**The Bürgenstock: an idyllic ensemble with hotels, mountains, lake and lift. Postcard from 1928.** Staatsarchiv Nidwalden

Europe’s highest open-air lift

The Bürgenstock has always known how to skilfully attract attention, as it did back in 1905 for example with the spectacular Hammetschwand lift – a marvel of Swiss engineering. Over the years, the lift has been a source of both admiration and rumour.

Michael van Orsouw

Michael van Orsouw has a PhD in history and is a performance poet and author. He regularly publishes historical books.

Website: geschichte-texte.ch

From 1873 onwards, the Bürgenstock hotels located on the spectacular mountain ridge above Lake Lucerne wowed spa guests from near and far. But the Bürgenstock was not alone; many rivals were vying for visitors during the Belle Époque – with luxurious spa cures, particularly daring mountain railways, and fancy facilities. The Bürgenstock and hotel pioneer Franz Joseph Bucher rose to the challenge. Because Bucher’s guests wanted a shady hiking trail, in 1900 he created the cliff path on the north side of the mountain, in other words, where the rocky slopes fall steeply away to Lake Lucerne below. But this was no obstacle for the inventive hotelier and entrepreneur, who created an adventurous footpath with impressive walkways, secret tunnels and stunning views – which raised Bucher’s international profile again.

**The spectacular cliff path depicted on a postcard.** Staatsarchiv Nidwalden

But the difference in altitude of 165 metres between the cliff path and the mountain peak remained. To overcome it, Bucher didn’t opt for a mountain railway like his rivals, but instead decided to use the latest lift technology to elevate himself above the competition, both literally and figuratively. He planned to build Europe’s highest open-air lift no less – a superlative like that was bound to be a good selling point.

A risky construction project

Nowadays, the cliff path features small and larger supporting walls of up to seven metres in height, sections of carved rock, passageways, small tunnels, safety nets and sturdy guardrails. At the time, between 1900 and 1905, the work on the cliff path and the Hammetschwand lift was a perilous undertaking. Miners from Austria and Italy built the cliff path and lift shaft in highly hazardous conditions involving a great deal of manual labour. Workers secured themselves with ropes like acrobats to drill the holes for the metal structures. The usual hourly wage for a miner at the time was 50 to 60 centimes. The work was so laborious that it took five long years to build the cliff path and the Hammetschwand lift.

**A daring project: the 165-metre-high open-air lift.** Staatsarchiv Nidwalden

The bold new lift was made by the Zurich-based iron and steel construction company Löhle & Kern, Switzerland’s leading bridge-building company at the time. Meanwhile, Wüst & Cie. from Zurich-Seebach was responsible for the electrification. The construction experts started by building a rock chamber for the machine room and the entrance to the lift. From there, they blasted the lower part of the 60-metre high lift shaft vertically into the rock, which was a risky undertaking. The lift tower was designed as an iron truss construction, similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris – again a very marketable comparison. The workers riveted the lift tower in situ, and then fixed the tower to the mountain. The lift cabin was made of zinc-plated spruce wood, and had space for up to eight people. The metallic tip of the tower looked like a rocket from afar – which also made for a unique photo opportunity.

**With a metal tip like a rocket: the lift seemed almost other-worldly when it first opened.** Staatsarchiv Nidwalden

Switzerland’s own ‘Eiffel Tower’

By 1905, the cliff path and the 165-metre-high Hammetschwand lift were ready – and soon became a world-famous tourist attraction. From the lift, people could enjoy open and unobstructed views of the lake and mountains, towns, villages and meadows: “You feel as if you’re floating in the air,” crowed the magazine Schweizer Familie, for example. The lift subsequently became known the world over as an attraction and demonstration of Swiss engineering prowess. The way it showcased the landscape made the Bürgenstock a magic mountain of technology. Paris had the Eiffel Tower, while the Bürgenstock had the Hammetschwand lift – both testimony to the great engineering genius of the Belle Époque.

The Eiffel Tower around 1900. — **Paris has the Eiffel Tower...** Wikimedia

Photo of the Hammetschwand lift. — **...and the Bürgenstock has the Hammetschwand lift.** Staatsarchiv Nidwalden

Initially, two members of staff were needed to operate the lift: a maintenance person, who would service the lift, and a conductor with a uniform cap, who would travel with passengers in the cabin. The conductor would take care of the guests and keep the cabin spotlessly clean at all times. Initially, the lift travelled at a speed of 1 metre a second, with the journey taking three minutes. For decades the lift ran without any disruption or accident. In 1936, the Lucerne-based lift company Schindler upgraded the elevator, and it could then travel twice as fast, at speeds of 2.7 metres a second. A new cabin and new machinery were also installed. A further renovation rook place in 1959/60 during which the tower and lift actuator were upgraded. By then, the lift could reach speeds of 4 metres a second. Following a complete overhaul in 1992, the speed was reduced to 3.15 metres a second so that visitors could enjoy the breathtaking views for longer thus making the 48-second trip an event.

The James Bond rumour

More than 12 million visitors have travelled on the lift since 1905. They include celebrities such as Sophia Loren, Konrad Adenauer, Charlie Chaplin, Henry Kissinger and Audrey Hepburn, who even got married on the Bürgenstock in 1954. Like many other famous figures from the worlds of politics, culture, business and entertainment, the cliff path and lift captured their imagination. French statesman Louis Barthou hailed it “the most beautiful mountain walkway in the world” after strolling along it.

**Audrey Hepburn lived on the Bürgenstock for a while: a photo of the famous actress taken in 1954.** ETH-Bibliothek Zurich / Photographer: Hans Gerber

British actor Sean Connery also spent a few weeks on the Bürgenstock in 1964 while in Switzerland filming scenes for the James Bond film Goldfinger. While the movie does indeed feature a lift scene, it wasn’t filmed in the Hammetschwand lift, as some media reports and websites still claim today. Maybe Connery did in fact get the collywobbles in the lift to the Bürgenstock, certainly not as 007, but possibly as a hotel guest…

**Sean Connery and Bürgenstock hotelier Fritz Frey junior at the hotel pool, 1964.** Photo: Peter Frey

More of: 20th / 21st century Tourism Film Article

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