Spiez

The Barons von Straettligen were the first documented noble family at Spiez, first mentioned in 1175. Their most culturally notable member was the minnesinger Heinrich von Straettligen, who composed three courtly love laments called 'planh' that were included in the famous Codex Manesse, the great early-14th-century collection of minnesingers' poetry now held in Heidelberg. Schloss Spiez sits on a small peninsula jutting into Lake Thun, inhabited since the Bronze Age (1750-1500 BC). A crushing burden of debt forced Johann IV von Straettligen to sell the entire barony to the Bubenberg family in 1338 for 5,600 pounds Bernese currency.

Adrian von Bubenberg (c. 1431-1479) was born at Spiez Castle, son of Heinrich IV von Bubenberg, Schultheiss of Bern. He served as Schultheiss of Bern three times and was dubbed a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre during a 1466 pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In April 1476, he was appointed commander of the garrison at Murten, where he withstood a twelve-day siege by Charles the Bold's Burgundian army, which outnumbered his militia 10 to 1. On June 22, 1476, Swiss Confederate forces arrived and routed the Burgundians in the Battle of Murten -- one of the most decisive victories in Swiss history. Von Bubenberg died in 1479 and was buried in the choir of the Berner Muenster.

The Niesen (2,362 m) rises directly south of Lake Thun as an almost perfectly pyramid-shaped peak, earning it the nickname 'the Swiss Pyramid.' The Niesenbahn funicular railway, opened July 15, 1910, climbs from Muelenen (693 m) to near the summit in 30 minutes. Construction began on August 26, 1906, with over 200 workers. The service stairway alongside the track has 11,674 steps, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest stairway in the world. It is normally closed to the public, but once a year in June, up to 500 runners compete in the Niesenlauf (Niesen Stairway Run), with the men's record at approximately 1 hour 2 minutes.

The paddle steamer Bluemlisalp was built in 1906 by Escher, Wyss & Co. in Zurich for 375,000 Swiss francs, named after the Bluemlisalp mountain massif. She was the largest and most elegant steamer on Lakes Thun and Brienz. Decommissioned on August 1, 1971, and slated for scrapping, the Bluemlisalp languished for two decades moored in the delta of the Kander River. The cooperative 'Vaporama' rescued her: after over two years of restoration, the steamer's second maiden voyage took place on May 22, 1992. In 2008, ICOMOS awarded the restoration its Special Award for heritage preservation.

Spiez is home to one of the highest vineyards north of the Alps, at approximately 700 meters above sea level. The first documented mention of viticulture dates to 994, when the varieties Elbling and Thunrebe (now called Raeuschling) were cultivated, making the wine tradition over 1,000 years old. Today the vineyards cover approximately 11 hectares of south-facing slopes above the lake, producing about 80,000 bottles annually. The climate is made possible by Lake Thun's moderating influence and the warm Foehn wind from the south. A vineyard sensory adventure trail runs through the vines above the bay.

The Spiezer Schilling (also called the Spiezer Chronik) is a richly illuminated manuscript chronicle completed in 1484/85 by Diebold Schilling the Elder, court scribe of Bern. It was commissioned by Rudolf von Erlach, Schultheiss of Bern and lord of Spiez. Across 806 pages, it chronicles the history of Bern from its legendary founding through 1465 and contains 339 colored illustrations including 16 full-page miniatures and 323 smaller miniatures. It was Schilling's final and most artistically accomplished work before his death in 1486. The chronicle is held in the Burgerbibliothek Bern and can be viewed on the e-codices platform.

In the 1970s, plans were drawn up to build houses and a road through Spiez Bay, threatening its natural character. A citizens' group called 'Gruene Bucht Spiez' (Green Bay Spiez) formed and successfully fought the development for two decades. In 1990, at a ceremony honoring the group's conservation work, the famous environmentalist Franz Weber of Montreux declared: 'Spiez has the most beautiful bay in Europe.' The phrase 'Die schoenste Bucht Europas' became the town's iconic slogan, still used today. The unique panorama -- lake, vineyards, castle, and Alpine peaks in a single view -- is what gives the claim its power.

The original Loetschberg Tunnel (14.6 km) was built between 1907 and 1913 by the Bern-Loetschberg-Simplon railway (BLS), linking Kandersteg (Bern) with Goppenstein (Valais). Construction was marked by tragedy: in February 1908, an avalanche destroyed workers' quarters, killing 13; in July 1908, the tunnel broke into a glacial fissure beneath the Gasterntal, flooding the workface and killing 25 -- 1,554 meters of tunnel had to be abandoned and sealed. The line opened on July 15, 1913, with electrification from the start. The BLS control centre in Spiez monitors all traffic through both the original and the 2007 Base Tunnel.