Stans
Your child becomes the hero of a story set right here in Stans — at the city's real landmarks, in the familiar streets, in front of the buildings they know from everyday life.
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A fantasy adventure, a birthday gift, courage at the dentist, friendship on the first day of school — or any of 170+ themes from our library. Create a free account, pick your topic in the wizard, we set the story in Stans.
Or become part of the history of Stans
Below you find the historical tales of Stans — from old legends to famous local events. Create a free account, pick one as your starting point, your child takes a role inside it.
Historical tales from Stans
Real stories from the past of Stans — pick one and your child takes a role
The hermit's secret message
On a freezing December night in 1481, a child in Stans overhears that the Swiss cantons are about to go to war with each other. Racing through the snow to the Ranft gorge, the child reaches the hermit Brother Klaus and begs for help. Klaus entrusts a mysterious message to the child, who must carry it back to the Tagsatzung before dawn -- words so powerful they will save the Confederation, yet so secret that no one will ever know what they were.
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The Stanser Verkommnis (Treaty of Stans) of 22 December 1481 resolved the deepest crisis the young Swiss Confederation had faced, averting civil war between urban and rural cantons. After the Burgundian Wars (1474-1477), bitter disputes erupted over spoils and territory. The Tagsatzung (federal diet) convened in Stans on 18 December 1481, but negotiations nearly collapsed. Niklaus von Flue (Brother Klaus), the hermit of the Ranft gorge near Sachseln (1417-1487), intervened: the parish priest of Stans, Heini Amgrund, carried his message to the delegates on 22 December. The exact words remain unknown. Brother Klaus was canonized by Pope Pius XII on 15 May 1947 and is patron saint of Switzerland.
Winkelried's mail shirt
A child in the Nidwaldner Museum touches the old pierced mail shirt and is transported to the Battle of Sempach in 1386. Amid the clash of pikes and the cries of soldiers, the child witnesses Arnold von Winkelried's legendary sacrifice -- and must find the courage to understand what it truly means to give everything for others, guided by the hero of Stans himself.
Historical contextCreate This Story
According to Swiss historiography, Arnold von Winkelried was the hero of the Battle of Sempach on 9 July 1386, in which the Old Swiss Confederacy defeated the army of Habsburg Duke Leopold III of Austria. The legend tells that Winkelried cried 'I will open a passage into the line; protect, dear countrymen, my wife and children' and threw himself upon the Austrian lances, creating a gap for the Swiss to attack. Duke Leopold III was killed along with some 1,500 soldiers. A pierced mail shirt identified as Winkelried's was preserved in Stans. The Winkelrieddenkmal, carved in Carrara marble by Ferdinand Schloth, was inaugurated on 3 September 1865 on the Dorfplatz.
The teacher of Stans
After the devastation of the French invasion, an orphaned child arrives at Pestalozzi's makeshift school in the old convent of Stans. With no books, no supplies, and only one helper, the great teacher shows the child that learning begins not with reading but with being cared for -- through 'head, heart, and hand,' hope is rebuilt from the ashes of a destroyed homeland.
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After the devastating French invasion of September 1798, which killed 464 people and burned 547 houses across Nidwalden, many children were left orphaned and homeless. The educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) was recruited to run a new orphanage in the former Ursuline convent in Stans. It opened on 14 January 1799 with 50 beds; within six weeks, Pestalozzi cared for more than 80 children with only a single maid. His method focused on 'head, heart, and hand' -- establishing emotional well-being first, then practicing good behaviour, then rational reflection. The orphanage closed on 9 June 1799 when the French requisitioned the building as a military hospital.
CabriO to the clouds
A nervous child boards the open-top CabriO cable car for the first time, rising above Stans with nothing but sky overhead. At the summit, the Stanserhorn reveals its secret: a council of marmots who have been watching over the village for centuries. As the revolving restaurant slowly turns, each new Alpine panorama comes with a story the marmots have witnessed -- from the founding of the Confederation to the building of the world's first open-air cable car.
