family names are still meaningful.  Several varieties of Romansch, as well as German and Italian are spoken, but you will find the people are eager to understand you, even if Urdu is the only language you know. Not having been overwhelmed by tourism, the Grisons are still the least polluted of all the cantons, still a place where smiles are genuine and a hand extended is meant to be shaken, and not palmed.  No, you won't find too many dirndl's and lederhosen, or other signs of kitsch, though you can still buy large, decorated cowbells  from a bemused farmer, who has opted for radio collars instead.  They're honest,...but not retarded !

The Grisons  are the essence of Switzerland: its people couldn't be more Swiss. Find the outline of the Grisons canton on the Swiss map: it looks a little like a miniature of the entire land, a kernel of the country of dreams.

 Das Lugnezertal, romanisch "Val Lumnezia", gehört zur Region Bündner Oberland. Bei llanz öffnet es sich gegen Süden. Val Lumnezia und das Valsertal bilden eine politische Einheit, sprachlich-kulturell waren sie immer zwei verschiedene Welten. Vals wurde im 14. Jahrhundert von den Walsern besiedelt. Die deutsch- sprechenden Einwanderer brachten auch ihre Sprache und Kultur in ein romanisches Stammgebiet. Das Valsertal bildet einen geschlossenen Siedlungsraum, während sich Val Lumnezia in das linksseitige Oberlugnez und das rechtsseitige Unterlugnez teilt.

Auf der rechten Seite des Glenners liegen die Dörfer S.Martin, Tersnaus, Surcasti, Dors/Peiden, Camuns, Duvin. Das Oberlugnez umfasst die Gemeinden Vrin, Lumbrein, Vignogn, Degen, Vella, Cumbel, Morissen, einschliesslich Surcuolm auf der Obersaxer Terrasse. Die drei Weiler Pitasch, Riein, Luven gehören geographisch wohl zu Val Lumnezia, aber politisch zum Kreis llanz. Villa ist der Hauptort des Tales. Die Talkirche von Pleif war viele Jahrhunderte hindurch Tauf- und Bestattungsort aller Lugnezer, einschliesslich der Valser. Im Laufe der Jahrhunderte bildeten sich aber im Tale selbstandige Pfarreien, die sich von der Mutterkirche in Pleif losgelöst haben.

 Val Lumnezia besitzt keine Durchgangsstrasse, leider, sagen viele, zum GIück, sagen die anderen. Und doch haben Wege und Passe Schicksal und Geschichte von Val Lumnezia mitgeprägt. Wenn das Tal nach dem Bau der beiden Talstrassen sich wirtschaftlich nach llanz orientiert. so war dem nicht immer so. Im Mittelalter war die Route llanz - Degen - Dors - Vals - Valserberg Hinterrhein - San Bernardino stark frequentiert, ebenso die beiden Passübergange Diesrut und Greina. Damit wurden Wirtschaft und Denken vom Süden her stark beeinflusst. Die Kirchen und Kapellen in Val Lumnezia beherbergen noch heute manche Zeugnisse italienischen Kulturgutes. 

Sehenswürdigkeiten im Val Lumnezia

 Val Lumnezia beherbergt eine Fülle von Kunstschätzen, die zu entdecken für den Feriengast eine angenehme Ergänzung zum sportlichen Tun darstellt. Kenner halten sich an entsprechende Kunstführer oder an das Schweizer Heimatbuch «Lugnez und Valsertal» Band 131:

* Das Frauentor «Porclas» an der Talstrasse auf der Strecke Cumbels - llanz. Vermutlich erbaut im 14. Jahrhundert. Früher mit zwei TorflügeIn verschliessbar. Talsperre am Durchlass eines Felsbandes. Nach einer Oberlieferung sollen hier die Lugnezer Frauen die Feinde Werdenberg-Sargans zurückgeworfen haben. 
* Schloss de Mont inVella. Erbaut 1666. Vormals markanter Herrensitz mit Turmbau und herrschaftlichem Portal.
* Das Schloss in Lumbrein. Sitz der erstmals 1231 erwähnten Herren von Lumerins. Wohnturm, vermutlich um 1200 erbaut. Neuerdings renoviert.
*  Am Dorfplatz von Vrin ist ein malerisches Doppelhaus in schönern Strickbau zu sehen.
*  Das Gandahuus (Heimatmuseum) in Vals. Beherbergt eine erstaunliche Fülle vergessener Gerätschaften. 

