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BRIEG

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 562 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRIEG , often now spelt BRIG (Fr. Brigue, Ital. Briga), a picturesque small See also:

town in the Swiss See also:canton of the See also:Valais, situated at the See also:foot of the See also:northern slope of the Simplon Pass, on the right See also:bank of the Saltine stream, and a little above its junction with the See also:Rhone. Its older houses are very See also:Italian in See also:appearance, while its most prominent buildings (See also:castle, former See also:Jesuits' See also:college and Ursuline See also:convent) all date from the 17th See also:century, and are due to the generosity of a single member of the See also:local Stockalper See also:family. The prosperity of Brieg is See also:bound up with the Simplon Pass (q.v.), so that it gradually supplanted the more See also:ancient See also:village of Naters opposite, becoming a See also:separate See also:parish (the See also:church is at Glis, a few minutes from the town) in 1517. Its See also:medieval name was Briga dives. The opening of the See also:carriage road across the Simplon (1807) and of the See also:tunnel beneath the pass (1906), as well as the fact that above Brieg is the steeper and less fertile portion of the Upper Valais (now much frequented by tourists), have greatly increased the importance and See also:size of the town. The opening of the railway tunnel beneath the Lotschen Pass, affording See also:direct communication with See also:Bern and the Bernese Oberland, is calculated still further to contribute to its prosperity. The new town extends below the old one and is closer to the right bank of the Rhone. In 1900 the See also:population was 2182, almost all Romanists, while 1316 were See also:German-speaking, 719 Italian-speaking (the Simplon tunnel workmen), and 142 See also:French-speaking, one See also:person only speaking Romonsch. (W. A.

B.

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