Alt St. Johann

Wildhaus-Alt St. Johann is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It was formed on 1 January 2010 through the merger of Alt St. Johann and Wildhaus.

St. John's Abbey in the Thurtal (German: Kloster St. Johann im Thurtal) was a Benedictine monastery originally established in Alt St. Johann in the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, in the mid-12th century. The oldest written record of it is dated 4 October 1152, when Pope Eugene III took the monastery into his protection. The pope confirmed the monastery's possessions and free election of its abbot and Vogt. On 24 October 1178 Pope Alexander III confirmed the abbey's extended possessions. In 1227/1228, the king became Vogt of the abbey. In December 1231, Emperor Frederick II issued a Golden Bull confirming his obligations as Vogt of the abbey. The abbey owned numerous estates in Toggenburg and in the Rhine valley: St. Johann, Stein, Nesslau, Kappel, St. Peterzell and Mogelsberg; and in Vorarlberg in Austria, near Feldkirch, in Klaus, Götzis and Altach.The abbey also frequently bought land in the territory which is now the principality of Liechtenstein, most notably the prominent Red House in Vaduz, which it purchased in 1525 from the heirs of the medieval owners, the Vaisli family.The abbey's high point was during the 14th century. It survived the Reformation, but lost its independence in 1555, when it became a priory of St. Gall's Abbey.In 1626 the buildings were severely damaged by fire, and the monks were afflicted by a mysterious illness and the community moved along the valley to a new location at Sidwald near Nesslau, since then known as Neu St. Johann. On the site of the old monastery a parish church was built, with a priest's house.The new monastery buildings in Nesslau, which were completed by 1680, were in a magnificent Rococo style. Toggenburg was an area of mixed denominations, and the priory was an instrument of the Counter-Reformation under the leadership of the Prince-Abbots of St. Gallen.The priory was dissolved in 1805. The former monastic church became the Roman Catholic parish church of the parish of Neu St. Johann. The remaining buildings now accommodate a remedial educational centre known as the Johanneum.

Unterwasser (English: Underwater) is a village in the Toggenburg region of the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, situated at the confluence of the two streams forming the upper Thur (known as Säntisthur and Wildhausthur). Formerly part of Wildhaus municipality, it has since 2010 been part of Wildhaus-Alt St. Johann by merger of Wildhaus and Alt St. Johann. It is a relatively small ski resort, and many of its trails are shared with nearby Wildhaus. Iltiosbahn, a funicular leads to Iltios and the aerial cableway to Chäserrugg. The toponym was first recorded in the 15th century as under dem Wasser , or "below the water". Its population was 685 as of 2010 (down from 751 in 1990; historical population: 81 in 1827). The village was owned by the counts of Montfort in the earlier Middle Ages, later by St. Johann Abbey, and after 1555 by St. Gall Abbey. Ski jumper Simon Ammann — winner of four gold medals in the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics, and World Champion 2007 — comes from Unterwasser.

The Zuestoll is one of the peaks of the Churfirsten group, located in the Appenzell Alps. It lies between the valley of Toggenburg and Lake Walenstadt in the canton of St. Gallen. The summit is easily accessible by a trail on the northern side.

The Brisi is a mountain of the Churfirsten group, located in the Appenzell Alps. It overlooks Lake Walenstadt in the canton of St. Gallen. The summit is easily accessible by trail but via the north side in Toggenburg only.

The Schibenstoll (or Scheibenstoll) is one of the peaks of the Churfirsten group, located in the Appenzell Alps. It lies between the valley of Toggenburg and Lake Walenstadt in the canton of St. Gallen. The summit is easily accessible by a trail on the northern side.

Wildenmannlisloch (also Wildmannlisloch, translating to "wild man's hole") is an alpine limestone Karst cave in the municipality of Wildhaus-Alt St. Johann, Toggenburg region, canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, on the northern slope of the Churfirsten range (ca. 2 km due north of peak Selun) at an elevation of 1640 m. The cave extends for 142 m, at about 60 m from the entrance forming a chamber. The cave's name is recorded in 1819 a booklet on "Zwingli's birthplace" (Zwinglis Geburtsort, i.e. Wildhaus) by J. Fr. Franz: "at the foot of Selun ridge there is a great cave, known as the wild man's hole, which at first is very broad and high, so that it could by entered by horse and wagon, then becomes narrower, and again wider, and in such alternation continues along various bends for a quarter of an hour before its end is reached." An examination of 15 July 1906 yielded bones of cave bears. A more detailed survey was conducted during 1923 to 1928 (published in Bächler 1934), producing a large number of bones, mostly of bears, besides a smaller number of stone tools comparable to the Wildkirchli finds. The bones seem to have been artificially deposited in heaps. The cave was presumably in use (either inhabited or used as a storage site for meat, or as a sacrificial site) by prehistoric man during the Mousterian (about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago). Johannes Seluner, a feral child found in 1844, presumably lived in the cave during a number of years.

