Wengen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wengen is a village in the Bernese Oberland situated at the foot of the Jungfrau mountain in central Switzerland. It is one of very few car-free resort villages in Europe.

It is reachable by rail, using the Wengernalpbahn from Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald, or by cable-car. Wengen has approximately 1,400 year-round residents. This nummer swells to 5,000 during summer and to 10,000 during the winter peak tourist season. Wengen is internationally renowed for staging the Lauberhorn ski races.

[edit] History

Wengen was first mentioned in offical documents in 1268. The origin of the name is unknown.

Originally a farming community, the first tourists started to arrive in the mountain village during the early 19th century. One of the first visitors was Felix Mendelssohn. The first hotel opened in 1859 and tourism greatly expanded after the construction of the Wengernalpbahn in the 1890s.

Since 1930, the famous Lauberhorn ski races have been held in Wengen. The races tradionally consist of a downhill run, a slalom, and a combined event. In addition to being one of the technically most challenging downhill races, the Lauberhorn is the longest race in the FIS world cup circuit and arguably the most scenic. An average world cup racer completes the 4,455 meter run in about 2:30 minutes. The top speeds reached at Haneggschuss are the highest in the world cup circuit.