Klosters

Between 1208 and 1222, Premonstratensian monks from the monastery of Churwalden migrated to the upper Praettigau and established a filial provostry dedicated to St. Jakob (St. James). This was a Rodungskloster -- a 'clearing monastery' -- founded to develop agricultural land from the heavily forested valley floor. The Barons of Vaz endowed the settlement. The first documented mention appears in 1222 as 'ecclesiam sancti Iacobi.' The village name Klosters derives from the Latin 'claustrum' (cloister). Only the Romanesque church tower survives from the original medieval monastery; the current church dates from 1493.

The Walser people were German-speaking mountain farmers from the Upper Valais who migrated across the Alps between approximately 1150 and 1450. From the late 13th century, the Barons of Vaz invited Walser colonists to settle in the Praettigau, granting them the Walserrecht -- feudal charters conferring land in exchange for moderate taxes and military service, with the right to their own judicial bodies and freedom of movement. The pure wooden house built in the Strickbau (log-cabin) technique became the dominant building form. The Nutli Hueschi, built in 1565 by Christian Nutli, is a surviving example of this Walser architecture, now a museum displaying everyday objects from before 1850.

King Charles III first visited Klosters in 1978 and returned virtually every winter for over 45 years. On 10 March 1988, while skiing off-piste on the Gotschnawang slope below Gotschnagrat, an avalanche released at approximately 2:50 p.m., dragging two members of the royal party some 450 meters downhill. Major Hugh Lindsay, aged 34, a former equerry to Queen Elizabeth II, was killed. Patti Palmer-Tomkinson suffered serious leg injuries. The Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research had issued a warning of 'considerable risk of slab avalanches' that day. Mountain guide Bruno Sprecher alerted authorities and performed emergency rescue; Prince Charles helped dig victims free with his bare hands.

The Chesa Grischuna hotel in Klosters was established in 1938 by Hans Guler, with wall paintings by Alois Carigiet, the celebrated Graubuenden illustrator. After WWII, American escaped prisoners of war who had been interned there returned with Hollywood connections, earning the hotel the nickname 'Hollywood on the Rocks.' Greta Garbo made Klosters her beloved second home for decades, drawn by her friend Salka Viertel, who relocated to Klosters in 1953. The reclusive star took daily walks along the Landquart river wearing her trademark hat. The guest book included Greta Garbo, Gene Kelly, Deborah Kerr, Julie Andrews, David Niven, Peter Sellers, and Audrey Hepburn.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), co-founder of the Expressionist group Die Bruecke in Dresden (1905), arrived in the Davos region in May 1917 as a broken man, addicted to alcohol and morphine after his wartime breakdown. He first lived on the Stafelalp (1,894 m) above Frauenkirch, producing works including 'Rising Moon in the Stafelalp.' His territory encompassed the entire Davos-Klosters region. The Kirchner Museum Davos, opened in 1992, holds approximately 40 paintings, over 700 drawings, and more than 300 prints. In 1937, the Nazi regime declared his work 'entartete Kunst' (degenerate art), confiscating over 600 works. He took his own life on 15 June 1938.

In February 1888, Dutch hotel owner Willem Jan Holsboer founded the Schmalspurbahn Landquart-Davos AG to connect the remote Praettigau valley to the Swiss rail network. On 29 September 1889, the inaugural train reached the festively decorated Klosters station. The first section (Landquart to Klosters) opened to the public ten days later, delayed by a landslide. The full line to Davos opened on 21 July 1890. In 1895, the company was renamed the Rhaetische Bahn (Rhaetian Railway / RhB). The Vereina Tunnel (19,042 m), opened on 19 November 1999, later gave Klosters an avalanche-safe year-round rail link to the Lower Engadin.

In 1622, during the Thirty Years' War, the Praettigau uprising erupted as valley residents revolted against Habsburg Austrian occupation. In April 1622, insurgents drove out the occupation troops and liberated the valley; the euphoric fighters even attacked the neighbouring Austrian Montafon valley. In September 1622, the Habsburg commander Baldiron returned with 10,000 men and reconquered the Praettigau in a devastating campaign -- numerous villages were reduced to rubble and ashes. The Treaty of Lindau (30 September 1622) forced Graubuenden to cede the Praettigau temporarily to Austria. In 1803, the Three Leagues were incorporated into the Swiss Confederation as the canton of Graubuenden.

Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) arrived by rail at Landquart on 4 November 1880 with his wife Fanny, stepson Lloyd, and their dog Woggs. From Landquart, they took a roughly eight-hour horse-drawn carriage ride up the Valley of Praettigau, passing through Klosters, to reach Davos, where Stevenson had been sent for his chronic lung disease. During two productive winters in Davos (1880-1881 and 1881-1882), Stevenson finished 'Treasure Island' (1883). The Praettigau valley with its dramatic gorges and wooden Walser houses was the gateway through which Stevenson entered the mountain world.