Storm Rescue operation for Bronze Age spring trench in St. Moritz
Cultural heritage conservationists from the Graubünden Civil Defense are dismantling the damaged historical spring tapping of the Mauritius spring in St. Moritz.
Image: Keystone
When the flood water entered the exhibition room in St. Moritz-Bad, the 3400-year-old wooden construction of the spring tapping floated up and was damaged. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Cultural heritage conservationists from the Graubünden Civil Defense are dismantling the damaged historical spring tapping of the Mauritius spring in St. Moritz.
Image: Keystone
When the flood water entered the exhibition room in St. Moritz-Bad, the 3400-year-old wooden construction of the spring tapping floated up and was damaged. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
A nine-strong team of experts has begun rescue work on the damaged 3,400-year-old spring in the Forum Paracelsus in St. Moritz-Bad. The wooden spring tapping from the Bronze Age was lifted out of its anchoring and damaged during last Sunday's flood.
10.07.2024, 16:32
SDA
The flood had flooded the Forum Paracelsus to a depth of 170 centimeters, as the municipality of St. Moritz announced on Wednesday. When the water entered the exhibition space, the historic wooden structure floated up and was damaged. It is not yet possible to say how severe the damage to the 100 or so parts of the frame is, the municipality wrote.
Since Tuesday, experts from the Graubünden Archaeological Service and the Cultural Property Protection Department of the Civil Defense have been dismantling the components of the spring tapping, documenting their condition, cleaning them and moving them to a dry storage location. After the renovation of the Forum Paracelsus, the catchment will be returned there.
The Mauritius spring was built in 1411 BC from several hundred-year-old larch trees. It consists of three hollowed-out tree trunks as well as beams and thick boards. The hollowed-out trunks were buried in the ground at the time of use. The water from the spring collected in them.
According to the municipality, the St. Moritz healing springs are the oldest healing springs in the Alps. They marked the beginning of tourism, as wealthy guests from all over Europe traveled to St. Moritz as early as the Bronze Age to drink the healing waters or bathe in them. The spring is probably the oldest relic of early tourism in the Alps, the municipality emphasized.
