![Kaspar Stockalper - his ascent was as steep as the path up the Simplon Pass. Illustration by Marco Heer](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/stockalper-1-300x225.jpg)
The geopolitician from Brig
In the middle of the Thirty Years’ War, Kaspar Stockalper made the Simplon pass into a major European transport artery. A man of immeasurable wealth, he was Switzerland’s first serial entrepreneur. Stockalper mixed with emperors, kings and popes. He was also involved in European politics – until it all fell apart.
![The Stockalper castle in Brig, built from 1660 to 1679 according to plans drawn up by Kaspar Stockalper himself.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/stockalper-schloss-300x202.jpg)
![Portrait of Kaspar Stockalper, ca. 1850.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/portrat-stockalper-212x300.jpg)
Exploiting the geostrategic situation
![Kaspar Stockalper escorted Marie-Marguerite de Carignan over the snow-covered Simplon pass in 1634. The Valais native thus earned the trust of the ruling class.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/marie-marguerite-de-bourbon-242x300.jpg)
![The Simplon pass: the key to Stockalper’s rise.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/karte-simplon-300x169.jpg)
Combining business with politics
The King of Brig
In a three-part series, historian and author Helmut Stalder charts the rise and fall of Kaspar Stockalper, the “King of Brig”:
Part 1: The geopolitician from Brig
Part 2: Neutrality as a business model
Part 3: Making money till the end