msen. This wall, portions of which are still visible, was probably built to protect against invasions from Savoy. In 1596, an iron mine was opened near the village. This mine was acquired in 1636, by Kaspar Jodok Stockalper.
Until 1642, Glis belonged to the parish of Naters, but had been relatively independent in religious matters since the 12th-13th Century. The Church of Our Lady on the Glisacker has been a pilgrimage center of the Upper Valais since the 14th Century. Glis was raised to an independent parish in 1642. At that time, the parish included Brig, Brigerbad, Ried-Brig, Termen, Gamsen and Eggerberg. Excavations in and around the church in 1984 discovered an early Christian aisleless church from around 500. The excavations also discovered a baptistery and side rooms and parts of four other churches. The present church, which combines elements of both the Renaissance and the lateGothic period, owes its appearance to Prismell master builders Peter and Christian Bodmer. In the mid-17th Century they completed the plans drawn up in 1519 by Ulrich Ruffiner.
After the Second World War, Glis developed from a farming village into a residential area for Brig. In the merger with Brig, Glis brought a large amount of land and a large industrial company, the explosives factory Soci�t� suisse des explosifs which was founded in Gamsen in 1894.
Brigerbad
Very little is known about the early history of this small village located between the Rhone and the far north side of the valley. There are two buildings in the village that are from the Middle Ages; the tower of Junker von Baden, which may have been built in the 13th Century, and the so-called bishops barn, which may date from the 15th century. Brigerbad was always part of the parish of Glis, though they did built a chapel in 1721. The village began to develop local government and law in the 16th and 17th Century and the first statutes were written in 1671.
The floods of the
