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MATTERHORN MUSEUM - ZERMATTLANTIS
Zermatt and Matterhorn Climbing History Underworld
Zermatt Switzerland
is defined by the Matterhorn. The town in the Matter Valley of the
southern Swiss Alps, one of the world’s premiere
destinations would have been a sleepy little mountain farm village of
cows if it were not for the famous mountain which stands over it, attracting
climbers to its sharp silhouette, and tourists to its all year round
snows, spa and mountain meadows. The first successful attempt to climb
the peak in 1865 ended in a tragedy which brought the mountain to worldwide
notoriety, attracting even more climbers and tourists. There had been
18 unsuccessful attempts to climb the mountain beginning in 1857, fifteen
from the Italian side and three from Switzerland, until Englishmen
Edward Wymper and Lord Francis Douglas met up with Reverend Charles
Hudson and
Douglas Robert Hadow for a joint climb, with father and son guides, Peter
Taugwalder 
junior and senior. At 1:40 pm on July 14, the group reached
the peak, beating out an Italian team that had set out before. On the
descent, as the seven climbers were roped together, the inexperienced
Robert Hadow slipped and four of the group fell to their deaths on the
glacier below. Later accusations of the survivors that either Whymper
or the elder guide Taugwalder had cut the rope to save themselves brought
worldwide attention to the controversy and the mountain. Zermatt’s
first hotel, the Monte Rosa began to regularly fill with tourists eager
to see or climb Europe most famous mountain.
The Matterhorn Museum
Zermattlantis is located underground below a glass dome at the Church
Plaza in the center of the village, surrounded by
the 5 classic resort hotels of the Zermatterhof, Mont Cervin and the
recently renovated Monte Rosa Hotel, where climbers first gathered in
the – to talk of exploits and adventure. The museum now occupies
the space of the former Zermatt Casino, seen only as a glass dome from
above, the museum is an subterranean re-creation of Zermatt as it was
in the 1800s. Zermatt is unique in that much of its 500 year history
remains in the village of ancient wooden barns and houses surrounded
by the family owned resort hotels and bars, but below ground the town
is displayed almost as an archaeological dig.
Perhaps
the centerpiece is the recreated Monte Rosa Hotel as it was first opened
by hotel and
tourism pioneer Alexander Sieler, when mostly
British wealthy class visitors began to come to Zermatt for the mountain
made famous by tragedy and later attracted to the spa waters and grand
hotels built for them, the beginning modern tourism. Walt Disney came
to Zermatt, and so impressed with the Matterhorn and Swiss Alpine culture
he made the mountain the centerpiece of his Disneyland amusement Park
with a bobsled inspired roller coaster. 
The
museum is a bit reminiscent of a Disney style Zermatt underworld, with
houses, barns and trees, even a 19th Century church
chapel as they
were before
the Gotthard Railway and the Glacier Express brought the modern age to
ageless Zermatt. Aside from photographs, documents, a multimedia presentation
of the mountain and the village, and antique mountaineering equipment,
perhaps the premiere artifact at the museum is a section of the original
rope of the first successful Matterhorn climb and the tragic origin of
Zermatt’s place as one of the world’s most unique tourism
destinations.
Visiting the Matterhorn Museum
The museum
is easy to find, right in the center of the village, open from 11am
to 6pm in the summer months June thru September, 2pm to 6pm
March-May and October, 3pm to 7pm from mid-December to Easter, closed
in November to mid-December. Admission is 10CHF for adults 8 CHF for
students, 5 CHF for children 10 to 16. The museum is free with a Swiss
Pass or Museum Pass (see Swiss
Pass -Rail, Bus or Boat).
You can easily view the Matterhorn without climbing, by cable (see Klein Matterhorn Glacier Paradise) or cogwheel train rail (Gornergrat Matterhorn Rail), but if you want to climb the Matterhorn yourself, or Zermatt’s other craggy peaks, check out the Zermatt Alpine Center down the street. © Bargain Travel Europe
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Take
the Glacier
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Zermatt to St. Moritz
Web Info
Matterhorn
Museum
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may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
SEE
ALSO:
GLACIER
EXPRESS SCENIC RAIL
HOTEL
ALEX -ZERMATT
WALLISERHOF CHALET HOTEL - ZERMATT
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