Disentis/Mustér

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Coordinates: 46°42′N 8°52′E

Disentis/Mustér
Canton	Grisons
District	Surselva
Coordinates	46°42′N 8°52′E
Population	2186   (December 2003)
Area	91.08 km²
Elevation	1130 m
Postal code	7180
SFOS number	3982
Mayor	Aldo Tuor
Website	www.disentis.ch
Disentis/Mustér

Disentis (German) or Mustér (Romansh), with its official name Disentis/Mustér is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.

The skiing and summer tourism resort high up in the Rhine valley is the site of one of the oldest Benedictine monasteries in Switzerland.

Contents 1 Situation 2 Culture 3 History 4 Tourism 5 External links

[edit] Situation

Disentis lies on the highest step of the Rhine valley, where the roads of the Oberalp pass coming from central and western Switzerland and of the Lukmanier pass coming from the Ticino meet. It is a train station of the Glacier Express, connected by train and road to the Valais via Oberalp pass and to Chur following the Rhine valley. The Lukmanier pass road is in summer served by a post bus line.

[edit] Culture

Official language of the municipality is Romansh Sursilvan. German is second language and persons of Romansh mother tongue also speak German. Communal laws, though, exist only in Romansh.

Disentis is today one of the most important centers of the Romansh language, especially of its Sursilvan dialect. It also plays an important role as cultural center through the high school of the monastery.

[edit] History

The name Disentis is supposed to come from Latin Desertina, used for the deserted valley in late antique times, the Romansh name Mustér refers to the monastery.

Disentis Abbey, founded in ca. 720, was already in early medieval times the cultural and political center of the later Grisons. Situated on the road to the Lukmanier pass used by the German emperors on their way to Italy, Disentis became a place of international importance in the high Middle Ages and the prince abbot of Disentis was the lord of the Rhine valley. In the later Middle Ages, the farmer communities in the valleys became stronger and the influence of the monastery decreased, but the abbot of Disentis still played an important role in the founding of the Grey League in 1395.

When the Grey League became a formal ally of the Swiss Confederation in 1497, Disentis, at the foot of the Oberalp pass which was the nearest connection to the confederation, was again in a strategically important situation, but later on it was overtaken in importance by the larger Ilanz.

[edit] Tourism

Tourism started around 1870 and today Disentis is a resort Disentis offering 150 km hiking trails in summer and 30 km cross country tracks in winter. There are 14 hotels and 21 restaurants, and together with neighbour municipality Sedrun, Disentis offers a total of 10'000 beds in hotels and holiday apartments.

[edit] External links

• Official webpage of the municipality Disentis/Mustér (German) (Romansh)
• Tourism information
• Disentis/Mustér in German, French or Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.