THE MUNICIPALITY of TRIESEN Büchele G E

Culture & Nature Trail 1 Exploring the centre of the settlement

THE MUNICIPALITY OF TRIESEN Büchele g e

w Dorfbach n

rte e am 24

t. M S Oberer Winkel 25 Linden- 23 platz

Lindengasse 26 22 21 Sägagass 20

18 Torkel- gasse 19

17 Bach Am 16

15 14

The Municipality of Triesen 13 Mölibach Gässli

Fa rb w eg Dorfstrasse Culture & 10 Nature Trail 1 Gapont 9 11 12 Exploring the centre

Fabrikw 8 of the settlement egli 6 Dorfstrasse

4 7

K appeliweg

Landstrasse

1 Culture & Nature Trail 1 Exploring the centre of the settlement

The Civic Centre (1), where our Exploring the centre stroll begins was completed in 1980. The parts of the building of the settlement surround an attractive village square where Triesen gathers on The Culture and Nature Trail through the centre of the settlement of special occasions. The Triesener Triesen, starts at the Civic Centre in the Sand area of the village and Saal (the village hall) is the heart goes up the slope along the Dorfstrasse as far as the early mediaeval of the community: here meetings Chapel of St. Mamerta. and celebrations, exhibitions and concerts take place. Along with Throughout the hundred metres covered between the level of the the new Liechtenstein Music Rhine and the rise of St. Mamerta, the stroll resembles a journey School building situated to the 1 through Triesen’s past: Triesen is or rather was the village at the east, the Civic Centre today stream! The settlement originated and grew along the stream. represents the centre of Triesen. On the way the stroller passes many historical buildings in which, thanks to hydropower, trade which guaranteed a livelihood could be Across the Landstrasse, where the pursued: saw-mill, mill, smithy and other industry. Dorfstrasse begins at the «Sonnenkreisel» (roundabout), the Today, however, this can only be seen when one takes a closer look, Gasthof Sonne (an inn) stands on because for many decades the village stream has no longer flowed a large square (2). Thanks to its uncovered, but deep under the Dorfstrasse. The village stream which strategically favourable position at shaped the development of Triesen until most recent times has been the foot of the way up through the displaced. Its tracks are disappearing more and more. village, the «Sonne» was the most important inn in Triesen for hundreds of years. The inn always had a so-called «Zuschg», a coach house. Here the drivers from near 2 and far could refresh themselves and their horses for the rest of their strenuous journey. The venerable «Sonne» fell victim to a fire in 1938. Until the rebuilding of the inn, the guests were tempo- rarily catered for in the coach house.

A bit further up the slope on the right, the Kappeliweg branches off southwards from the Dorfstrasse. A few steps on and we are standing in front of a small chapell. The first written reference to the 3 «Kapelle der heiligen Jungfrau Maria im Dorfe Triesen» (Chapel of the Holy Virgin Mary in the village of Triesen) dates back to 1415. However, its origins go back to the 13th or at the latest 14th century. In 1654 the Marienkapelle (chapel) (3) was extended, incorpora- ting only one of the walls of the original late Romanesque building.

