(Redirected from Toggenburg (Switzerland))
'Toggenburg' is the name given to the upper valley of the river
Thur, in the
Swiss Canton of St. Gallen. Currently, it is one of the eight constituencies into which the canton is divided.
The valley descends in a northwestern direction from the watershed between the
Rhine and the Thur, and is enclosed on the northeast by the chain of the
Säntis (8216 ft.) and on the southwest by that of the
Churfirsten (7576 ft.) and of the
Speer (6411 ft.). It is a fertile valley of about 45 kilometers in length from the source of the river to
Wil on the railway line between
Winterthur and
St. Gallen. The upper half is traversed by an excellent road, while from Nesslau there is a railway to Wil (155 m.).
At
Wildhaus, the highest village (3632 ft.), the house wherein
Huldrych Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer, was born in
1484, is still shown. Other villages are
Lichtensteig,
Kirchberg and
Wattwil.
The extinction of the main line of the
counts of Toggenburg (
1436) led to the
Old Zürich War (
1440–
46) ultimately resulting in the temporary expulsion of
Zurich from the Swiss confederacy. Eventually, the Toggenburg passed to the lord of
Raron (in
Valais), who sold it in
1468 to the
abbot of St. Gall.
The
Toggenburg war of
1712 resulted in a balance of power between Catholic and Protestant cantons, ultimately leading to the formation of
Switzerland as a federal state.
Gallery
References
★
External links
★ http://www.toggenburg.org tourist information in German