Bright red and pink flowers brightening wooden windows and a central balcony contrast with colourful painted coats of arms and sgraffito decoration on the restored facade of this ancient family house in the oldest part of the historic Lower Engadine Valley spa town of Scuol in Graubünden or Grisons canton, eastern Switzerland.
Scuol, Graubünden or Grisons canton, Switzerland: bright red and pink flowers brightening wooden windows and a central balcony contrast with colourful painted coats of arms and sgraffito decoration on the restored facade of this ancient family house in Scuol Sot, the oldest part of this historic spa town in the Lower Engadine Valley. Scuol Sot, below Scuol’s main street and close to the alpine River Inn or En, is a maze of narrow, winding stone-paved lanes, cobbled alleys and small squares centred on bubbling spring-water fountains. Many of the large traditional Engadiner houses here, like this example, have been superbly renovated over recent decades with features such as bread ovens and inscriptions carefully preserved. The inscriptions are mostly in Romansh, a legacy language of the ancient Roman Empire, which is today still the first tongue of nearly half of Scuol’s residents. German is the most popular second language here, with Italian third. Many of the ancient houses feature an oriel window known in Romansh as a ‘balcun tort’, an observation point that allowed householders to view their street in both directions – and keep a watchful eye on their neighbours. Oriel windows of this type are not found anywhere else in Switzerland.
Size: 4101px × 2734px
Location: Scuol, Graubünden or Grisons canton, Switzerland:
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: alpine, alps, architecture, arms, balcony, balcun, bassa, blue, boxes, canton, central, cloud, coats, corner, , decoration, decorative, early, eastern, engadin, engadine, engadiner, engiadina, europe, european, family, floral, flowers, graubunden, grisons, heraldic, heraldry, house, houses, inn, july, kerr, morning, mustair, oculi, oriel, painted, pink, red, region, renovated, restored, romansh-speaking, roundels, scuol, sgraffito, shutters, sky, sot, spa, summer, sunshine, swiss, switzerland, terence, tort, town, traditional, val, valley, window, windows, wispy, wooden
