Hinterdorf - Zermatt

The Hinterdorf is the old part of the village of Zermatt. The barns, stores, stables and old houses built between the 16th and 18th centuries form a harmonious whole.

Nicknamed "the sleeping grain" by Alpine farmers, it would hibernate under the first flush of snow after being sown in September, and was hand-cut the following August to be hoarded for the long winter ahead. Pest and damp-proofing the precious cereal was another matter. Farmers' canny solution was to elevate their granaries several feet above the ground on mushroom-like stilts topped with huge circular slabs of locally sourced schist rock. The barns' rose-hued, resin-rich timber was felled from local larch that's particularly resistant to rye-loving rodents, that are repelled by its strong scent.