Rigi | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Peak | Rigi Kulm |
Elevation | 1,797.5 m (5,897 ft) [1] |
Prominence | 1,290 m (4,230 ft) [1] |
Isolation | 13.1 km (8.1 mi) [2] |
Coordinates | 47°03′24″N8°29′08″E / 47.05667°N 8.48556°E Coordinates: 47°03′24″N8°29′08″E / 47.05667°N 8.48556°E |
Geography | |
Country | Switzerland |
Cantons | Schwyz and Lucerne |
Parent range | Schwyzer Alps |
Topo map | Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo |
Climbing | |
Easiest route | Train and Cable-car |
The Rigi (or Mount Rigi; also known as Queen of the Mountains) is a mountain massif of the Alps, located in Central Switzerland. The whole massif is almost entirely surrounded by the water of three different bodies of water: Lake Lucerne, Lake Zug and Lake Lauerz. The range is in the Schwyzer Alps, and is split between the cantons of Schwyz and Lucerne, although the main summit, named Rigi Kulm, at 1,798 meters above sea level, lies within the canton of Schwyz. The Rigi Kulm Hotel, established in 1816, is located on the summit. [3]
The Rigi Kulm and other areas, such as the resort of Rigi Kaltbad, are served by Europe's oldest mountain railways, the Rigi Railways. The whole area offers many activities such as skiing or sledging in the winter, and hiking in the summer.
Name of peak | Height above sea | Canton |
---|---|---|
Rigi Kulm | 1,797.5 m (5,897 ft) | SZ |
Rotstock | 1,658 m (5,440 ft) | LU/SZ border |
Dosse | 1,684 m (5,525 ft) | LU/SZ border |
Scheidegg | 1,658 m (5,440 ft) | SZ |
Vitznauerstock (LU)/Gersauerstock (SZ) | 1,452 m (4,764 ft) | LU/SZ border |
Rigi Hochflue (Urmiberg) | 1,698 m (5,571 ft) | SZ |
The name Rigi is from Swiss Old High German *rigî "horizontal stratification, strip, band", from OHG rîhan "gird; pleat, string", cf. OHG rîga "row, stripe, furrow", after the horizontal rock ledges and grass strips surrounding the mountain from west to east. [4] [5] The name is first recorded in 1350 as Riginun.
The name was interpreted as Regina montium "queen of mountains" by Albrecht von Bonstetten (1479), who however gives Rigena as alternative form. [6]
Bonstetten's interpretation as Regina was influential in the 17th century, and was still repeated in 18th-century travelogues. Karl Zay (Goldau und seine Gegend, 1807) criticized this latinization, arguing for mons rigidus instead. Later in the 19th century, many authors repeated either rigidus or regina as the name's supposed origin. The two possibilities were also adduced as explanation of the name's grammatical gender alternating between masculine and feminine. [7] Brandstetter (Die Rigi, 1914) finally discredited these interpretations and established the origin in Old High German rîga (whence modern German Reihe, Reigen; cognate with English row).
There are multiple public transport options available to ascend Mount Rigi:
Mount Rigi offers an area for recreation and sports measuring approximately 90 square kilometres (35 sq mi) offering a variety of well-maintained walking trails or mountain hikes where visitors can have a panoramic view of 150 km (93 mi) from various marked points. There are also numerous public grilling stations located near the hiking trails.
Rigi is also a destination for people practising winter sports and other winter recreation activities.
Rigi has been featured in many works of art, including both paintings and literary publications. Perhaps the most famous paintings of the Rigi were a series by J. M. W. Turner, including The Blue Rigi, Sunrise , several of which are in the collection of the Tate Britain art gallery in London. [8]
Mark Twain also visited Rigi during his tour of Central Europe in the late 1870s, and wrote about his travels in chapter 28 of his A Tramp Abroad .
There is a Catskills resort called the Rigi Kulm in Abraham Cahan's novel The Rise of David Levinsky (1917).
The Rigi, a downhill road in Wellington, New Zealand, is named for the mountain and for many years was used as a main thoroughfare for coach riders. [9]
On 9 July 1868, during a three-week tour through Switzerland, Gerard Manley Hopkins ascended Rigi-Kulm, the highest peak of the Rigi massif: "From Lucerne by steamer to Küssnacht, thence walk across to Immensee, thence by steamer over lake of Zug to Arth, whence up the Rigi." [10]
Geologically, the Rigi is not a part of the Alps, and belongs instead to the Swiss plateau. It is mostly composed of molasse and other conglomerate, as opposed to the Bündner schist and flysch of the Alps.
Lake Lucerne is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country.
