Disentis (German)) or Mustér (Romansh), with its official name Disentis/Mustér is a community of the district Surselva in the Northwest of Canton Grisons in Switzerland. The skiing and summer tourism resort high up in the Rhine valley is the site of one of the oldest Benedictine monasteries in Switzerland. The twenty-six cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. ... Grisons or Graubünden (German: Graubünden; Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun) is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. ... In contrast to centrally organised states, in the federally constituted Switzerland each Canton is completely free to decide its own internal organisation. ... This article is about longitude and latitude; see also UTM coordinate system Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (vertically) and longitude (horizontally); large version (pdf) The geographic (earth-mapping) coordinate system expresses every horizontal position on Earth by two of the three coordinates of a spherical coordinate system which... 2003: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August _ September - October - November - December - → A timeline of events in the news for December, 2003. ... This article explains the meaning of area as a physical quantity. ... Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ... Elevation has several related meanings: Geography The elevation of a geographic location is its height above mean sea level (or possibly some other fixed point). ... The metre, or meter, is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International dUnités). ... Here are postal codes of Switzerland and Liechtenstein: Zone 1 1000s are found in Lausanne, Lavaux and parts of Morges, 1100s in parts of Morges, 1200s are in Geneva and parts of La Côte, Vaud, 1300s in La Vallée, 1500s are found in Clavaleyres, the 1700s are found... A mayor (from the Latin maÄ«or, meaning larger,greater) is the politician who serves as chief executive official of some types of municipalities. ... Romansh (also spelled Rumantsch, Romansch or Romanche) is any of the various Rhaetian languages spoken in Switzerland. ... Grisons or Graubünden (German: Graubünden; Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun) is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. ... The Rhine canyon (Ruinaulta) in Graubünden in Switzerland Length 1,320 km Elevation of the source Vorderrhein: approx. ... ... Buddhist monastery near Tibet A monastery is the habitation of monks. ...

Situation

Map of Surselva district in North East Grisons with Disentis

Disentis lies on the highest step of the Rhine valley, where the roads of the Oberalp pass coming from central and western Switzerland and of the Lukmanier pass coming from the Ticino meet. It is a train station of the Glacier Express, connected by train and road to the Valais via Oberalp pass and to Chur following the Rhine valley. The Lukmanier pass road is in summer served by a post bus line. Road sign Oberalppass 2046 m. ... Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. ... The Valais (also known in German as Wallis) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the south-western part of the country, in the Pennine Alps around the valley of the Rhone River from its springs to Lake Geneva. ... Road sign Oberalppass 2046 m. ... Chur is a town in Switzerland. ...

Culture

Official language of the municipality is Romansh Sursilvan. German is second language and persons of Romansh mother tongue also know to speak German. Communal laws, though, exist only in Romansh.

Disentis is today one of the most important centers of the Romansh language, especially of its Sursilvan dialect. It also plays an important role as cultural center through the high school school of the monastery.

History

Disentis

The name Disentis is supposed to come from latin Desertina, used for the deserted valley in late antique times, the Romansh name Mustér refers to the monastery.

The monastery Disentis, founded in ca. 720 c.e., was already in early medieval times the cultural and political center of the later Grisons. Situated on the road to the Lukmanier pass used by the German emperors on their way to Italy, Disentis became a place of international importance in the high middle ages and the prince abbot of Disentis was the lord of the Rhine valley. In the later middle ages, the farmer communities in the valleys became stronger and the influence of the monastery decreased, but the abbot of Disentis still played an important role in the founding of the grey league in 1395.

When the Grey League became a formal ally of the Swiss Confederation in 1497, Disentis, at the foot of the Oberalp pass which was the nearest connection to the confederation, was again in a strategically important situation, but later on it was overtaken in importance by the bigger place Ilanz.

Tourism

Disentis

Tourism started around 1870 and today Disentis is a resort Disentis offering 150 km hiking trails in summer and 30 km cross country tracks in winter. There are 14 hotels and 21 restaurants, and together with neighbour municipality Sedrun, Disentis offers a total of 10'000 beds in hotels and holiday appartments.

Weblinks

• Official webpage of the municipality Disentis/Mustér (German/Romansh)
• Tourism information
• Monastery Disentis (German)