Swiss Review 5/2021

Swiss Review / October 2021 / No.5 17 Report 68,8 km One of Berne’s noble families, the von Fischers, built the Eichberg feudal country estate on one of Uetendorf’s hillocks, thereby giving Napoleon Bonaparte the slip at a timewhen the French emperorwas in the process of curtailing the powers of Berne’s city aristocrats. The remaining piece of Switzerland Around 200 years later, it was pure coincidence when the Federal Office of Topography announced that Ueten- dorf enjoyed exclusive status as the furthest place from any of Switzer- land’s international borders – belated confirmation, so to speak, that the von Fischers had good intuitionwhen they chose Eichberg as a secluded hideout. The nearest international border from Uetendorf is 69 kilometres away as the crow flies – further than from any other point in Switzerland. Imagine you peeled away the “layers” of Swit- zerland like an onion, starting fromits international borders and going inwards. Carry on and you would be left with Uetendorf. Or, to be precise: Silbermoos in Uetendorf. An unas- suming agricultural fieldwould be the last dot on the Swiss map if the rest of the countrymelted away evenly from its perimeter. A restaurant called “Réduit” is situated not far fromSilber- moos. This is the name of the strategy JÜRG STEINER As if preordained by Mother Nature some 14,000 years ago, there is some- thing unique about Uetendorf’s geo- graphical whereabouts. When the Aare Glacier slowly receded at the end of the last Ice Age, it left behind a land- scape of small hills that today look like natural viewing platforms offering a view over Uetendorf and across the levels of the Aare Valley to Thun. Look No other municipality in Switzerland is situated further from an international border than Uetendorf near Thun in the canton of Berne. Moreover, this typical Swiss suburban municipality lies on the urban-rural divide. Higher, further, faster, more beautiful? Looking for those Swiss records with a difference. Today: a visit to the place in Switzerland that is lo- cated furthest from any of the country’s interna- tional borders. Borders far away, borders in the mind up and you will see the rugged peaks of the Stockhorn massif. The Bernese Alps beyond Lake Thun round off the impressive scenery on clear days. At the end of the 18th century, the patricians who ruled the city of Berne – back then Europe’s most powerful city state – were attracted by Uetendorf’s favourable location. The Eichberg feudal country estate of the noble Bernese von Fischer family e tremes Swiss The nearest international border from Silbermoos near Uetendorf is 68,880 metres away as the crow flies.