2 3 Culture & Nature Trail 1 Exploring the centre of the settlement

4 In more recent times, 1964 and The southernmost part, right at 7 2002, the chapel underwent two the back, is the most recent part extensive renovations. of the Alte Weberei. It was built in (More about the chapel on page 1911. The cube shaped extension 15) wing was the first flat roofed building (7) in Liechtenstein. In its Directly behind the chapel is the structure and form it was then Alte Weberei (old weaving-mill), between ten and twenty years the former cotton-mill Jenny, ahead of its time. A new way of Spoerry and Cie. (4). The begin- building also came to nings of this factory go back to the Liechtenstein with the factory. 5 year 1863 when – as the second After the Municipality acquired all 8 manufacturing plant in the country of the factory and its grounds in – a mechanical cotton-mill under 1984, they strived to put it to the name of Kirchthaler & Dürst various uses. The factory building was opened. With the textile indu- today houses studios, commercial stry, industrialization and a series businesses, schools and societies. of changes came to the country. For besides jobs and a source of Behind the Alte Weberei, the income, the factories also Fabrikwegli leads up the slowly gradually brought electricity and rising slope back into the the telephone, as well as insuran- Dorfstrasse. About halfway up on ce and regulation of working the right there is a grand pair of hours. As an important witness to semi-detached houses. (8). They this development, the former were built in 1946 by Jenny, production site has been a listed Spoerry & Cie., as the last wor- 6 building since 1996. kers’ house belonging to the com- 9 pany. In the Dorfstrasse – north of the factory building – are the The Fabrikwegli ends at the manufacturer’s villa (5) and Dorfstrasse. On the opposite side opposite on the slope side the of the road, the open Mölibach former senior foreman’s house (9) flows into the underground vil- (6), both built around 1900. lage stream. Along the Mölibach, The new social classes which the Farbweg leads up the steep emerged with the industrialization slope. The factory workers from are reflected in the order and Triesenberg came along this foot- arrangement of the houses on the path to work each day at the wea- front side of the factory. Besides ving-mill in Triesen. The path got farmers there were now workers, the name «Farbweg» from the foremen and manufacturers. place name: Farb (colour) (10). Seen from a demographic point of view, the multicultural Liechtenstein The name reminds us of the dye- 10 of today started in the factory. Joining the Trieseners – until then for works which were once situated the most part Catholic farmers – there were now also people of other along the stream. The stream itself faiths and nationalities. was called after a mill (in dialect «Möli»), which used to be further up the slope.

4 5 Culture & Nature Trail 1 Exploring the centre of the settlement

11 A bit further up the Dorfstrasse, The Parish Church dedicated to Saint Gall (14) was built in 1843 to where a narrow street branches off the plans of the Royal Architect Georg Wingelmüller, supposedly into Gapont, stands the so-called without him ever having been on the building site. In 1939 exterior Christli-Huus (11), also once a and extensive interior renovations took place. Between 1991 and 1994 house for workers bought in 1899 the Triesen Parish Church underwent fundamental extension and by the firm Jenny, Spoerry & Cie. redesigning led by the Zurich architect Walter Bosshart. From the original single nave rectangular church with its tower above the quire, a Gapont (12). The name of this modern square hall church emerged, with the communion table in the place which stretches to the foot of centre of the congregation which gathers in a semi-circle. The only the slope, is Rhaeto-Romanic and original part of the building remaining from 1843 is the church tower is derived from the Latin caput (15). 12 pontis ‘bridge head’. Something 14 interesting can be concluded from The church accommodates a that: somewhere at the foot of the highly significant natural spectacle: slope, directly on the bank of the In its roof is the only so-called then untamed Rhine there was, in mouse-eared bat roost in Roman times, a fortified building Liechtenstein. It is known that on which a bridge was laid. since the 1940s, up to 200 female According to several historians this mouse-eared bats have spent the was the oldest known bridge over summer here bringing up their the Rhine in the country. It is young. In each of the neighbouring supposed to have been destroyed cantons of St Gall and the Grisons, in the 15th century when the five further such bat summer colo- current took fields, stabling and nies are known. During the recon- houses from the Trieseners. struction and extension works from In the house Gapont No. 15, a 1991 to 1994, special protective 13 communal refrigeration plant was measures were taken so as not to 15 run until about 1980. The self- drive the mouse-eared bats, which sufficiency co-operative rented are sensitive to disturbance, out of freezing compartments here before their church accommodation. The fridge-freezers made their way into measures were successful, becau- private households. se the bats stayed and are evidently happy under the new roof as well. The street Gapont leads into the In the evening twilight from May to Gässli. In this area in 1913 September, the mouse-eared bats numerous houses burned down in can be seen flying out of the north the most disastrous fire of the 20th side of the church. (More about the century in Liechtenstein. Parish Church from page 12 Although fire fighters from other onwards.) villages as well as from neighbouring Switzerland rushed to their The buildings Am Bach No. 2 aid, about ninety people lost their homes. (16), in the fork between the 16 Further up the slope where the Gässli runs back into the Dorfstrasse, Dorfstrasse and the little street Am stands the house Dorfstrasse 46. The first Protestants in the country Bach, probably belong to the gathered and held their services here between 1881 and 1963. The oldest preserved fabric of buildings house is called Tannerhaus (13) in the vernacular, after Emil Tanner, in Triesen. According to a dendro- a worker at the weaving-mill who rented the house. chronological analysis, the house and barn were built at around 1510 and 1516 respectively.

