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Villages / Valais / Leuk district / Pfyn

Pfyn

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

Origin of the name Pfyn

The name probably goes back to Latin «pinus» (pine) or «ad fines» (at the border). In French the forest is called the bois de Finges, and the hamlet of Pfyn, which belongs to Leuk, Finges.[1][2]

Founding of Pfyn

The Pfynwald covers about 10 km² on the floor of the Rhône valley, between 540 and 730 m, and climbs to around 2'000 m on the Gorwetschgrat. A relic of the post-glacial period, it is one of the largest pine forests in Central Europe. The forest marks the language border and is shared between several municipalities, including Leuk, Salgesch and Sierre. A large part belongs to the municipality of Leuk, which also includes the hamlet of Pfyn. Here the Rhône forms one of the last wild river landscapes in Switzerland.[1][2]

History of Pfyn

Iron Age. Between the 5th and 1st centuries BC, soils that are now fossilised bear plough marks. Water channels, plot walls and clearance fires show early farming.[4]

14th-18th century. Several hamlets occupy the Pfyngut site, with houses, granaries, barns, paths and storage pits.[4]

1799. In May the Upper Valais forces are defeated by French and French-Swiss revolutionary troops. Some fifteen dead are buried after the fighting. Leuk narrowly escapes destruction.[1][2][4]

first half of the 19th century. Opening of the road through the Pfynwald.[7]

1899. A monument is erected in memory of the defeat of 1799.[1]

1970s. Gravel extraction from the Rhône in the forest is restricted for nature conservation.[2]

1992. The floodplain is placed under federal protection.[1]

1997. The canton decides to protect the Pfyn-Finges forest.[5]

2006. The Pfyn-Finges nature park is created (2005 according to another source).[1][5]

2013. On 1 January Pfyn-Finges receives the federal label of regional nature park of national importance.[5][6]

2025. Archaeological excavations take place at Pfyngut ahead of the construction of the A9 motorway.[4]

Historic sites in Pfyn

Galguwald. This part of the forest was the former place of execution of the Leuk tithing (Zenden).[1]

Wild Rhône. Here the river forms one of the last wild river landscapes in Switzerland. Its floodplain, about 352 ha, is listed in the federal inventory of floodplains of national importance (site no. 133).[1][3]

Sources

  1. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (version allemande), « Pfynwald » (Werner Bellwald, version du 28.09.2010)
  2. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Loèche (commune) » (Alois Grichting, version du 04.01.2017)
  3. Office fédéral de l'environnement (OFEV), Inventaire fédéral des zones alluviales d'importance nationale, objet n° 133 « Pfynwald » (révision 2017)
  4. Etat du Valais, Office cantonal d'archéologie, « Journées portes ouvertes sur le chantier archéologique de Pfyngut, bois de Finges » (5.9.2025)
  5. Parc naturel Pfyn-Finges, « History of the park »
  6. Etat du Valais, Service des forêts, de la nature et du paysage, « Naturpärke und Welterbe »
  7. Inventaire fédéral des sites construits à protéger en Suisse (ISOS), « Leuk », n° 4994 (relevé 1997)
  8. geo.admin.ch, service de recherche de swisstopo (Pfynwald)

Other villages near Pfyn

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