Annual Review 2008 - Hyposwiss Privatbank AG

Idyllic view from Rigi, Cantons of Lucerne/Schwyz
2 September 1806 saw one of the worst natural disasters ever to
hit Switzerland. On Rossberg, in the Canton of Schwyz, huge
masses of rock came loose and thundered down into the valley.
The landslide covered an area of some 6.5 km². The villages of
Goldau and Röthen were buried, and the surface of the nearby
Lake Lauerz shrank by a seventh. Eyewitnesses reported that
the landslide triggered a 20-metre-high tidal wave. A tsunami
in a mountain lake! Two hundred years later, the traces of
the rockslide can still be seen. But as we know, time heals all
wounds. New life has emerged from the wreckage of the
debris over the past two centuries. And on some days, the veil
of cloud overhanging the valley is positively idyllic.