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Villages / Valais / Visp district / Oberstalden and Unterstalden

Oberstalden and Unterstalden

Canton of Valais · District: Visp · No published figure for the locality; the municipality of Visperterminen has 1'301 inhabitants (31.12.2025, provisional FSO figure)
Part of the municipality of Visperterminen
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Remains Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Oberstalden and Unterstalden

The two hamlets share the name Stalden, preceded by Ober and Unter. Kleindörfli, which formed a municipality with them in the Middle Ages, was formerly called Hinterstalden. This name has not been explained.[2][6]

Founding of Oberstalden and Unterstalden

Ober- and Unterstalden are hamlets of the municipality of Visperterminen. Oberstalden lies at about 1'000 m on the steep slope above Visp. From the Bronze Age the site was home to a community of herders and farmers, who built artificial terraces for their fields and houses. Iron Age graves also point to early settlement of this sunny slope above the Vispa. From one period to the next the houses moved down the slope, towards the present village. In the Middle Ages Ober- and Unterstalden formed a municipality with Kleindörfli and Bitzinen.[1][2][5][6]

History of Oberstalden and Unterstalden

around 1500 BC. At the end of the Early Bronze Age a first terrace is inhabited high on the slope.[1]

around 1200 BC-50 AD. The settlement remains in the same place until the early Roman period.[1]

2nd-5th centuries. The buildings now stand lower down, towards the present village.[1]

6th-11th centuries. A new phase of settlement, still lower on the slope.[1]

16th century. Ober- and Unterstalden join Ob dem grossen Stein, Niederhäusern and Parmili to form the municipality of Visperterminen.[2][7]

1715. A municipal merger, followed a year later by separation from the parish of Visp, strengthens the movement of inhabitants to the main village of Visperterminen.[6]

1793. Oberstalden builds its chapel of St Catherine.[6]

1931-1936. During the crisis years the municipality is at last reached by a carriage road.[6]

late 20th century. First rescue excavations, repeated several times since.[1]

Population of Oberstalden and Unterstalden

Sources and references: [6]

Population of Oberstalden and Unterstalden
179812 year-round inhabitants (Oberstalden)
199633 inhabitants (Oberstalden)

Historic sites in Oberstalden and Unterstalden

Chapel of St Catherine. A plain, elongated building with a small bell turret above the entrance front, it stands by the road at the entrance to Oberstalden.[6]

The two hamlets. Oberstalden occupies a sunny terrace of the Terminerberg, near the Heida vineyards, presented as the highest in Europe. About a third of the buildings are dwellings, often on a grey-plastered stone base with two, rarely three, log storeys. Cellar doors and vines on the façades recall winegrowing. Unterstalden, lower down on a steep slope, is linked to Oberstalden by steep footpaths and counts among the built sites of national importance.[6]

Remains in Oberstalden and Unterstalden

Oberstalden archaeological site. The settlement from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages is listed as cultural property of national importance (category A). The excavations have been published in a monograph by Philippe Curdy and Olivier Paccolat. During construction of the access road and water pipes for a new holiday-home development, traces of a village inhabited from about 800 BC to 300 AD came to light. The finds show a strong regional cultural identity, with links to northern Italy. The site is the mountain counterpart of the Gamsen settlement, which lay on a trans-Alpine route. The excavations are too scattered to tell whether this was a compact village or a settlement spread over the slope.[1][3][6]

Sources

  1. Canton du Valais, Office cantonal d'archéologie, « Cahiers d'Archéologie Romande/Archaeologia Vallesiana » (présentation de Philippe Curdy et Olivier Paccolat, « Oberstalden (Visperterminen, Valais, Suisse) : un habitat alpin en moyenne montagne, de la Protohistoire au Moyen Âge », CAR 191, Archaeologia Vallesiana 21)
  2. Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (version allemande du Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse), « Visperterminen » (Alois Grichting, version du 27.12.2014)
  3. Office fédéral de la protection de la population (PBC), « Révision Inventaire PBC 2021 : liste cantonale Canton du VS » (état au 1.1.2026)
  4. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), STATPOP, chiffres provisoires au 31.12.2025, via citypopulation.de
  5. geo.admin.ch, service de recherche de swisstopo (Oberstalden)
  6. Office fédéral de la culture, ISOS, « Oberstalden » (Gemeinde Visperterminen, 2e version, août 1996)
  7. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Visperterminen » (Alois Grichting, version du 27.12.2014)

Other villages near Oberstalden and Unterstalden

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