Simmental house paths

Admire the fine carpentry and magnificent facade paintings on the Simmental houses and get to know the peculiarities of this building culture. The signposted Upper Simmental House Trail takes you past the most admirable buildings dating back to the 15th century. A harmonious architectural masterpiece.

The Heritage Society strives to preserve and maintain the face of our landscape, those witnesses of building culture. The buildings that shape the character of the local settlement landscape. As many of these outstanding witnesses can be found away from busy traffic routes, these treasures of local building culture are made accessible to the general public with the signposted house trails. The Simmental houses are an expression of the great wealth that the breeding and export of the now world-famous Simmental cows brought to the sunny mountain valley early on. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the joy of decoration and the need for ornamentation reached their peak. The façade of the residential buildings facing the valley or the street became a showcase for the social status of the owners and the craftsmanship of the master carpenters. In most of the wooden buildings, the front of the parlor storey is studded, while the rest of the woodwork is joined in log construction. The gently sloping gable roofs were covered with shingles and Schwaar stones, so-called Schwaar roofs, until the 19th century. Structural elements are used for decoration. Sills, window sills and frets are carved and often painted. The surfaces in between encourage extensive free painting.