St. Moritz

St. Moritz (German: Sankt Moritz; French: Saint-Moritz; Romansh:  San Murezzan ; Italian: San Maurizio) is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The highest summit in the Eastern Alps, the Piz Bernina, lies a few kilometres south of the town. St. Moritz hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948. It is a popular destination of the upper class and international jet set, as well as one of the most expensive ski resorts in the world.

History

Votive offerings, swords, and needles from the Bronze Age found at the base of the springs in St. Moritz indicate that the Celts had already discovered them.

St. Moritz is first mentioned around 1137-39 as ad sanctum Mauricium. The town was named after Saint Maurice, an early Christian saint from southern Egypt said to have been martyred in 3rd century Roman Switzerland while serving as leader of the Theban Legion.

Pilgrims traveled to Saint Mauritius often to the church of the springs, where they drank from the blessed, bubbling waters of the Mauritius springs in the hopes of being healed. In 1519, the Medici pope, Leo X, promised full absolution to anyone making a pilgrimage to the church of the springs. In the 16th century, the first scientific treatises about the St. Moritz mineral springs were written. In 1535, Paracelsus, the great practitioner of nature cures, spent some time in St. Moritz.

St. Moritz (disambiguation)

St. Moritz (German: Sankt Moritz) is the German form of Saint Maurice, a Roman military leader and Christian saint.

It usually refers to a resort town in Switzerland named in his honor.

St. Moritz, Saint Moritz, or Sankt-Moritz may also refer to:

Places

Other

See also

St. Moritz (Rhaetian Railway station)

St. Moritz is a railway station in St. Moritz, Switzerland. It is the southern terminus of the Albula Railway line from Chur. Hourly services operate on this section of the line. There is also an hourly service on the Bernina Railway line from St. Moritz to Tirano, Italy. There are currently five platforms in use at this station.

The station serves as a terminus for local bus and Postbus services. St Moritz is a terminus not just for the Albula Railway but also for the Bernina Railway. Because these two companies operate with different types and levels of power supply, St Moritz is also a "Power supply switch" station (Systemwechselbahnhof).

St. Moritz is located at a height of 1,775 metres above sea level and is the highest urban railway station in Switzerland.

History

The station came into operation in 1904. At this time St Moritz had already had its own electric tram service since 1896 and there were plans to build a branch line to link the tram service to the new station. For financial reasons the short linking branch line was never built, however.