Goldau is a town in the community of Arth, canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. It lies between the Rigi and Rossberg mountains, and between lakes Zug and Lauerz. Well known attractions include the Natur- und Tierpark Goldau and the Arth-Goldau valley station of the Arth-Rigi Bahn connecting to the Rigi mountain.
Arth is a village, a town, and a municipality in Schwyz District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.
The Gotthard railway is the Swiss trans-alpine railway line from northern Switzerland to the canton of Ticino. The line forms a major part of an important international railway link between northern and southern Europe, especially on the Rotterdam-Basel-Genoa corridor. The Gotthard Railway Company was the former private railway company which financed the construction of, and originally operated, that line.
Rigi Railways is a railway company that operates a group of railways on the mountain Rigi, located between two of the arms of Lake Lucerne, in Switzerland. They include two standard gauge rack railways, the Vitznau–Rigi Bahn (VRB) and the Arth–Rigi Bahn (ARB), along with the Luftseilbahn Weggis–Rigi Kaltbad (LWRK) cable car.
Weggis is a municipality in the district of Lucerne in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland.
Brunnen is a resort on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, part of the municipality Ingenbohl, at 46°59′44″N8°36′17″E.
The Voralpen-Express (VAE) is a named train connecting small to medium-sized cities and villages in Central and Eastern Switzerland, carrying this name since 1992. It is operated by Südostbahn (SOB) and runs every hour between St. Gallen and Lucerne, bypassing Zurich. Its name derives from the fact that it traverses the Prealps.
The Südostbahn – commonly abbreviated to SOB – is a Swiss railway company, and a 1,435 mmstandard gauge network in Central and Eastern Switzerland. It resulted from the merger of the original SOB with the Bodensee–Toggenburg railway (BT) at the end of 2001.
Arth-Goldau railway station is a railway station in the Swiss canton of Schwyz and municipality of Arth. The station is located in the centre of the village of Goldau, which forms part of Arth.
Brunnen railway station is a railway station serving the resort of Brunnen, in the Swiss canton of Schwyz and municipality of Ingenbohl. It is located on the Gotthard railway, and is served by long-distance trains as well as by commuter and suburban trains.
Rigi Kaltbad is a resort in the Swiss Alps, located in the canton of Lucerne. The resort sits on a sunny terrace at an elevation of 1,433 metres (4,701 ft), overlooking Lake Lucerne above Weggis in Central Switzerland. The locality is part of the municipality of Weggis.
The Scheidegg is a mountain summit of the Rigi massif, overlooking Goldau in the canton of Schwyz on its north mountainside, and Gersau and the Gersauerbecken on its south side. The cable car station 160 metres east of it is called Rigi Scheidegg.
The Rigi–Scheidegg railway is a former railway line built high on the Rigi massif on the cantonal border between Lucerne and Schwyz in Switzerland. Today the line's trackbed, which is 6.7 kilometres (4 mi) in length, and includes a 70-metre (230 ft) tunnel and several bridges, is a rail trail, which serves as a panoramic footpath in summer, and as a route for cross-country skiing in winter.
The Rapperswil–Pfäffikon railway is a short single-track standard-gauge line connecting Pfäffikon in the Swiss canton of Schwyz and Rapperswil in St. Gallen over Lake Zürich.
The Arth–Rigi Railway is a Swiss standard gauge rack railway that runs from Arth-Goldau RB to Rigi. It was built by the eponymous Arth-Rigi-Bahn between 1873–1875 and operated by that company until its merger with the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn in 1992 to form Rigi Railways.
The Vitznau–Rigi Railway is a Swiss standard gauge rack railway that runs from Vitznau on the shore of Lake Lucerne to Rigi. It was built in 1871 by the Rigibahn, and is now owned by Rigi Railways, along with the Arth–Rigi Railway, which runs on the other side of the mountain, and the Weggis–Rigi Kaltbad cable car.
Küssnacht am Rigi railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Küssnacht, in the Swiss canton of Schwyz. It is an intermediate stop on the standard gauge Lucerne–Immensee line of Swiss Federal Railways.
The Rigi Kulm Hotel is located immediately below the 1,798 metres (5,899 ft) summit of Mount Rigi in the Alps in the canton of Schwyz, Switzerland, about ten miles south of Zurich and eight miles east of Lucerne. Opened in 1816, it can only be reached on foot or via the Vitznau–Rigi or Arth–Rigi railways. It is said that 125 named peaks and thirteen lakes are visible from the hotel.
Rigi Staffel railway station is a railway station at 1,604 m (5,262 ft) on Rigi at the junction of the rack railways Arth–Rigi Railway and Vitznau–Rigi Railway, just below the terminus Rigi Kulm. It is located in the municipality of Arth, canton of Schwyz, Switzerland.