Kirchen und Kapellen

  In zahllosen Kirchen und Kapellen entfaltet sich dem Besucher eine uberraschende Pracht an sakraler Kunst, die auch einer Kathedrale gut anstehen würde. Jeder Kunstfreund wird auf seinen Wanderungen auch das bescheidene Heiligtum auf suchen, denn die Schätze wollen liebevoll entdeckt sein. Beson ders lohnt sich der Besuch in folgenden Kirchen und Kapellen:

* Pfarrkirche St.Vinzens in Pleif.  Mutterkirche des ganzen Tales, erwähnt schon um 830, Turm um 1100, Chor um 1500. Hoch altar von Johannes Ritz, datiert 1724. Origineller Flügelaltar an der nördlichen Chorwand von Hans Jakob Greutter, 1630. Spätgotisches Wandtabernakel. Machtiges Gemälde der Schlacht von Lepanto an der Nordwand.
* Kapelle St. Sebastian in Degen. Sie steht am alten Flurweg von lgels gegen Vella. Predella, Schrein und FIügel, Kunstwerke des bekannten Kunstschnitzers Yvo Strigel aus dem süd- deutschen Memmingen 1506, sind in einern sehr schönen Barockaltar eingebaut. Originelles Bild am rechten Seitenaltar, welches das Wuten der Pest darstellt. 
* Pfarrkirche St.Martin in Lumbrein. Reiche Barockanlage mit prachtig komponiertem Altar. Seitenaltäre um 1750. Anlasslich der Restaurierung 1969/70 kam hinter der Orgelempore ein die ganze Nordwand füllendes «Jüngstes Gericht» zum Vorschein. 
* Kapelle Sogn Andriu auf halbern Weg zwischen Lumbrein und Vrin. Um 1660 erbaut. Schiff und Chor, Wände und Gewölbe vollstandig ausgemalt und signiert von J. Chr. Guserer von Dingolfink in Bayern, 1695. Hochaltar um 1760, reizvolle Rokoko-Details. 
*  Pfarrkirche St. Mariä Geburt und St.Johann d. Taufer. Neubau von 1689-94 durch Antonio Broggio v. Roveredo im Misox. Deckenmalereien von J.Chr. Guserer. Ausgezeichnet kompo- nierte Barockanlage, Turm freistehend. Hochaltar aus der Ritzschule, 1710 datiert. Im südlichen Seitenschiff Predella eines Strigel-Altars mit Christus und den Jüngern (um 1500). Schön geschnitztes Chorgestühl, ebenso Kanzel von 1700.
* Das Schloss in Lumbrein. Sitz der erstmals 1231 erwähnten Herren von Lumerins. Wohnturm, vermutlich um 1200 erbaut. Neuerdings renoviert.
*  Am Dorfplatz von Vrin ist ein malerisches Doppelhaus in schönern Strickbau zu sehen.
*  Das Gandahuus (Heimatmuseum) in Vals. Beherbergt eine erstaunliche Fülle vergessener Gerätschaften. 

Ferien im Val Lumnezia  

Val Lumnezia bietet jedem Besucher einen Aufenthalt nach seinern Geschmack. Wer Ruhe und Erholung sucht, kommt bestimmt auf seine Rechnung. Hier findet er, was dem Stadt- menschen in aller Eindringlichkeit bewusst wird, Einsamkeit und Stille. Wer sich in den Ferien sportlich betätigen möchte, findet reichlich Gelegenheit dazu:

 In Vals steht das Thermal-Wellen- schwimmbad das ganze Jahr auch für Passanten offen. Das grosszügig gebaute Schwimmbad in llanz ladet in der Sommersaison zum Besuch ein. Im Winter sind in Vella sieben Skilifte und drei Sesselbahnen in Betrieb. Einige herrliche Abfahrtspisten lassen das Herz jedes Skifahrers höher schlagen. Für den Freund des Skilanglaufes steht eine ca. 10 km lange Langlaufloipe zur Verfügung. Das übersichtliche, lawinensichere Gelände bietet eine unbeschrankte Möglichkeit an Skitouren. Im Sommer locken unzählige Wanderwege zu kürzeren oder ausgedehnteren Wanderungen. Im Sommer und Herbst sind in Vella zwei Sesselbah nen in Betrieb. 

