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Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area
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How it came to be
The Jungfrau-Aletsch area lies in the eastern Bernese Alps across the cantons of Bern and Valais, taking in the great north wall of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau and the Aletsch Glacier, the largest glacier in the Alps. About 23 km long, the Aletsch is formed by four glaciers that meet at Konkordiaplatz. The highest summit is the Finsteraarhorn, at 4,270 m.
The Jungfrau was first climbed on 3 August 1811 by the Meyer brothers of Aarau with two chamois hunters from Valais, and the Irishman Charles Barrington reached the top of the Eiger on 11 August 1858 with the guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. Work on Adolf Guyer-Zeller's Jungfrau Railway began in 1896. Running in a tunnel through the Eiger and Mönch, it opened its Jungfraujoch station, at 3,454 m the highest railway station in Europe, on 1 August 1912.
Protection began in 1933, when the canton of Valais took charge of the Aletsch forest, and in 1960 the canton of Bern protected the upper Lauterbrunnen valley. Inscribed in 2001 as the first natural World Heritage site in the Alps, the area was extended to the east and west in 2007 and now covers 82,400 ha.
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