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17 A little further up Am Bach on the A few metres further up the Dorfstrasse, the Sägagass branches off to left-hand side of the street, there the left. Here is a village fountain (20), the design of which reminds was once a blacksmith (17). us of the legend of the destruction of Trisun. Trisun, the old Triesen, Today the building has been was supposedly buried by a landslide. Indeed the Triesen of today converted into residential stands on the debris cone of a post glacial rock fall. premises. Directly behind the The Triesen primary school used to be on the site where the fountain house is a vineyard which belongs is today. There is nothing more to remind us of it and one can no to the church, and nearby stood longer really imagine how there was enough space for the three storey the old parish church until the building here. middle of the 19th century. Its foundation walls have already At the other end of the short 18 been examined on a number of Sägagass is the Sägerei (sawmill) 20 occasions in the course of which gave the little street its archaeological excavations. name, and a so-called Pestkappili (21), a small devotional wayside On the slope side, where the shrine, whose erection date is not Torkelgasse leads off to the right, more closely ascertainable. This is is the Alte Sennerei (old dairy) to remind us that here in times of (18). Of course it has been a long plague, the dead of Triesen and time since the farmers of the Triesenberg were buried in a mass village delivered milk here. Instead grave. The Pestkappili is incorpora- the listed building houses rooms ted into the enclosing wall of a for small events and is home to private estate. the Triesen Scouts. The Sägerei was originally operated by the hydropower of the village The Torkelgasse leads back to the stream, which can be heard again 19 Dorfstrasse via the old Torkel (wine here, because further up begins 21 press). There on the slope-side the only open section of its course corner Torkelgasse / Dorfstrasse is through the village. the house No. 69, known to the locals as the Frühmesserhaus We continue our trail through old (sexton’s house) or Alte Kaplanei Triesen and follow the Lindengasse (old chaplaincy) (19). Presumably (22) towards the Dorfstrasse. On built in the first third of the 17th both sides of the street you can see century, the house was bought in imposing old houses and courty- 1690 by the then parish priest ards. During road works in 1994 Valentin von Kriss and brought into two graves were discovered which, the sexton’s benefice which he according to scientific determina- founded. This foundation was tion, date from around 800 A.D. supposed to secure payment for a sexton for future generations. Indeed a sexton lived and worked in the house until 1961. The 22 Municipality took over the then empty building in 1980, renovated it within the planning and building laws and regulations of the foundation and set up a museum of local history in which historical objects and cultural assets are collected and kept (tours currently only possible on application).

8 9 Culture & Nature Trail 1 Exploring the centre of the settlement

23 The Lindengasse and the According to present findings, 26 Dorfstrasse come together at the the origins of the Chapel of St. Lindenplatz (23), the former villa- Mamerta (26) go back as far as ge square of old Triesen. In histo- the 9th or 10th century. Certainly rical documents it is now and contemporary archaeological again even called «dance floor». research finds itself confronted On its north side is the inn with numerous up to now «Linde» (lime tree), which many unanswered questions. consider to be the most original (More on page 14) and oldest of its type. But actually the «Linde» is only slightly over 24 fifty years old.

From the inn «Linde», we go a few steps up the slope and turn left into the narrow street Oberer Winkel (24). The old, partly listed farmhouses there are built directly onto one another.

At the northern end of the narrow street we see the village stream (25) for the first time. It appears here in a walled, rectangular channel just like it rushed towards the Rhine for hundreds of years 25 before it was covered over. Elder and damson trees grow at its side. But the idyll is deceiving, because it was not unusual for the village stream to be misused as a «rub- bish tip», with the result that a lot of stinking refuse often collected down at the Landstrasse.