The Thur waterfalls are two cascades located on the river Thur approximately ten minutes walking from the village square of Unterwasser in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, The water cascades down from steep rock faces, and on highest point drops from 23 metres (75 ft). The road along the waterfalls was developed in 1927 and includes three observation decks.

Churfürsten is a mountain range in the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. They form the natural boundary between the canton's Toggenburg and Sarganserland districts. They are the southernmost range of the Appenzell Alps, separated from the Glarus Alps by the Seez river and Walensee. They consist of a limestone ridge running east to west, with the individual peaks formed by erosion. The ridge is defined much more sharply to the south than to the north, with an almost vertical drop of several hundred meters towards Walenstadtberg and eventually Lake Walensee at 419 m. The southern slope of the range was significantly formed by the Rhine Glacier during the Würm glaciation. The name is a plural, indicating the peaks forming the historical boundary of the bishopric of Chur. It has historically also been folk-etymologized as Kurfürsten, i.e. the 7 prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire who in the later medieval period (until 1648) numbered seven, which in turn encouraged the count of seven main or "official" peaks.The standard "seven peaks" of the Churfürsten are (from west to east): Selun (2205 m) Frümsel (2263 m) Brisi (2279 m) Zuestoll (2235 m) Schibenstoll (2234 m) Hinterrugg (2306 m) Chäserrugg (2262 m)The count of exactly seven peaks is contrived; sometimes, Chäserrugg is not included and counted as part of Hinterrugg, because of its topographical prominence of a mere 14 m. The Churfürsten seven peaks listed above have remarkably uniform heights (within just above a 100 m difference); the ridge continues both to the east and the west with a number of further peaks between 2000 and 2200 m that are not usually included as Churfürsten: Peaks to the west of Selun: Wart (2068 m), Schären (or Schäären, 2184 m), Nägeliberg (2153 m), Glattchamm (2084 m), Leistchamm (2101 m). Peaks to the east of Chäserrugg: Tristenkolben (2159 m), Gamserrugg (2076 m).

The Frümsel is one of the peaks of the Churfirsten group, located in the Appenzell Alps. It lies between the valley of Toggenburg and Lake Walenstadt in the canton of St. Gallen. The summit is easily accessible by a trail on the northern side.

The Hinterrugg (or Hinderrugg) is the highest peak of the Churfirsten group, located in the Appenzell Alps. It overlooks the town of Walenstadt and the lake in the canton of St. Gallen. The summit is easily accessible via the Chäserrugg cable car station (2,262 metres), above Unterwasser in Toggenburg. The Hinterrugg is a well-known location for BASE jumping.

Chäserrugg (or Käserrugg) is a mountain in Wildhaus-Alt St. Johann municipality, Toggenburg, canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, rising to 2,262 m. It is the easternmost of the "seven peaks" of the Churfirsten, the other six being, running east to west, Hinterrugg (2,306 m), Schibenstoll (2,234 m), Zuestoll (2,235 m), Brisi (2,279 m), Frümsel (2,263 m), Selun (2,205 m). In spite of its being counted among the "seven peaks", it has a modest prominence of just 14 m, forming part of the ridge ascending to Hinterrugg. Part of Toggenburg's ski resort, it is reached from Unterwasser (911 m) by Iltiosbahn, a funicular opened 1934 to Iltios (1,339 m), and from there by aerial lift (opened 1972). The mountain's name translates to "cheesemaker's ridge" and is properly the name of the ridge ascending towards it from the north, beginning at Ruggschöpf at about 1,800 m and was only transferred to the "peak" when the "seven Churfirsten" were systematized in the late 19th or early 20th century; in the 19th century, there was also a fashion of etymologizing the name of the Churfirsten range as Kurfürsten "prince-electors", which occasionally inspired a name variant Kaiserruck "emperor's back" for Chäserrugg.