‘Toucher à un bisse, ... c'est toucher à toute la vie du Valais.’ This succinct quote by Dubuis (1995) is able to express in a few words how fundamentally linked irrigation and life in Valais are. The Swiss Valais is regarded as the epitome of traditional irrigation in the Alps. It is hardly surprising that there are various publications and websites on the spectacular water supply lines, the Bisses or Suonen (see below). Even today, Valais epitomises the image of a magnificent water landscape. In the heyday of irrigation, the irrigation channels here are said to have reached a total length of around 2000 kilometres, a distance from the Valais capital of Sion to Stockholm. The core areas of traditional irrigation are located where the lack of precipitation is greatest within the dry inner-Alpine valley: on the north side of the Rhône valley from Brig to Martigny and parts of the Entremont. In the French-speaking part of the canton of Valais, the bisses (bisses) can be found in the municipalities of Ayent, Lens, Nendaz and Trient, among others. The Musée des Bisses in Botyre (Ayent) is an ideal starting point.
Read more and discover:
Book volume (in German): Traditionelle Bewässerung – ein Kulturerbe Europas, Band 2, Regional Documentation
Musée des Bisses, Botyre (Ayent), https://www.musee-des-bisses.ch/
Association des Bisses du Valais, bisses-valais.ch/associations
Website Les bisses du Valais, www.les-bisses-du-valais.ch/de/
Association pour la Sauvegarde du Torrent-Neuf, www.torrent-neuf.ch .
various shares
Bisses et prairies irriguées: Bisse d’ayent © Musée valaisan des Bisses
Film on the day of traditional irrigation in Ayent VS (5.8.2023, Swiss Foundation for Landscape Conservation)
«Journée de l'irrigation traditionelle – Kurzfilme zur Europäischen Landschaftskonvention»
Extern Link to YouTube.com: https://youtu.be/bQd9_c5Kdl4
