Niesen
{{Short description|Mountain peak in the Swiss Alps}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Niesen
| photo = Niesen2.jpg
| photo_size = 285
| photo_caption = The Niesen from Wimmis
| elevation_m = 2362
| elevation_ref =
| prominence_m = 407
| prominence_ref = Retrieved from the Swisstopo topographic maps. The key col is located south of the summit on the Niesegrat at 1,955 metres.
| isolation_km = 2.3
| isolation_ref = Retrieved from Google Earth. The nearest point of higher elevation is northeast of the Fromberghorn.
| parent_peak = Albristhorn
| map = Switzerland
| map_caption = Location in Switzerland
| location = Canton of Bern, Switzerland
| range = Bernese Alps
| coordinates = {{coord|46|38|46|N|7|39|09|E|type:mountain_region:CH_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| range_coordinates =
| topo =
| type =
| age =
| first_ascent =
| easiest_route = Niesenbahn
}}
The Niesen is a mountain peak of the Bernese Alps in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. The summit of the mountain is {{convert|2362|m|ft}} in elevation.
It overlooks Lake Thun, in the Bernese Oberland region, and forms the northern end of a ridge that stretches north from the Albristhorn and Mannliflue, separating the Simmental and Kandertal valleys.{{cite map | publisher = Swiss Confederation | title = map.geo.admin.ch | url = http://map.geo.admin.ch/?zoom=8&X=166480.25&Y=615448.00&lang=en&topic=ech&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&catalogNodes=457,510&layers=ch.swisstopo.swissboundaries3d-gemeinde-flaeche.fill&layers_timestamp= | accessdate = 2014-11-03}}
Geography
Administratively, the summit is shared between the municipalities of Reichenbach im Kandertal to the southeast, and Wimmis to the west and north. Both municipalities are in the canton of Bern.
The summit can be reached easily by using the Niesenbahn funicular from Mülenen (near Reichenbach). The construction of the funicular was completed in 1910.
Alongside the funicular is the longest stairway in the world, with 11,674 steps. It is only open to the public once a year for a stair run event.{{cite web|url = http://www.niesen.ch/en/funiculair/infos-niesen-funicular/?oid=1870&lang=en#content | title = Niesen Funicular Info | language = English | publisher = Niesenbahn | accessdate =23 August 2017}}{{cite web | url = http://www.niesenlauf.ch/index.php?section=ausschreibung | title = Niesenlauf | language = German | trans-title = Niesen Stair Run | work = niesenlauf.ch | accessdate = 23 August 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170824051011/http://www.niesenlauf.ch/index.php?section=ausschreibung | archive-date = 24 August 2017 | url-status = dead }}
Originally the mountains name was Yesen. «An Yesen» transformed to Niesen. Yesen is yellow gentian and still flowers on the Niesen to this day.
{{cite web|url = https://www.niesen.ch/de/info/geschichte/?oid=1856&lang=de | title = Der Niesen| language = German | publisher = Niesenbahn | accessdate =28 March 2020}} Because of its shape, the Niesen is often called the Swiss Pyramid.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} The Niesen may have influenced some modernist paintings by Paul Klee, in which an abstracted pyramidal form is seen.Rosenthal, Mark. “The Prototypical Triangle of Paul Klee.” The Art Bulletin, vol. 64, no. 2, [Taylor & Francis, Ltd., College Art Association], 1982, pp. 299–310, https://doi.org/10.2307/3050222. “The title Niesen makes explicit another identity of the triangle besides the Egyptian pyramid. "Niesen" is the name of a pyramidally shaped mountain in the Bernese Alps on Lake Thun, not far from Klee's childhood home near Bern. The area was a favorite of Klee's for hiking and vacationing; in 1915 he spent several days with his friend Louis Millet in the town of Gunten, which faces the Niesen from directly across the lake. Klee's study of the mountain from a dramatic vantage point recalls his affirmation, six years earlier, that Cézanne was "the teacher par excellence." As in Cézanne's Mont Ste.-Victoire paintings (Fig. 2), Klee, in Niesen, contrasts the strength of the mountain stretching to the skies with a patchy landscape below.”
See also
- {{C|Bernese Alps|Bernese Alps topics}}
- List of mountains of Switzerland accessible by public transport
- {{C|Mountains of the Alps|Mountains & peaks of the Alps}}
- {{C|Two-thousanders of Switzerland}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.niesen.ch/en/niesen-news/?oid=1948&lang=en Niesen.ch: Niesen News website]—{{in lang|en}}
- [http://www.niesen.ch/en/funiculair/infos-niesen-funicular/?oid=1870&lang=en#content Nesen-funicular.ch: Niesen Funicular website]—{{in lang|en}}
- [http://www.hikr.org/dir/Niesen_3571/ Hikr.org: Niesen]
- [http://www.meteocentrale.ch/en/europe/switzerland/weather-niesen-kulm/details/S067321/ Meteocentrale.ch: Current weather data and forecast for Niesen-Kulm]—{{in lang|en}}
{{Commons category|position=left|Niesen|
The Niesen}}
Gallery
{{stack|File:Niesen mountain.jpg from Lake Thun.]]
File:Unterhalb des Gipfels 01.jpg mountain, with Kandertal, Engstligental, and Simmental valleys.]]
File:Unterhalb des Gipfels.jpg mountain, Lake Thun, and the Jura Mountains.]]
}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Mountains of the Alps