THE WIDRIG FAMILY OF BAD RAGAZ, SWITZERLAND
| Bad Ragaz is situated about 40 miles or so south of Lake Constance, just north of the cathedral city of Chur in the eastern part of Switzerland. It is clustered between the mountains on the western side of a wide valley and the river Rhein, close to the point where the river Tamina, a tributory of the Rhein falls as a mountain torrent from Bad Pf'äfers, which is situated in a narrow gorge higher up in the mountains. The surrounding mountains, wooded on their lower slopes, form a picturesque backdrop to a lovely and perhaps typical Swiss village with a mixture of old and more modern buildings. Bad Ragaz, as its name implies, is a prosperous spa town and resort and boasts many hotels and shops, some of them very prestigious, which serve those who come to benefit from the therapeutic properties of the thermal springs. Ragaz as it was known until it added the spa title (Bad) to its name in 1936, was predominantly an agricultural village until the middle of the 19th century. | |
| It was also a very ancient settlement by virtue of the fact that it lay at a point where two ancient trade routes crossed. To 20th century eyes Bad Ragaz is idyllic and visiting the village on a summer' s day with a clear view of the mountain peaks, it is difficult to understand why many inhabitants of this and other similar Swiss villages decided to journey into the unknown in search of a better life. 200 years or more ago, however, life in villages like Ragaz was hard. No- one came to admire the mountains - they were simply a source of danger and difficulty. The absence of good communications was compounded by a series of misfortunes which befell Ragaz. There were serious floods caused by the Tamina, there were fires and there outbreaks of disease which killed the cattle as well as typhoid fever. Small wonder that many inhabitants of villages like Ragaz, felt that there was no future for them there and they looked abroad to a better life in the New World. The thermal springs which rose in the Tamina gorge above the village, had been well known for centuries, but access to them was restricted by virtue of the fact that they were controlled by the Abbey of Pfäfers and no acquaduct existed to bring the springs down into the village. The 19th Century brought significant changes for the better to Ragaz. Firstly the Abbey at Pfäfers, which had hitherto controlled the thermal springs was dissolved. Secondly an acquaduct was constructed to bring the spa waters down into the village so that bathing facilities could be constructed there and finally in 1858 the railway to Ragaz was constructed. The coming of the railway prompted the building of hotels and Ragaz was thus at last able to exploit the benefit of the thermal springs at a time when taking the waters was highly fashionable in Europe generally. Within a comparatively few years the village became an important spa and resort, \par attracting a great many people from the gentry as well as the middle classes, many of whom used Ragaz as a place to stay in order to acclimatise themselves to the mountain air before moving on to the higher altitudes of Davos and St Moritz. Such was the influx of visitors that an English Church was built close to the Tamina ( now sadly no longer there). Ragaz was perhaps at the height of its prosperity at the turn of the last century when spa towns were at their most fashionable. In the 20th century two world wars and the social change which they precipitated, caused a temporary decline and many of the old hotels are now private houses. Ragaz remains, however, an important and smart resort with extensive spa facilities and continues to be on the modern equivalent of the ancient trade routes, namely the motorway from Zürich to Chur which leads to the St Berhardino pass and ultimately into Italy on the other side of the Alps. Further information can be obtained from www.badragaz.ch |