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Villages / Valais / Östlich Raron district / Riederalp

Riederalp

Merger 2003 Canton of Valais · District: Östlich Raron · 445 inhabitants (31.12.2025, provisional FSO figure)
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Riederalp

The municipality bears the name of Riederalp, the car-free resort reached from Mörel by cable car.[5]

Founding of Riederalp

Riederalp was created by the merger of three villages, Goppisberg (75 inhabitants), Greich (165) and Ried-Mörel (315), 555 inhabitants in all. Even after the merger the municipality had only about 560 inhabitants. It was created at a time when small municipalities struggled to find people to hold public office. The three former municipalities share the sunny slope above Mörel, north of the Rhône. They already ran alpine pastures together on a terrace at about 1'930 metres, and the growth of the resort had strengthened their cooperation in administration and tourism. Greich, on a ledge of a steep slope, and Goppisberg, on a terrace below the Riederalp, were already self-governing communities in the Middle Ages, and both belonged to the large parish of Mörel. Goppisberg formed a quarter of the dizain of Östlich Raron together with Betten. After 1950, the tourist boom on the alpine pasture drew residents up to the terrace between Riederalp and Bettmeralp. In 1980, fewer than a third of Goppisberg's inhabitants still lived in the village. In Greich only 34 of the municipality's 145 inhabitants lived in the village in 1997.[1][2][3][4][7][10][11]

History of Riederalp

1200. Goppisberg is first recorded in a charter.[7]

1279. Greich in turn appears in the records.[4]

1343. Goppisberg is attested as a self-governing community.[7]

1511. A chapel of St Agatha exists in Greich. It is rebuilt in 1616.[4]

1669. Goppisberg builds its chapel.[7]

1950. Opening of the Mörel-Riederalp cable car.[4]

1974. A new cableway is built beside the 1950 line. Its concrete mast, about 30 metres high and fitted with a lift, serves a stop at Greich.[4]

2001. Riederalp becomes part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn site, inscribed on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage list.[11]

2003. On 1 November Goppisberg, Greich and Ried-Mörel merge into the new municipality of Riederalp.[1][2][3][4][5]

2004. Three months after the merger, municipal clerk Armin Nellen says that public offices can hardly be run on a volunteer (militia) basis any more.[3]

2008. Opening of the suspension bridge linking car-free Riederalp with Belalp.[5]

Population of Riederalp

Sources and references: [6][11]

Population of Riederalp
1980430 (present-day territory)
1990479 (present-day territory)
2000527 (present-day territory)
2010527 (municipality of Riederalp)
2020438 (municipality of Riederalp)
2025445

Historic sites in Riederalp

Riederalp resort. Tourism drives the municipality, which has more than 6'000 beds for 450 inhabitants and some 300'000 overnight stays a year. Its territory runs from the valley floor at 718 metres up to the Moosfluh at 2'333 metres and reaches the Aletsch Glacier.[5]

Villa Cassel. Above Riederalp, on the Riederfurka ridge, the British financier Ernest Cassel had this Art Nouveau house built in 1900-1901 (1900-1902 according to another source). Winston Churchill was among his guests. Sold after his death in 1921, it served as a hotel until 1969. In 1976 Pro Natura reopened it as a national nature conservation centre.[8][9][11]

Chapel of St Agatha. In car-free Greich, the chapel of 1616 replaced a building attested in 1511. Nearby stands a covered fountain from 1925.[4]

Goppisberg chapel. Built in 1669, whitewashed and recently restored, it stands above two 17th-century houses. The village also keeps a barn from 1761, the only one in Goppisberg.[7]

Municipal administration. The municipal administration has its address in Ried-Mörel, Schulhausweg 1.[5]

Sources

  1. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), Répertoire officiel des communes, mutation 2268
  2. Canton du Valais, Service des affaires intérieures et communales, « Rapport sur les finances communales 2008 » (2010)
  3. swissinfo.ch, « Gemeindepräsident dringend gesucht » (10.2.2004)
  4. Office fédéral de la culture, ISOS, « Greich (Riederalp) », n° 4965
  5. Valais 4 you (Regions- und Wirtschaftszentrum Oberwallis AG), « Riederalp »
  6. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), STATPOP, chiffres provisoires au 31.12.2025, via citypopulation.de
  7. Office fédéral de la culture, ISOS, « Goppisberg (Riederalp) », n° 4958
  8. swissinfo.ch, « The villa on the glacier » (31.8.2001)
  9. SRF, « Von der Nobelvilla zum Naturschutz-Zentrum » (9.7.2016)
  10. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Betten » (Philipp Kalbermatter, version du 04.01.2017)
  11. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Riederalp » (Anton Riva, version du 05.01.2017)

Localities of the municipality with a page

Other villages near Riederalp

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