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Barrage de Mattmark

Site Canton of Valais · District: Visp · Uninhabited site (municipality of Saas-Almagell)
Part of the municipality of Saas-Almagell
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Must-see historical sites Remains Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Barrage de Mattmark

The dam is named after Mattmark, at the head of the Saas valley. Around 1300 the place already marked the limit of the alpine pastures that the valley's inhabitants bought back from the Blandrate, between the Martiswald and Mattmark. The meaning of the name is unexplained.[1]

Founding of Barrage de Mattmark

Long before the dam, Mattmark had a natural lake, held back by the tongue of the Allalin glacier, which blocked the valley. From the 15th to the 19th century its outbursts are often named as the cause of severe water damage in Valais. The first experts came to the Saas valley in the 1950s. Kraftwerke Mattmark AG then built a dam to feed a hydroelectric power station. The installation concerns the valley's four municipalities, but territorial sovereignty lies with Saas-Almagell. Elektrowatt, where the engineer Roger Bonvin had worked, was the company in charge of construction.[1][4][5]

History of Barrage de Mattmark

around 1300. The people of the Saas valley buy the alpine pastures between the Martiswald and Mattmark from the Blandrate, counts of Visp.[1]

1633. On 4 August, Lake Mattmark suddenly empties. It is one of the strongest of the thirty or so outbursts known over four centuries.[5]

1772. Another major outburst of the lake, on 17 September.[5]

1825. The Allalin glacier reaches its maximum extent.[5]

1834. On 27 August, the third of the great outbursts of the lake.[5]

around 1925. Until then the Allalin glacier blocks the main valley like a dam of ice. Afterwards its tongue lies 300 m above the valley floor.[5]

1927. A tunnel finally diverts the Vispa.[5]

1960-1965. Kraftwerke Mattmark AG builds the dam, with work starting in May 1960 (completed in 1967 or 1969 according to other sources).[1][3][6]

1961. The hamlet of Zer Meiggeru and its chapel of St Anne, built in 1707, disappear with the construction of the dam.[2]

1963. The site employs 1'400 workers, housed in the barrack village of Zermeiggern.[4]

1965. On Monday 30 August at 5.15 pm, part of the Allalin glacier collapses onto the site's workshops, offices, canteens and dormitories. The 88 dead are 56 Italians, 23 Swiss, 4 Spaniards, 2 Austrians, 2 Germans and one stateless person. In October, 61 people are still missing.[1][3][4]

1967. Three experts, from Austria, Germany and France, deliver an international report on the disaster.[4]

1969. The hydroelectric power station goes into service.[1]

1972. After seven years of investigation, the Visp district court acquits the 17 defendants. On 18 March a demonstration takes place in Geneva. In September the cantonal court in Sion upholds the acquittal and charges half of the costs to the plaintiffs, mostly the victims' families. The Italian state eventually pays them.[3][4]

1993. After the flood, the crest of the spillway is raised by 2 m.[6]

2015. On 30 August, fifty years after the disaster, a new memorial stone is unveiled at the site of the tragedy.[3]

2022. The protection period for the trial records ends and they become accessible.[3][4]

Historic sites in Barrage de Mattmark

Mattmark dam. Earth dam with a sealing core, 117 m high (120 m according to another source) and 780 m long at the crest. Its body holds 10.5 million m³ of material. It is regarded as the largest earth dam in Europe. The crest lies at about 2'200 m.[3][6][7]

Reservoir. The lake, fed by the Saaser Vispa and by water intakes in a catchment area of 88 km², has a usable volume of 100 million m³. An almost level path leads around it in about 2 hours 30 minutes, with views as far as the Monte Moro pass.[3][6][7]

Allalin glacier. Glacier whose tongue once blocked the valley and held back the natural Lake Mattmark. Part of this tongue collapsed onto the construction site in 1965.[1][5]

Remains in Barrage de Mattmark

Memorial stone. Stone unveiled on 30 August 2015 at the site of the disaster, in memory of the 88 workers who died in 1965. A memorial ceremony for the victims is held every year.[3][4]

Sources

  1. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Vallée de Saas » (Paul Martone, trad. Laurent Auberson, version du 06.01.2012)
  2. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Saas-Almagell » (Paul Martone, trad. Florence Piguet, version du 09.02.2011)
  3. Sonia Fenazzi, « Mattmark, une page dramatique de l'histoire suisse », swissinfo.ch, 28.08.2015
  4. Luca Beti, « Unglück am Mattmark-Staudamm: Als eine Eislawine 88 Arbeiter unter sich begrub », swissinfo.ch, 29.08.2025
  5. Wolfgang Schweizer, « Gletscherseen. Gedanken zur Klassifikation mit besonderer Berücksichtigung von Beispielen aus den Schweizeralpen », Geographica Helvetica 12 (1957)
  6. Comité suisse des barrages (swissdams), fiche « Mattmark » (données techniques)
  7. Valais/Wallis Promotion, « Mattmark » (données techniques et chemin du lac)
  8. geo.admin.ch, recherche de lieux, Staudamm Mattmark (coordonnées)

Other villages near Barrage de Mattmark

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