Final week I visited the Ballenberg Open Air Museum whereas touring via Switzerland with my husband. This museum sits on a big forested property and hosts over 100 historic buildings extracted from varied areas throughout Switzerland. Guests can view structure and interiors from 13 totally different cultural zones, together with Western Switzerland, the Bernese Oberland, and the East Midlands.
The museum provides craft demonstrations masking every part from cheesemaking to woodcarving to breadmaking. I used to be most taken in by the water-powered sawmill. This construction dates from the mid-1800s, and the noticed mechanism itself is 115 years previous.
A sawmill like this requires two issues: water and a change of elevation. Sawyers use the heavy move of water that comes down from the mountain to feed into a big water wheel. This water wheel powers a collection of gears and drive belts that connect to a big crankshaft that strikes the noticed up and down at a average tempo. Whereas the noticed stays stationary, a gear mechanism inches the log alongside a monitor that runs via the blade.
It takes anyplace from 15 to half-hour for the noticed to chop down the size of 1 log. That is extremely sluggish by trendy requirements; nevertheless, it completely beats out being the man on the backside of a trench whereas working a handbook pit noticed. I’ve little doubt that the sawyers of the late Nineteenth century welcomed this new hydrotechnology with open arms.
In keeping with the museum’s web site, 80% to 90% of the lumber processed by the sawmill is utilized in restoration work on the Ballenberg property, whereas the rest is bought.
Brienz Woodcarving
The Ballenberg Museum is close to the city of Brienz, which has lengthy been well-known for its expert woodcarvers. The Brienz College of Woodcarving was based in 1884 and remains to be coaching craftspeople to today.
The woodcarving studio on the Ballenberg Museum was the workshop of famend Bernese carvers Alfred and Hans Stähli. These brothers have been most energetic within the early twentieth century and have been well-known for his or her eagle and bear sculptures.
I remorse that we didn’t get to spend extra time exploring this museum. I may have simply spent a complete day hanging out with the lovable animals, inspecting the chairs, and taking within the beautiful Alpine views.
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