By a steep footpath along the side However, there is absolutely no of the stream, we arrive at St. disputing that the sunny terrace of Mamertenweg and from there at St. Mamerta is one of the most the Chapel of St. Mamerta, the beautiful places in Triesen: enjoy end of our stroll. the view of the village and the Rhine Valley!

10 11 Religious Architecture Religious Architecture

The Parish Church They are helped in their fight by of St. Gall smaller angels (a), characterised as cherubs by six wings. Not so Probably the most striking work simple is the relation of the of art in the church, which was mythical creatures painted in e converted into a square hall earth tones, to the individual c church in 1994, is the wooden deadly sins. The multi-armed coffer ceiling from 1942. It is by covetousness (c) is fought by the the artist Johannes Hugentobler white archangel with bow and a from Appenzell, who between arrow (b). Beside that the blue 1939 and 1943 was in charge of extensive renovation work to the Parish Church which was erected in 1843. Hugentobler himself described his work, which should be considered b d against the backdrop of the Second World War and at the l f same time as an interpretation of the violent time, like this: «There in the nave is the large wooden ceiling divided by beams into about a hundred square boxes, all painted with an apparent jumble of good and evil ghosts, n cherubs, snakes, demons and o big angels. The lingering eye recognises that seven fight angel in knight’s armour (d) scenes are worked into the plunges his lance into the mouth seemingly undramatic juxtaposi- of the raging anger (e). The yellow tion: the evil unconventionally angel with shield and sword (g)

personified desires, each against crusades against the decaying g an archangel. This large wooden sloth (f), and the blue angel (i) m ceiling, full of clusters of pure defends himself with his sword coloured and ‘dirty’ patches is against the voracious gluttony (h). like a mirror, a projection of the Opposite him the red angel with human hearts down in the nave, the white face (j) drives his long where good and evil are also lance into the throat of the two- constantly fighting against each faced envy (k). Pride, depicted as other.» a grotesque, made-up woman’s face with the body of an animal, In 91 coffers, Hugentobler painted toenails and ostrich n shows the battle and victory of feathers on its back (l), is fought the seven sublime, armed by the red angel with the dark angels over the seven deadly cape (m). And the opponent of sins; anger, covetousness, sloth, the radiant white angel with shield k h lust, pride, gluttony and envy and lance (n) is probably lust which are represented as equipped with the attributes of the grotesque mythical creatures. devil (o).

The archangels, painted in pure colours, all stretch over two An interesting detail: one can coffers without dividing beams. make out old Triesen house signs

