![A view of Aarmühle in the 1860s (on the left bank of the Aare) – better known as Interlaken.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/titelbild-interlaken-300x225.jpg)
The birth of Interlaken
Aarmühle was a place in the Bernese Oberland. As a name it was rather uninspiring and thus unlikely to appeal to potential visitors from all over the world. Hence the renaming of Aarmühle as Interlaken in 1891, which turned the town into a tourist destination of international renown.
![Before the name Interlaken became official, there is no record of any uniform name.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/hoeheweg-interlaken-300x223.jpg)
Official name change from ‘Rameli’ to Interlaken
![Portrait of Johann Wolfgang Goethe around 1800.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/goethe-interlaken-245x300.jpg)
![Portrait of George Gordon Byron from the year 1813.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/byron-interlaken-223x300.jpg)
![A notice in the NZZ on 13 December 1891 reporting the name change.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/artikel-nzz-300x292.jpg)
Finally, Interlaken came into being. […] The commune of Aarmühle is hereby authorised to change its political place name to Interlaken, which is in common usage.
![As tourism flourishes, more greeting cards are sent. One such card from the late 19th century.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/tourismus-2-interlaken-300x196.jpg)
![Interlaken’s main street in the early 20th century.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/tourismus-1-interlaken-300x221.jpg)
New name, new glamour?
![Letter to Johann Anton von Peterelli in Schweiningen, around 1850.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/Brief-Schweiningen-300x200.jpg)