St. Peter old church: A Historic Reformed Church in Samedan, Switzerland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Switzerland
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire, Swiss
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page15 sections
History
St. Peter old church, also known locally as San Peter, is an Evangelical Reformed church in Samedan, Switzerland, rebuilt in the Late Gothic style in 1491 and 1492. It is one of the three oldest valley and baptismal churches in the Upper Engadine, alongside St. Mauritius in St. Moritz and the Reformed Church of Zuoz.
Early church and Romanesque tower
The church has traditionally been identified as the original parish church of the Upper Engadine, with possible origins in the seventh or eighth century. Joos, writing in the Historical-Biographical Dictionary of Switzerland, and Albert Fischer, diocesan archivist of the Diocese of Chur, regarded it as possibly the oldest parish and church in the region. The church is first mentioned in the Gamertingen charters of 1137 to 1139.
Archaeological excavations in 2017 revealed the foundations of an earlier church. Its precise date remains difficult to establish, although it belongs at least to the Romanesque period and may be earlier. A Romanesque tower was added to this predecessor church in 1106. Its timber bell stage and tent roof belong to the eighteenth century.
Late Gothic rebuilding
The church was entirely rebuilt at the end of the fifteenth century. Steffan Klain constructed the choir in 1491, followed by the nave in 1492 under the direction of the stonemason Andreas Bühler. The rebuilt church received a gabled roof and the form that largely defines its present appearance.
Reformation and parish history
Samedan adopted the Evangelical faith in 1551. The change took place under the influence of Pietro Paolo Vergerio, an Italian Protestant reformer and former Catholic bishop, with support from the Engadine humanist and reformer Jachiam Tütschett Bifrun and Friedrich von Salis-Soglio, the son-in-law of Johann Travers. Johannes Maria von Cläven became the church’s first pastor.
Until 2017, the Samedan parish belonged to Colloquium VII Engadine-Bregaglia-Poschiavo-Sursès within the Evangelical Reformed Church of Graubünden. A colloquium was a regional grouping of Reformed congregations and clergy. Since 2017, Samedan has formed part of the Evangelical Reformed Upper Engadine Parish, commonly called Refurmo.
Ownership, renovation, and commemoration
A division agreement of 1911 between the political municipality of Samedan and the Reformed parish transferred the church and tower to the ownership of the then Samedan Reformed parish. Architect Nicolaus Hartmann renovated the church between 1915 and 1917. Further work followed in 1937, on the exterior in 1973, and in 2017, when a comprehensive renovation took place alongside archaeological excavation. The 2017 investigations were documented and published by the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Graubünden.
The church is used mainly for weddings, less often for funerals, and for Sunday services during the summer months. Thirty-four grave slabs and three epitaphs commemorate people buried in the church. Those remembered include valley magistrates and judges, statesmen active in the Three Leagues and Valtellina, two physicians, a consul, a member of the Swiss National Council, a president of the League of God’s House, eight pastors, and captains who served in Spanish or Dutch forces. Many belonged to the Planta-Samedan and Salis-Samedan families.
The surrounding cemetery contains a memorial to former prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp complex in Austria. After suffering severe damage to their health during the Second World War, they were admitted to Samedan Hospital through the mediation of the Red Cross in 1945 and died there.
Remains
St. Peter old church stands on a slope above Samedan, at a location associated with the former valley road and the presumed medieval village settlement. It is also described as a Reformed preaching church in the village center. The surviving complex brings together the earlier church foundations, the Romanesque tower, the Late Gothic nave and choir, and a cemetery arranged on three terrace-like levels.
Earlier foundations and tower
Predecessor church
The predecessor church had a slightly irregular nave measuring just over 15 metres by 7 metres, with an internal width of about 5.5 metres. It was aligned approximately north to south, at right angles to the present nave. The 2017 excavations exposed its foundation remains and established the physical evidence for an earlier phase of the site.
Romanesque tower
The Romanesque tower is built in blocks of rauwacke, a porous dolomitic stone typical of the locality. Its upper bell stage is timber-framed and carries an eighteenth-century tent roof. The tower contains a bell cast in 1886 by Gebrüder Theus of Felsberg. An earlier bell had no inscription or indication of its founder or casting date, while a Romansh poem refers to this bell or to bells associated with it. A gravestone from the chapel of San Bastiaun in Samedan is installed on the tower’s north wall.
Late Gothic church interior
Vaults and furnishings
The present nave has a three-bay star vault, a ribbed vault whose intersecting ribs form a star-like pattern. The choir has a two-bay star vault. The interior is restrained, with clear structural organization and balanced proportions. Old wall benches reach into the nave corners and carry the coats of arms of the Planta and Salis aristocratic families.
Tabernacle and sacristy
A tabernacle on the north wall has a tracery superstructure, ornamental stonework forming geometric Gothic patterns, and bears the stonemason’s mark of Andreas Bühler. Beside it is the entrance to the sacristy, whose barrel vault is a continuous curved ceiling. Red-chalk inscriptions in the sacristy date from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
Choir, pulpit, and font
A black commemorative plaque to Jachiam Tütschett Bifrun is placed in the choir. The pulpit, dated 1655, stands beside the southern choir arch. The Late Gothic baptismal font is decorated with a braided sheep-ring motif.
Portal and organ
The tuff-stone portal has a Heimatstil door dating from 1917. Heimatstil was a regionalist architectural style that emphasized local or traditional forms. The organ, built by Th. Kuhn in 1975, has one manual, a pedal, and five stops. Its slider chests have divided sliders, its action is mechanical, and a treadle operates the pedal coupler.
Cemetery and commemorative remains
The cemetery around the church is laid out on three terrace-like levels. It contains further epitaphs belonging to Samedan families, together with the 1945 memorial plaque to the former Mauthausen prisoners who died after being received at Samedan Hospital. The church’s grave slabs are not positioned directly over the corresponding graves, because their arrangement was changed during the 1915 renovation.