j 12 13 i Religious Architecture Religious Architecture on the green cape of the yellow The Chapel Marienkapelle valuable frescos from around angel (g). of St. Mamerta (Mary’s Chapel) 1415, while the external surface of the wall is in so-called «Pietra Nowhere in the village do the rasa technique» with horizontal traces of history go back so far as No certain knowledge of the pointing. Both discoveries were on St. Mamerta. Although nume- original building of the Marien- included in the then renovation rous questions are unanswered, kapelle is available. The remains plans and made visible. scientific opinion confirms that of old foundations under the Unfortunately, years later during St. Mamerta was the first parish chapel, however, verify the external renovations, larger parts church in Triesen and its existence of a building from the of the surface of the historical wall foundation goes back to early were destroyed, so that one can Christian times. St. Mamerta is the only see the original, late most famous landmark of the Romanesque picture on the upper village, pictured in nearly every section of the unplastered south publication about the village. wall. On the occasion of completed The terrace on which the Chapel restoration work in 2002, the stands is surrounded by a roughly interior of the chapel was g 90 cm thick enclosing wall. In the structurally returned to the northeast and southeast of the condition it had been in before grounds, the foundation walls of the phase of 1964. Significant In direct relation to the ceiling is further buildings were found. from the point of view of art the red and black painted All of these buildings date back to history are the late Romanesque inscription on the wooden the same time as the oldest parts wall-paintings and the intact cross-beam in the quire arch: of the Chapel. The tower is of a Baroque altar design from around «For this purpose the Son of more recent date. It was probably 1655. God was manifested, that he erected in the 15th century. might destroy the works of the Research has repeatedly Of particular historical interest are, devil.» The beam also bears a suggested that the building in addition, the remains of two crucifixion scene whose figures fragments within the enclosing mediaeval tithe cellars above were originally integrated into the wall were once residential which the chapel was built. high altar of the first building of buildings for servants of the local As visitors, we should realise that 1843. nobility. Actually it is supposed the little chapel was constructed that the residence of the «Nobles in its present-day form immediate- As well as the wooden ceiling, of Trisun» was situated on ly after the Thirty Years War the six large round arched St. Mamerta. Small findings of (1618-1648), while plague and windows on a level with the household pottery from the witch-hunts were still rampant. gallery, are also by Johannes 12th/13th century, as well as other Hugentobler. The mosaic glass small discoveries (arrowheads, Over the centuries of its existence windows, which provide a iron knives, fragments of the Marienkapelle has been a magical incidence of light, each horseshoes and stirrups) support popular and often visited show in intensive colouring and this theory. pilgrimage destination for Rogation fine ornamentation, an angel in 13th or at the latest 14th processions. As late as the 1930s priest’s vestments standing century. The way the «Kappili», numerous votive offerings and facing the congregation. as the small chapel is called by tablets, as well as old crutches the locals, looks today is thanks and sticks in the chapel, bore In the choir of the Parish Church to rebuilding in the year 1654. witness to the hearing of the is a late Gothic carved winged During renovation work in 1964, prayers by the Virgin Mother. altar which Ludwig von Brandis old masonry from the previous donated to the Chapel of St. building was discovered in the Mamerta in 1492. south wall. On the inside of the Marienkapelle this wall shows

14 15 Culture & Nature Trail 1 Service & Information Exploring the centre of the settlement

Local Administration Triesen Indoor swimming-pool

Dröschistrasse 4 Gässle 12 FL-9495 Triesen FL-9495 Triesen Telephone +423 399 36 36 Telephone +423 392 34 94 Fax +423 399 36 50 [email protected] Swimming-pool 25 x 10 m www.triesen.li Learners’ pool 6 x 10 m Warm bathinig day (Friday) Opening hours: Mon – Fri 08:45 – 11:45 am Opening hours: 01:30 – 04:30 pm Mon closed 1:00–9:30 pm Tue 8:45–11:30 am 1:00–9:30 pm Further publications on Triesen are Wed closed 1:00–9:30 pm obtainable at the reception of the Thu 8:45–11:30 am 1:00–9:30 pm Local Administration. Fri 8:45–11:30 am 1:00–9:30 pm Sat/Sun/Holidays 11 am–4:00 pm The Culture and Nature Trail

through the centre of the settlement Liechtenstein Tourismus (Tourist Board) of Triesen leads the stroller up Städtle 37 P.O.B. 139 to a hundred metres above the level FL-9490 Vaduz Telephone +423 239 63 00 of the Rhine, to the early mediaeval Fax +423 239 63 01 [email protected] Chapel of St. Mamerta. www.tourismus.li www.liechtenstein.li This brochure accompanies the attentive observer through a thousand years of turbulent history on the fringe of great historical events. Every metre leads you further back into the past, as the foundation stone of Triesen was laid at a time when the valley floor still completely belonged Imprint Culture & Nature Trail 1 to the Rhine. Exploring the centre of the settlement 2. Revised and expanded edition Publisher: Cultural Committee of Triesen Text and Co-ordination: editio, Anton Banzer, Triesen English translation: Schreiberei Ospelt, Vaduz Photos: Close up AG, Roland Korner, Triesen v.com, Sven Beham, Triesen blusky, Ingrid Delacher, Schaan Graphic Design: Sabine Bockmühl, Triesen Printing: Satz + Druck AG, Balzers