The History of Celerina

The new settlement first appears in a document from 1139 as "Ad Slatannum" and conveniently refers to its location: "at Schlattain", Schlattain being the stream from the Val Saluver. But how did it come about that the settlement had to be named in documents at all? Well, in 1139, Conrad I of Biberegg, Bishop of Chur, acquired the area from Zuoz to Silvaplana. A large area from which a lot of taxes had to be collected, including meat and fish. Since these perishable goods had to be cooled and deboned before being transported to Chur, Conrad I had a cellar (lat.: cellarium; Rhaeto-Romanic: schler, which led to the current Rhaeto-Romanic and German name "Schlarigna and Celerina") built on the slope near Schlattain in what is now the Celerin municipal area. In the Middle Ages, pastures, alpine pastures and forests were initially common property and could be used by all citizens of the district, even those close to other villages. Over time, however, the districts began to demand exclusive use of their land, and in 1538 boundary stones were set for Samedan, Bever, Celerina, Pontresina and other associated communities. From this point on, the "Celerina community" existed. Fires struck the Celerina residents three times.

The village was hit particularly hard in May 1631, when numerous houses fell victim to the flames: the disaster was due to the carelessness of children who did not guard a hearth fire carefully enough. Carpenters, joiners and bricklayers even traveled from as far away as Germany to rebuild the destroyed parts of the village. Take a walk through the quaint village center and discover the inscription "built in 1631" on many of the sgraffito-decorated facades! Over 5,500 workers pitched in when a railway line was to be built literally "through" the Alps at the turn of the century: In order for the train to travel from Thusis to the terminus at Celerina, 39 tunnels had to be drilled and 55 bridges and viaducts had to be built over wild gorges and raging rivers.

The maiden voyage on the Albula line in 1903 did not lead to the sophisticated St. Moritz (whose residents had not been able to agree on a station location), but to tranquil Celerina. It was not until a year later that St. Moritz was also opened up by rail. In 1906, construction began on another railway line, but this time not through the Alps, but over them: the Bernina line runs from St. Moritz up to the Bernina Pass and down to Tirano. The planners placed the small station at the lower edge of the village on the edge of the Stazerwald and gave it the suffix "Staz" to distinguish it from the Celerina station on the Albula line, which is still used today.