The Stockalper Palace (German: ''Stockalperpalast'') is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Brig-Glis Brig, officially Brig-Glis (french: Brigue-Glis; it, Briga-Glis), is a historic town and municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The current municipality was formed in 1972 through the merger of Brig (city) ...

, Switzerland. It was built between 1658 and 1678 by Kaspar Stockalper, a silk merchant of Brig. The Stockalper Palace was the largest private construction in Switzerland at the time. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

History

The first building on the site is known as the Stockalper House, which was built in 1532 by Peter Stockalper. Over the following century it was expanded toward the north, but it remained generally unchanged until the rise of Kaspar Stockalper. Kaspar Stockalper was born to a wealthy family in Brig on 14 July 1609. After studying at the university in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

from 1627 to 1629, he returned to Brig and began building an extensive trading empire. By 1647 he had the local

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quanti ...

monopoly and built a road over the

Simplon pass The Simplon Pass (french: Col du Simplon; german: Simplonpass; it, Passo del Sempione, Lombard: ''Pass del Sempiün'') () is a high mountain pass between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps in Switzerland. It connects Brig in the canton o ...

which gave him a monopoly on trade over this pass. Between 1651 and 1659 he built a canal from

Vouvry Vouvry () is a municipality in the district of Monthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Vouvry is first mentioned in 1018 as ''Vobreium'' and ''Wovregium''. Geography Vouvry has an area, , of . Of this area, or 36.2% is used ...

to Collombey which expanded his trading empire. At the peak of his power, Kaspar employed around 5,000 people (at that time Brig only had about 900 residents).Swiss castles.ch
accessed 11 August 2016 Between 1630 and 1640 Kaspar expanded the Stockalper House toward the south with a great hall, chapel and other construction. The great hall was decorated with a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...

in 1653. The chapel altar is black with silver

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s depicting the

Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star ...

and the

Coronation of the Virgin The Coronation of the Virgin or Coronation of Mary is a subject in Christian art, especially popular in Italy in the 13th to 15th centuries, but continuing in popularity until the 18th century and beyond. Christ, sometimes accompanied by God th ...

, both of which were the work of Samuel Hornung of

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the '' ...

in 1655. A two-story covered

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

leads from the Stockalper House to the much larger Palace.Federal Office for Civil Protection quoting GSK: Kunstführer durch die Schweiz. Bern
accessed 16 August 2016 Kaspar's extensive trade empire required an extensive warehouse and in 1658 he began construction on the Palace to provide that space. Construction of the long building lasted 20 years. Once it was completed, Kaspar did not get many opportunities to enjoy his monumental building. In 1679 the communities of

Visp Visp (french: Viège) is the capital of the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Geography Visp lies in the Rhône valley, at the confluence of the Vispa and the Rhône, west of Brig-Glis. Visp has an area, , of . ...

Leuk Leuk (french: Loèche-Ville) is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013, the former municipality of Erschmatt merged into the municipality of Leuk.Sierre Sierre (; german: Siders, ; frp, Siérro, ) is the capital municipality of the district of Sierre, located in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It has a population of 16,332. Sierre is nicknamed City of the Sun (french: Cité du Soleil) for ...

and Sion rose up against him and drove him into exile in

Domodossola Domodossola (; Lombard: Dòm) is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the region of Piedmont, northern Italy. It was also known as Oscela, Oscella, Oscella dei Leponzi, Ossolo, Ossola Lepontiorum, and Domo d'Ossol ...

. Six years later, in 1685, the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

of Valais negotiated an agreement that allowed Kaspar to return and live out his last years in his Palace. In 1948 the city took over the Palace and in 1960 the city council moved in. A museum was established in the Palace and some of the rooms were renovated and used for concerts and exhibitions. Since 2010 the courtyard and surrounding parks have been included in

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since exp ...

. Today, there are guided tours which allow visitors to tour many parts of the building.Tour information for the Palace
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Castle site

The Palace was built next to the smaller 16th century

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Stockalper House. It is a rectangular building with three towers on the north-west, south-west and south-east corners. The interior features a large, rectangular courtyard () with arcades in the style of the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

. The

baluster A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

s that line the second story are not original, but were added later. The three towers were named for the

Three kings The biblical Magi from Middle Persian ''moɣ''(''mard'') from Old Persian ''magu-'' 'Zoroastrian clergyman' ( or ; singular: ), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, also the Three Magi were distinguished foreigners in the ...

or Wise Men of the Bible. The tallest was named after

Saint Caspar Saint Caspar (otherwise known as Casper, Gaspar, Kaspar, and other variations) was one of the 'Three Kings', along with Melchior and Balthazar, representing the wise men or 'Biblical Magi' mentioned in the Bible in the Gospel of Matthew, verse ...

as well as Kaspar Stockalper. The other two were then named

Melchior Melchior is the name traditionally given to one of the biblical Magi appearing in the Gospel of Matthew. There are many notable people with this name, or close variations. As a first name * Melchior Anderegg (1828–1914), Swiss mountain guide * ...

and Balthazar, the traditional names of the Wise Men.

Gallery

File:Swiss Brig Stockalperpalast.jpg, Stockalper Palace, Courtyard File:Castello Stockalper.jpg, Castle and gardens File:Brig Stockalperpalast (Nov. 2013).jpg, Stockalper Palace in winter File:CH-NB - Brig, Stockalperschloss, vue d'ensemble - Collection Max van Berchem - EAD-7591.tif, Picture of the Palace by

Max van Berchem Edmond Maximilien Berthout van Berchem (16 March 1863, Geneva – 7 March 1921, Vaumarcus) commonly known as Max van Berchem, was a Swiss Philology, philologist, epigraphist and historian. Best known as the founder of Arabic epigraphy in the W ...

in 1902 File:CH-NB - Brig, Stockalperschloss, vue partielle - Collection Max van Berchem - EAD-7595.tif, Details of the Palace by Max van Berchem, 1902 File:CH-NB - Brig, Stockalperschloss, vue partielle - Collection Max van Berchem - EAD-7594.tif, Details of the Palace by Max van Berchem, 1902 File:Flickr - …trialsanderrors - Stockalper Palace at Brigue, Valais, Switzerland, ca. 1895.jpg,

Photochrom Photochrom, Fotochrom, Photochrome or the Aäc process is a process for producing colorized images from a single black-and-white photographic negative via the direct photographic transfer of the negative onto lithographic printing plates. The pr ...

of Stockalper between 1890 and 1900 File:Brigue - Ancien et nouveau Château de Stockalper.jpg, Stockalper House on the left

References

External links

Stockalper's Castle Brig
(valais.ch)
Geschichte und Geschichten entdecken
brig-belalp.ch {{Authority control Castles in the canton of Valais Cultural property of national significance in Valais Brig-Glis Museums in Valais Historic house museums in Switzerland Buildings and structures completed in 1678 1678 establishments in Europe

History

Castle site

Gallery

See also

References

External links