Unsere Bitte !! 

Schönen Sie unsere Alpenflora. Das bündnerische Gesetz verbietet das Ausgraben, Ausreissen und massenhafte Pflücken von Alpenblumen. Für unsere Bauern sind Gras- und Weidewirtschaft lebenswichtig. Unterlassen Sie das Betreten von Mahwiesen. 

Wald und Weiden sind jedermann zugänglich. Lassen Sie bitte keine Abfälle liegen. Diese verunstalten die Landschaft und sind für das Weidvieh schadlich.

  Empfehlenswerte Bücher über das Val Lugnez

*  Schweizer Heimatbucher: «Lugnez und Valsertal" von Leo Schmid und Duri Capaul. Verlag Paul Haupt, Bern. 

*  «Surselva/Bündner 0berland», Wanderbuch der Surselva/Vorderrheintal/Safien/Lumnezia. Kümmerli+Frei-Verlag Nr.43.

* «Die Megalithe der Surselva/Graubünden», Band II Lumnezia/ Valsertal. Desertina Verlag, Disentis.

* «Surselva/Bündner 0berland» von Paul Tomaschett. Desertina- Verlag, Disentis.

 Erhältlich beim:
Uniun da traffic Val Lumnezia,
Sekretanat, 7144
Vella
Tel. (081) 9311858

MORISSEN  

MORISSEN, where the Chalet is located, is in the "Surselva" part of the Grisons, half-way between Chur, the capital city in the east of the canton, and the famous Gotthard Pass to the west. The village clings to the side of the 3000 meter high Piz Mundaun.  It has a panoramic view of the "Val Lumnezia" (the "Valley of Light").  Historically a producer of timber and milk, it is at least 700 years old, having passed, over the centuries, from Bishopric to Bishopric, from German kings to Burgundy dukes, to serve as a waystation and an inn on the way to the great Alpine passes of Oberalp and Lukmanier.  Named to honor St. Mauritius, the patron saint warrior, Morissen is now a village of about 250 inhabitants, and at least as many cows and sheep, producing fodder and milk.  It is proud of its ancestral, wily women who duped an Austrian army into ignoring the valley, thereby saving their men from conscription or carnage, and to whose honor a special monument, the Women's Gate, has belatedly been built on the road to the village. 

Morissen has its own little castle with moderate historical significance, nonetheless giving a certain cachet to the village. There are several very old houses, but otherwise, it is a fairly typical mountain village whose population significantly increases with the influx of holiday-makers during the "high" seasons of summer and winter.  It is a working village where, in the spring and fall, the cows and the sheep will trundle through the streets on their way up or down from the pastures above.  The view from just about every spot in the village is panoramic. It has a substantial complement of holiday chalets but a surprisingly high number of chalets are home to permanent residents.  A post office and bus terminal, a mini-market, a dairy, an administrative center, a school, a fire department, a hotel-restaurant, and a Church provide for most of the villagers and vacationers' needs. Though it has its own mayor ("Präsident"), it is administratively dependent of the regional center of Vella, a mile away.  The Nov' Arcadia Chalet is located in a cluster of villas on the outskirts of the village and is largely protected from the wind by the small forest adjacent to it. 

`  NOV' ' ARCADIA  `

  WHAT'S IN A NAME ?

 Nov' Arcadia is the name we have given to the Chalet, an Estate we own . It was not chosen out of thin air but rather as the representation of our continued interest in restful quality living. Before being bestowed on this Swiss Alps property, the "Arcadia" part of it had been given as a name to and reflected the beauty of older estates that were managed and/or owned by members of our families, our parents and other ancestors for several generations.  

