Rudolf Leuzinger (Netstal, December 17, 1826 - Mollis, January 11, 1896) was a Swiss cartographer. He is known as one of the most prolific cartographers in Switzerland and one of the best interpreters of mountain landscapes and geologic forms. Leuzinger was also the first to produce terrain maps in color lithography. His more than 300 maps are a rare combination of accuracy, scientific thoroughness and artistry and earned him several national and international honors. [1]
Rudolf Leuzinger was the son of master carpenter Jacob Leuzinger and Barbara Weber. As a young orphan, he grew up in the ‘Linthkolonie’, an educational institution for poor children and orphans near Ziegelbrücke, Canton of Glarus. In 1851 he married Barbara Trümpi (1828-1859) in 1859 he married her sister Rosina Trümpi (1838-1910). Leuzinger died at the age of 69 from heart failure. [2]
In 1844 after a brief apprenticeship with a stonemason in Wädenswil, Leuzinger started as an apprentice at the lithographic section of the geographic institute Wurster & Comp. in Winterthur which at the time was led by the cartographer Jacob Melchior Ziegler. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked for several years as a cartographer on the topographical maps of the Canton of St. Gallen and Canton of Appenzell (16 sheets, 1849-1851), the Atlas of all Continents (1851), the hypsometric Atlas (1856) and the topographic map of the island of Madeira (1856). Own work from that period concerns maps of the Canton of St. Gallen, Canton of Ticino, Canton of Graubünden, Canton of Glarus and Canton of Freiburg as well as a map of the island of Sumbawa.
After 15 years at Wurster's, Leuzinger founded his own cartographic and lithographic institute in the city of Glarus in 1859. It soon became known for its scientifically and technically valuable productions, including map engraving. It so happened that in 1860 Leuzinger was commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III to produce some maps for his "Histoire de Jules César" in Paris. In 1861 he accepted the invitation of the Berne cantonal government to come work for the cantonal forestry and construction directorate (kantonal Forst- und Baudirektion) in Bern. Here he produced several school maps, tourist maps and maps as attachments to a number of scientific works.
A new work field presented itself in 1863 as the newly established Swiss Alpine Club decided to issue yearbooks including maps. Many of these tour maps were engraved by Leuzinger and hence almost all volumes contained work by his hand. Because the tour maps were often based on the original geodesic recording by the Federal Topographical Bureau (Eidgenössisches Topographisches Bureau), Leuzinger developed a close relationship with this organisation, in particular with Colonel Hermann Siegfried. When in 1868 the Federal Parliament (Bundesversammlung) decided to issue a new Topographic Atlas of Switzerland, Siegfried commissioned Leuzinger to do the difficult engravings of the mountains – based on the original maps of Dufour and Siegfried himself. Leuzinger then made no less than 117 monochrome engravings for which he was lauded both in Switzerland and abroad. He also made many other maps, partly in copper engraving, partly in chromolithography, highlights being some maps of Switzerland, maps of the Canton of Neuchâtel Canton of Bern and Canton of Aargau, special maps of Central Switzerland, Bernese Oberland, Grindelwald area and the mountain Rigi as well as a large map of France.
As off 1881 he continued his work from Haltli and then as off 1891 from "Ober-Haltli" [3] in Mollis in his native Canton of Glarus. This period includes his terrain maps of Switzerland, South-Bavaria, Tyrol and Salzburg and Palestine, a travel map of Northern Italy, a railway map of Europe in 6 sheets, numerous small maps for Baedeker's and Meyer's travel guides and the terrain indications for Imfeld's famous Mont Blanc-map. [1]
Through marriage of his daughter Rosina Susanna in 1876, Leuzinger became the father in law of Eduard Rubin, Swiss Colonel and the inventor of the full metal jacket bullet and military Schmidt-Rubin rifles.
The Federal Charter or Letter of Alliance is one of the earliest constitutional documents of Switzerland. A treaty of alliance from 1291 between the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, the Charter is one of a series of alliances from which the Old Swiss Confederacy emerged. In the 19th and 20th century, after the establishment of the Swiss federal state, the Charter became the central founding document of Switzerland in the popular imagination.
