Biner_Leseprobe

Around the year 1780, strangers set foot in Zermatt for the first time.
They were researchers, botanists, mineralogists and geologists. The locals
gazed at them as if they had come from another planet. Stanislaus
Kronig, past president of Zermatt, wrote the following, based on a report
by a tourist: “The population was terrified when they saw the strangers
arrive, armed with their knives and picks, carrying large cans as they
had never seen before. Immediately, several groups formed and they exchanged
theories, they whispered into each other’s ears, until the whole
of Zermatt thought that these strangers were secret agents who wanted
to spy on passes and crossings in order to take the sheep grazing in
the Alps with them on their way back. Soon, the people gathered outside
the clergy house, where the strangers were staying, and since they were
thought to be spies, the mob demanded the pastor turn them over. To
protect them from verbal slander and insults, the pastor accompanied
them on their expeditions.”
Old Zermatt church
with Gorner Glacier in
the background.
10 The conquest of the Zermatt Mountains