Of course, our families did not invent the name.  Actually, most people know that "Arcadia" was originally a mountainous region of ancient Greece,  in the central part of the Pelopponese, inhabited by "Arcadians", a people mainly composed of shepherds, among whom poets and balladeers had woven fictions of innocence and happiness into their tales of everyday life.  People in various walks of life, in many western countries, have at various times chosen to give this name, or a variation of it, to their properties or even their culture. There is an "Arcadia University" in South Carolina. In ancient times, the region was home to sculptors such as Damophon, known for the colossal heads of Greek goddesses Artemis and Demeter he carved from the local pink marble. The French classical painter, Nicolas Poussin, exemplified the idealizing mood  the name called for in his versions of "Les Bergers d'Arcadie". The lure of pastoral peace inspired several others to bask in the romance.

 In Elizabethan times, Sir Philip Sydney authored an ode to his sister, the Countess of Pembroke, singing the praises of  "Arcadia". Shakespeare alludes to it in his plays. Jacopo Sannazaro, of Naples, in1490, broke new ground in his "Arcadia", a kind of romance, interspersed with eclogueswritten in Italian.  John Milton, in his "Arcades" softly tells us:

O're the smooth enameld green
Where no print of step hath been,
Follow me as I sing,
And touch the warbled string.
Under the shady roof
Of branching Elm Star-proof,
Follow me,
I will bring you where she sits
Clad in splendor as befits
Her deity.
Such a rural Queen
All Arcadia hath not seen

Whitman, Wordsworth, Wilde and Yeats likewise wrote poems about it.  In "The Burden of Itys", Oscar Wilde says:

And sweet to hear the cuckoo mock the spring
While the last violet loiters by the well,
And sweet to hear the shepherd Daphnis sing
The song of Linus through a sunny dell
Of warm Arcadia where the corn is gold
And the slight lithe-limbed reapers dance about the wattled fold.

But not all was peace, innocence and happiness. In 1605, Samuel Daniel wrote "The Queenes Arcadia" which he called a "Pastorall Trage-Comedie". More recently (1993), Tom Stoppard wrote the drama "Arcadia". There is a river Styx, of melancholy fame, in Arcadia. Hercules is said to have frightened and slain, as his fifth labor, man-eating birds from a lake in Arcadia.  Famed Latin poet Vergil describes an allegorical Arcadia, as an occasion to celebrate the greatness of Rome, flattering his Emperor, and predicting a golden age. More jocularly, Robert Greene (1590) , in his "Arcadia", thought of its breeze in those words "Thy Breath is like the steame of apple-pyes". We pass over many other authors of dramatic pieces and novels which continued, in some fashion to celebrate the pastoral purity and insouciance of a long bygone era, in order to court or otherwise serve the interests of their contermporaries or benefactors. 

Why the name was chosen by long deceased members of our family to decorate one of their country assets is unknown, but the name has remained with us and, in a certain sense, been treasured as the meaning of home, a restful and rustic place, by successive generations. Most recently, some 10 years ago, it was given to a country house, we, my wife and I, built on the edge of a vine-enchanted necklace of hills and valleys surrounding it in West Sonoma County, California. In 1986, when we caused the Chalet to be built, we gave it that name too, but added the Romansch word "Nov' " in front of it. 

The "Nov' " part of the name given to the Swiss Chalet was given to emphasize the essentially local, Romansch, character of the property, a structure newly built from local rock, local stones, local timber and local labour. "Nov' " means "new" in English but the "Nov' " in "Nov'Arcadia" is only new in the sense that it applies to a renewed and, we hope, fortunate transformation of rock, stone and timber that had previously graced the countryside nearby.

We hope you will find your stay at Nov' Arcadia as pleasant and inspiring as we and many of our guests have found it during these cusp-of-the-millenium years, and that you will come back, from time to time, to renew your own ties to a peaceful and poetic past. 

Yvon & Teresa Heckscher, Ihre Wirte.