The canton of St. Gallen, also canton of St Gall, is a canton of Switzerland. The capital is St. Gallen.
Hans-Rudolf Merz is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2010. A member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP/PRD) until the foundation of FDP.The Liberals in 2009, he headed the Federal Department of Finance during his tenure as a Federal Councillor. Merz served as President of the Swiss Confederation in 2009.
Glarus is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.
Each of the 26 modern cantons of Switzerland has an official flag and a coat of arms. The history of development of these designs spans the 13th to the 20th centuries.
The Protestant Church in Switzerland, formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The PCS is not a church in a theological understanding, because every member is independent with their own theological and formal organisation. It serves as a legal umbrella before the federal government and represents the church in international relations. Except for the Evangelical-Methodist Church, which covers all of Switzerland, the member churches are restricted to a certain territory.
Mollis is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Mollis is part of the municipality of Glarus Nord.
The cartography of Switzerland is the history of surveying and creation of maps of Switzerland. Switzerland has had its current boundaries since 1815, but maps of the Old Swiss Confederacy were drawn since the 16th century. The first topographical survey on a federal level began in 1809, resulting in the Topographic Map of Switzerland or Dufour Map. From 1869 to 1901, this map was replaced by the Topographic Atlas of Switzerland or Siegfried Map.
The Dunantspitze, formerly called Ostspitze, is a peak of the Monte Rosa Massif in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland. It is the second highest peak of the massif, after the Dufourspitze (4,634 m) and the second highest summit in Switzerland, but its prominence is only about 15 metres. At the time of its first ascent it was unclear which of the summits was the higher.
Eduard Alexander Rubin was a Swiss mechanical engineer who is most notable for having invented the full metal jacket bullet in 1882. His most famous cartridge was the 7.5×55mm Swiss which was the standard ammunition for the Schmidt–Rubin, K31 and Stgw 57 military rifles. Besides the full metal jacket bullet, Rubin developed the military Schmidt-Rubin rifle, the Rubin-Fornerod ignition mechanism and the use of TNT and ammonium nitrate to replace gunpowder in artillery grenades. His fully copper clad bullets were also the inspiration for the full metal jacket bullets introduced in 1886 for the Lebel rifle. He served as director of the Swiss Federal Ammunition Factory and Research Center in Thun. He held the rank of colonel in the Swiss military and was married to Rosina Susanna Leuzinger, daughter of Swiss cartographer Rudolf Leuzinger.
The Topographic Atlas of Switzerland, also known as the Siegfried Atlas or Siegfried Map is an official map series of Switzerland. Its publication was begun by the Federal Topographic Bureau under Hermann Siegfried, and continued from 1870 to 1926. During this period the individual maps were drawn by different lithographers, including Walter Hauenstein, Georg Christian von Hoven and Rudolf Leuzinger. Since it is, in today's parlance, not strictly an atlas but a map series, map historians now describe it only by the expression Siegfried Map.
The Topographic Map of Switzerland, also known as the Dufour Map is a 1:100 000 scale map series depicting Switzerland for the first time based on accurate geometric measurements. It is also the oldest official map series of Switzerland.
Glarus Nord is one of three municipalities of the canton of Glarus, Switzerland.
Ziegelbrücke railway station is a junction station in the village of Ziegelbrücke in Switzerland. Whilst the village is shared between the municipality of Glarus Nord, in the canton of Glarus, and the municipality of Schänis, in the canton of St. Gallen, the station is located in Schänis.
Glarus railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Glarus in the Swiss canton of Glarus. It is an intermediate stop on the Ziegelbrücke–Linthal line.
The Toggenburg War, also known as the Second War of Villmergen or the Swiss Civil War of 1712, was a Swiss civil war during the Old Swiss Confederacy from 12 April to 11 August 1712. The Catholic "inner cantons" and the Imperial Abbey of Saint Gall fought the Protestant cantons of Bern and Zürich as well as the abbatial subjects of Toggenburg. The conflict was a religious war, a war for hegemony in the Confederacy and an uprising of subjects. The war ended in a Protestant victory and upset the balance of political power within the Confederacy.
Eidgenössische Schützenfeste are the Swiss federal shooting competitions organized by the Schweizerischer Schützenverein since 1824.
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