GletschEntdecken - Historic Sie Crossroads das historische in the Heart Gletschof the Alps Audioguide Tour Headwaters of Quellgebiet the Rhone river Anglican der Rhone Glacier du Rhône Hotel Anglikanische Hotel Glacier du Rhône Kapellechapel Former hotel bathhouse GletschbodenNaturlehrpfad 10 natureGletschboden trail

HydroelectricKleinwasserkraftwerk plant of 1948 9 HydroelectricKleinwasser- power built in old stables plant of 1899 1942 in alten Stallungen Hotel kraftwerk 1899 8 1 Museum Hotel CheeseAlpkäserei dairy 11 3 – 7 Old post office 2 (used until 1920’s) 1 Blue House WeatherWetter- station Blaues Haus columnsäule Hydrom.Hydrom. theHotel hotel Dépendance dépendance Station Garages for Wohn- mobil Post-buses InfoInfoPoint Point (new (since the 1930's) post(früher office Post) from Bus 1930 onwards) DrehscheibeRotating platform Railway station DFB-Bahnhof 12 – 13 andund souvenirSouvenirShop shop

Rhone/Rotten

Plan © IG Gletsch 2012 Furka-Oberalp-Gletsch-RealpDampfbahn Furka-Bergstrecke (DFB) SteamedOberwald Cogwheel -Gletsc Railwayh- SAFETY: PLEASE PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION TO THE TRAFFIC! LIABILITY WHILE USING THE AUDIOGUIDE RESTS © CopyrightEXCLUSIVELY DFB (2012) WITH THE USER. BY USING THE AUDIOGUIDE YOU ACCEPT THIS LIABILITY.

As soon as you leave the Infopoint or the Hotel, and before crossing the road, ➛ Station 7: KEY NUMBER 47 press key number 41 on your audioguide device to hear the introductory (on the small west side of the Blue House) explanation. The hydroelectric plant of the 1890’s Access to the power plant exhibition room, in the basement of the Blue House. ➛ Station 1: KEY NUMBER 41- Using the audioguide (starting at the Info Point) ➛ Station 8: KEY NUMBER 48 Welcome - Your choice of itinerary: either the 90-minute planned circuit, or (located in the basement of the Blue House) self-selected tour. Audio guide user’s liability - Mind the traffic! The hydroelectric plant of the 1890’s, The turbines were on display at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle - ➛ Station 2: KEY NUMBER 42 - General overview A second hydroelectric plant was built in 1848 in the building where the old stables (from the weather column located in the garden) used to be, south of the settlement. The hotel settlement - The buildings - The strategic roads - The glacier. ➛ Station 9: KEY NUMBER 49 (In front of the display panel) ➛ Station 3: KEY NUMBER 43 (the Blue House ) The Gletschboden nature trail The Dépendance building called “the Blue House” The information panel - The unique vegetation growing in the path of the glacier’s The golden Age of international tourism in until 1914 - New means retreat. of transportation from the 1920’s with the PostBus and the train - Gletsch loses its rest stop function for travellers - Exhibition: “Landscapes of the Rhone Glacier ➛ Station 10: KEY NUMBER 50 over the Centuries” (Introduction). The Anglican chapel The formation of the Church of England in the 16th century - Sunday worship of ➛ Station 4: KEY NUMBER 44 (in the Museum) paramount importance for the English tourists abroad - The English religious non- How Gletsch developed (part I) - Image number 8 profit organisations, owners of the Anglican churches and chapels abroad - The Seilers’ brothers’ first advertising poster from the 1860’s Neo-gothic architectural style - Traveling: a way to travel back in time. The original inn owned by Anton Zeiter, around 1830 - Mule trails - Building of KEY NUMBER 141: A three-minute recording of 19th century Anglican music the road for the carriages - Expansion, on the south, of Zeiter’s inn has been made available by St. Andrews Church in Zurich. towards the end of the 1850’s, when taken over by Alexander and Franz Seiler - Start of the Seiler hotel business in . ➛ Station 11: KEY NUMBER 51 The historical weather column in the hotel garden ➛ Station 5: KEY NUMBER 45 (in the museum) Functions of the column for the tourists - The four elements of the column - How Gletsch developed (part II) - Image number 11 Weather forecasting during the Belle Epoque - The dew point - The Lambrecht Conrad Korradi’s gouache painting of 1870 company. Symmetrical expansion of the main hotel on its glacier side - New central portico replacing Zeiter’s inn - Road to Furka pass is open. ➛ Station 12: KEY NUMBER 52 ➛ Station 6: KEY NUMBER 46 The Gletsch station and railroad How Gletsch developed (Part III) - Image number 15 The building in 1913 - The first trains in summer 1914 - The Gletsch- Photograph taken after 1892 section in 1925-1926 - The official abandonment of the line in 1981 - The re­ Third big expansion of the hotel main building - Joseph Seiler, Alexander’s eldest opening in 2000 of the Realp-Gletsch section and of the -Gletsch sec- son, was given responsibility for the hotel in 1893 - Gletsch becomes a transit tion in 2010, bringing alive the original mountain Furka-Oberalp Line. point and resting stop for travellers in horse-carriages - Since 1921 the PostBus and train replace the carriages - Seiler hotels in Zermatt are different, serving ➛ Station 13: KEY NUMBER 53 as “base camps” for climbers - Zermatt opens in the winter, thanks to Hermann The Furka Cogwheel Railway or Furka Mountain Line Seiler, Alexander’s younger’s son, who will also, from 1925 onward, lead the Three independent organisations, 8000 members, and volunteers ensure the Rhone Glacier hotel in Gletsch - Avalanche hazard does not allow winter season summer operation of the steam line - Costly and difficult maintenance of the in Gletsch which can only open for 3-4 summer months each year - Retreat of Mountain Line tunnel at an altitude of 2165 meters - One hundred-year-old the glacier, third reason for the Seiler family to relinquish the hotel in Gletsch. locomotives and passenger coaches - Important cultural and historical heritage for future generations and for Swiss tourism.

Original text: Hansueli Fischer, Christian Pfister, Mark Andreas Seiler, Heinz Unterweger. English version: Claudia Huguenin-Le Lay, Julie Roemer. Speaker: Annabella Schälchli-Cuniberti. Gletsch: node of the Alpine road network for the horse-drawn carriages operated by the Post Office (topographical map in a brochure by hotelier Joseph Seiler around 1900). For reference and bibliography: Mark Andreas Seiler, Ein Gletscher -Ein Hotel - Eine Familie. Horizonte einer Walliser Hoteliersdynastie, , 2012.