DER ANDERMATTER Sommer 2017

Die frühere Siedlung Göscheneralp ist Mitte des
19. Jahrhunderts mitsamt ihrer Kirche im Stausee
verschwunden. Die Bewohner zogen um.
Heute ist der See vor allem bei Fischern beliebt
und bildet einen hervorragenden Startpunkt für
kurze und lange Wanderungen.
The earlier settlement of Göscheneralp, along with
its church, was swallowed by the reservoir in the mid
19th century. The people moved away. Today the
reservoir is particularly popular for fishing and an
excellent starting point for short and long hikes.
1843, a five-horse post coach with space for ten passengers
travelled daily in both directions. It stopped in Göschenen on
the 49-hour journey from Basel to Milan. And so increasing
numbers of travellers, among them scientists, ambassadors
and others, found their way to the village at the gateway
to the Urseren Valley. Resourceful locals built the first hotels
to cater for them and the hospitality business flourished.
The archetypal railway town
1872 marked the start of another formative chapter in
Göschenen's transport history: the construction of the
Gotthard railway tunnel. Almost overnight the small mountain
village became a housing development with a major
construction site. The residents rented houses to the
mainly Italian tunnel workers and built lots more. For their
part, the migrant workers brought Mediterranean culture
and customs to Göschenen. On 1 June 1882 – after years
of blasting, dangerous excavation in the innermost parts
of the mountains and social turmoil – the pioneering work
was celebrated with the inaugural journey. The Gotthard
then became one of the most important Alpine crossings
in Europe and Göschenen took on the role of a railway
village. As well as numerous tourists alighting to take the
post coach to Andermatt, the railway also created new
kinds of jobs. Similar developments, on a smaller scale,
were observed with the construction of the power station
and dam at Göscheneralp (1955-62) and with the Gotthard
road tunnel (1970 to 1980).
Today Göschenen is a tranquil village with a population of 430.
The numbers are declining and its significance as a stopover
for people travelling south has diminished. However, tourists
travelling by road or through the Gotthard base tunnel who
don’t make a stop here miss out on an Alpine village steeped
in history that has learned to embrace change and boasts a
tradition of welcoming newcomers with open arms. Alongside its
cultural treasure, Göschenen and its hamlets in the Göscheneralp
Valley offer magnificent scenery and a host of diverse
activities, making it worth a visit whatever the season. And the
final chapter in its transport history has not been written by a
long way: the Swiss people approved the construction of a
second road tunnel entrance through the Gotthard at Göschenen
in the spring of 2016.
Der Grossvater des Göscheners Hans Tresch war der erste Wärter des Bahntunnels.
The grandfather of Göschenen resident Hans Tresch was the first keeper of the rail tunnel.
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