Zürich, 1618

The collection’s main focus lies on objects from Graubünden. However, since the Valtellina, Bormio and Chiavenna belonged to the Three Leagues as subject territories from 1512 to 1797, a few objects from these regions can also be found among the Museum’s collection.

One of them is this copperplate print: it depicts the town of Piuro, located to the east of Chiavenna. On 4 September 1618, three to four million cubic metres of rock came loose on the Conto mountain, almost completely burying the prosperous small town. The landslide killed about 1000 people. It was caused by persistent rain, but intensified soapstone mining activities had also hollowed out the mountain.