2024-05-09 18:56:45
The place in the Bernese Oberland was called Aarmühle. But this name had no appeal, especially not to potential guests from all over the world. That’s why Aarmühl gave itself the new name Interlaken in 1891 – and thus became an internationally attractive travel destination.
Michael van Orsouw
Michael van Orsouw / Swiss National Museum
The area between Lake Thun and Brienz has always been a sought-following place for settlement, and one would expect a long history of 1,000 years or more. But the official name of the municipality of Interlaken is just 133 years old. How did that happen?
The Swiss National Museum blogs here
blog.nationalmuseum.ch
At first the place was called Matten. In 1837, today’s Interlaken separated from the community of Matten and became an independent community under the name Aarmühle, named following the former monastery mill on the Aare. Then more and more over the course of the 19th century Guests As people flocked to the area, among other things, to climb the Jungfrau or at least marvel at it, the local community of Aarmühle wanted to rename itself, especially since the locals used to pronounce the word Aarmühle as “Rameli”. Instead of Aarmühle or “Rameli” the name Interlaken is preferred.
Before the name Interlaken officially becomes established, there is still no uniform name.Image: Swiss National Museum
This new name was not an invention of a spa office or an advertising agency, but rather referred to the medieval Augustinian Priory of Interlaken, which was mentioned in a document as early as 1133 “among the lakes of Madon” was called. You have to know: The former monastery was closed during the Reformation and has not existed since 1528!
The “Rameli” officially becomes Interlaken
The use of the monastery name seemed somewhat coincidental. But of course, Interlaken was also “common” back then, as the residents’ council explained, because the district was already called that. Even the German poet laureate Johann Wolfgang von Goethe With his sense of well-sounding names, he mentioned the town of Interlaken following a trip in 1779, and the Englishman did the same in 1816 Lord Byron even.
In addition, Interlaken sounded much more cosmopolitan, more international and therefore more attractive to tourists than Aarmühle. Therefore, following the approval of the residents’ assembly, the community of Aarmühle submitted an official request to the canton of Bern on March 4, 1891 to be allowed to rename itself Interlaken.
The government of the canton of Bern then asked its governor Jakob Ritschard von Unterseen for a statement. But he took his time – or he mightn’t decide. In any case, he was warned on October 13th, whereupon the governor promised his report “in the near future,” saying that he would have to look into the story in detail and obtain further opinions.
But the government council did not want to wait any longer and demanded the report within eight days. The governor then managed to make a statement: He requested that the name change be rejected because it had not been agreed upon with the neighboring communities of Matten and Unterseen. But the government council was not impressed and approved the renaming on December 5, 1891.
«Interlaken has finally come into its own. […] “The municipality of Aarmühle should be allowed to change its political place name to the commonly used Interlaken.”
NZZ dated December 13, 1891
The government council emphasized: “The leaders of the public books in particular must take note of this name change and use the new name Interlaken in the future.” Since then, the former Aarmühle has been called Interlaken. And the town subsequently emerged from the shadow of neighboring Unterseen and developed into the region’s leading tourism destination.
The main street of Interlaken at the beginning of the 20th century.Image: Swiss National Museum
In Interlaken they did not regret the name change because it created more than just a community name, namely an actual brand. In 2016, “125 years of the municipal name Interlaken” was celebrated, with keynote speaker Peter Hollinger, former member of the Interlaken Municipal Council and Speaker of Parliament, saying: “In national and international competition, Aarmühle drew the right conclusions from this development at the time, namely the acquisition of such an exclusive right The Interlaken brand undoubtedly shows foresight.”
New name, new glory?
By the way, Aarmühle was not the only place in Switzerland that was renamed primarily for tourist reasons. Especially the Swiss seaside resorts wanted to have their qualities mentioned in their name, which is why Ragaz became Bad Ragaz in 1937, Birrenlauf became Schinznach-Bad in 1938 and Zurzach became Bad Zurzach in 2006. In 1929, the Luganese suburb of Calprino in Ticino became the melodious Paradiso.
But the most spectacular example of a renaming comes from 1890, a year before the Bernese Oberland with Interlaken: From then on, the people of Graubünden called the town of Schweiningen exclusively Savognin, and they preferred the Romansh variant of the name – which was actually much more appealing to the guests from the lower country sounded!
Letter to Johann Anton von Peterelli in Schweiningen, around 1850.Image: Graubünden State Archives, StAGR A Sp III / 15w 3.12
Other posts adapted from the National Museum blog:
For Arabs, Interlaken is the tourism mecca
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For Arabs, Interlaken is the tourism mecca
Melting pot of cultures: In Interlaken, raunchy American burger culture meets a high density of burkas. (Image: Mario Heller)
Thousands of spectators at the Unspunnen parade in Interlaken
Video: srf
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