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History of Brig


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The name Brig is derived from Briva, or "bridge." Its older houses are very Italian in appearance, while its most prominent buildings (Stockalper Palace, former Jesuits' college and Ursuline convent) all date from the 17th century, and are due to the generosity of a single member of the local Stockalper family, the baron Kaspar Jodok von Stockalper.

The prosperity of Brig is bound up with the Simplon Pass, so that it gradually supplanted the more ancient village of Natersopposite, becoming a separate parish (the church is at Glis, a few minutes from the town) in 1517. Its medieval name was Briga dives. The opening of the carriage road across the Simplon (1807) and of the tunnel beneath the pass (1906), as well as the fact that above Brig is the steeper and less fertile portion of the Upper Valais (then much frequented by tourists), greatly increased the importance and size of the town.

Brig

Brig is first mentioned in 1215 as Briga. The first evidence of human habitation near Brig comes from a few Bronze Age objects, a bracelet and a dagger. From the Lat�ne era, two skeletons, two walser bracelets and two brooches have been found. Romanplace-names (Kastel, Saltina and Geschina) appear in the area along the old Roman highway, but outside the immediate area Germanic names dominate. Archeological expeditions since 1988 in Gamsen have discovered significant traces of human settlement from the Iron Age, Migration Period and Early Middle Ages.

The de Briga family is first mentioned in 1215. The family was probably a branch of the Mangoldi line which was first mentioned in 1181 and is probably identical de Curia (im Hof) family which appeared between 1308-35. The family seat was the H�llenburg, which was a tower above Brig. By the 17th Century the tower had been demolished. It is likely that the original town of Brig grew up around a 12th Century tower and curtain wall that was built in the valley. The original tower was replaced with a
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