A wave of modernisation is sweeping through the Alpine region. All that has proven successful in other tourism centres is adopted here too: from new architectural and interior design styles, through technical innovations, to modern forms of entertainment.
Guests are well-travelled and familiar with the latest trends. Local spa resorts adapt accordingly: their orchestras play the same popular tunes as in other European spa resorts. Kitchens serve dishes that meet current tastes and dietary fashions. New treatment methods are introduced, while hairdressers offer styles that are in vogue in the big cities.
Ice yachting in St. Moritz
Archiv culturel d’Engiadin’Ota, Zuoz
New arrivals, new ideas
People travelling for work, leisure or in search of adventure bring new ideas to the Alps. Visitors from Britain and America introduce tennis, curling and bobsleighing to St. Moritz. In Lech am Arlberg, visitors from near and far introduce skiing, thus laying the foundations for winter tourism. Doctors from outside the region use Meran as a testing ground for new spa treatments.
What is often initially viewed with scepticism quickly gains acceptance. If new ideas prove their worth, their creators are soon celebrated as pioneers, whose names lend prestige to a place and carry its reputation far beyond the region.
Captions
1.
In order to develop music for its spa guests, in 1855 Meran engages the Bohemian bandmaster Curt Kalpac: the future bandmaster Adalbert Schilha and his musicians also hail from that region. Their excellent training means that they are in great demand in the Alpine spa towns. Many have previously played in such renowned spas as Karlsbad, Marienbad or Franzensbad, bringing with them new forms of dance and light music. From the late 1860s onwards, Meran’s spa band also performs at the Kurhaus in Tarasp during the summer months.
Palais Mamming Museum, Meran/o
2.
On 31 August 1912, one of the world’s first cable cars begins running in Lana, a town near Meran. It is designed by the Swiss railway pioneer Emil Strub, who is also responsible for a novel system for rack-and-pinion railways that will be introduced on the Jungfrau and Ritten mountains, among others. By September 1912 over 9,000 passengers have used the cable car from Lana up to the peak of the Vigiljoch.
Touriseum – Südtiroler Landesmuseum für Tourismus/Museo provinciale del turismo, Meran/o
3.
A German doctor, Max Joseph Oertel, develops a promising outdoor therapy, known as the “terrain cure”, that involves walking at a moderate pace along precisely calculated routes so as to alleviate heart and circulatory problems. In 1885 he chooses Meran – known for its mild winter climate – as the first location to apply this treatment. Following the discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus, the town is forced to turn away patients with infectious lung diseases; Oertel helps Meran to establish a new medical profile.
Wiki Commons
4.
Wealthy winter visitors from Britain and America introduce the skeleton and bobsleigh to St. Moritz. These guests replace the local wooden sledges with technically superior steel bobsleighs, establish the world’s first bobsleigh association in the town and finance the construction of ice rinks. Pictured here is the German Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, trying his hand at bobsleighing in St. Moritz in 1911.
Bundesamt für Sport BASPO, Sportarchiv, Magglingen
Viktor Sohm (1869 Dornbirn – 1960 Trogen)
Around 1900, skiing pioneer Viktor Sohm from Vorarlberg leads numerous mountaineering and skiing expeditions in the Alps. In 1906 he runs the first skiing course in the Arlberg region.
Lechmuseum, Lech
Audio caption >
Back to overview >