er Swiss landscape artists. The success of the Unspunnenfest, a festival of Swiss culture, in 1805 and 1808 brought many tourists to Interlaken. Starting in 1820, they came for mountain air and spa treatments and the large Kursaal opened in 1859 to provide an elegant spa. The many hotels combined with good transportation links made it easy for these early tourists to visit. In 1835 a steam ship route opened from Thun, followed in 1839 by another from Brienz. The D�rligen-Interlaken rail line opened in 1872 and was expanded to Thun in 1893. In 1888, the Br�nigbahn line opened and in 1916 the Brienzerseebahn line opened. In 1890, the Berner Oberland Bahn connected Interlaken to the tourist destinations of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. Hotels developed along the route to the Jungfrau. In 1860-75 and 1890-1914 several luxury hotels were built with views of the Jungfrau and surrounding mountains. The current Kursaal was built in 1898-99 and remodeled in 1909-10. Despite the emphasis on tourism a parquet factory operated from 1850 until 1935 and a wool weaving factory opened in 1921. In the late 20th Century a woolen thread and a metal products factory opened in Interlaken. Since 1988, Interlaken has been connected to the A8 motorway.
Modern Interlaken
The frantic growth of the tourism industry abruptly ended in 1914 when World War I started, though it resumed somewhat after the war. World War II brought another dramatic slow down. Interlaken started to recover from the effects of the war in 1955 as Interlaken re-branded itself as a convention and conference center. Today, the two nuclei village (Aarm�hle and the village around the Bailiff's Castle) have been joined by new construction between them. The municipalities of Matten and Unterseen are also connected by new construction to Interlaken and share a common infrastructure. A referendum to merge the three political municipalities into one was voted down in 1914 and again in 1927