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The Stanserhorn (1,898 m) rises directly above Stans. A funicular railway was constructed in three sections between 1891 and 1893, breaking the world record for the longest funicular at that time. In 2012, the world's first CabriO aerial cableway was inaugurated -- a double-decker cable car with a roofless upper deck for 30 passengers (60 total), with no overhead cables obstructing the view. The journey combines heritage and modernity: visitors ride the restored 1893 wooden funicular on the lower section, then transfer to the CabriO for the upper section. The summit features Rondorama, a revolving restaurant (opened 2001) completing a full rotation in 45 minutes, with panoramic views spanning a 100-kilometre Alpine chain and 10 Swiss lakes.
The seven towers of Stans
Long ago, Stans was guarded by seven medieval towers, each holding a different secret. A child discovers that the Rosenburg -- the last tower still standing -- keeps the final mystery locked inside its 12th-century walls. To unlock it, the child must find the ghosts of the six vanished towers hidden throughout the village, each one revealing a piece of Stans's story from the Benedictine stewards to the great fire of 1713.
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In the Middle Ages, Stans was protected by seven towers. The Rosenburg (also called the Hoefli) is the most prominent surviving example, dating to the late 12th century. It was originally a residential tower of the noble Meiers (stewards) of the Benedictine Abbey of Murbach in Alsace. During the Renaissance, it served as residence of the extravagant Landammann Johannes Waser, and later the baroque seat of Landammann Nikolaus Keyser. Extensively restored 1977-1982, since November 2014 it houses the Literaturhaus Zentralschweiz. The Dorfplatz, rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1713, forms the heart of Stans with all streets converging in a star pattern.
The star-shaped village
A child notices that all streets in Stans lead to the Dorfplatz like the points of a star. Following each street reveals a different century of history: one leads past the baroque houses rebuilt after the 1713 fire, another to the Winkelried monument in its marble splendor, a third to the ancient Romanesque bell tower, and the last to the convent where Pestalozzi taught orphans to hope again. At the center of the star, all the centuries come together.
Historical contextCreate This Story
Stans is the capital of the canton of Nidwalden, one of Switzerland's original founding cantons from 1291. Despite its small population of approximately 8,500, it serves as seat of government and parliament for the entire canton. The town's distinctive layout sees all streets converging in a star-like pattern on the central Dorfplatz. The square is framed by baroque townhouses, the parish church of St. Peter and Paul (built 1641-1647 with a Romanesque bell tower from around 1200 AD), and the Rathaus (town hall, built 1715). The church houses the second oldest playable organ in Switzerland, dating to 1646.
The bell that survived the earthquake
Told from the bell's own perspective, this is the story of Melchior Lussi's chapel bell -- cast in the 16th century, it watched over a small chapel by the Stempbach until the great earthquake of 1601 shook it free from the rubble. Rescued and hung in the parish church tower, the bell has rung through four centuries of Stans history, and now tells a child what it has heard: prayers, celebrations, warnings, and the quiet hum of a village that never stops.
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Ritter Melchior Lussi had a chapel built near the Stempbach in 1576 with its own bell. When the chapel collapsed in the great earthquake of 1601, the bell survived and was transferred to the parish church tower of St. Peter and Paul, where it still hangs today. The parish church, built 1641-1647 by architect Jakob Berger, has a Romanesque bell tower from around 1200 AD. It also houses the Gospel bell (Evangelienglocke), cast in 1533 by master bell-founder Hans Fuessli of Zurich. The choir organ from 1646 is the second oldest playable organ in Switzerland.
Wings over Nidwalden
A child sneaks into the Pilatus Aircraft factory and discovers a small wooden training plane from 1939 that dreams of flying one last time. Together they soar over the Stanserhorn, Lake Lucerne, and the Engelberg valley, seeing all of Nidwalden from above -- the star-shaped village, the seven mountains, and the tiny canton that builds aircraft for the world from a runway hidden between the peaks.
Historical contextCreate This Story
Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. was founded on 16 December 1939 in Stans, established by Emil Georg Buehrle as a maintenance operation for the Swiss Air Force. Its headquarters and production remain at Buochs Airport in the municipality of Stans, chosen during wartime for its location far from Switzerland's borders. Key aircraft include the PC-6 Porter (1959, legendary STOL bush plane), PC-7 turbo trainer (1979), PC-12 single-engine turboprop (first flight 1991, over 2,000 delivered by 2023), and PC-24 super versatile jet (2015). Aircraft manufacturing is one of Nidwalden's most significant industries.
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