Mountaineers' Cemetery
Mountaineers' Cemetery is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Zermatt audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~25 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type historic
- Suggested visit ~25 min
- Zermatt Zermatt guide
About Mountaineers' Cemetery
A quiet garden of graves beside the village church, where climbers who died in the mountains around Zermatt are remembered, among them members of the 1865 Matterhorn expedition.
The Mountaineers' Cemetery is a small, peaceful burial ground in the garden of the Catholic parish church of St. Mauritius, in the centre of Zermatt. It holds around fifty graves of climbers who died in the high mountains around the village, most from the 19th and early 20th centuries, their inscriptions naming peaks such as the Matterhorn, the Weisshorn, the Liskamm and the Monte Rosa. Among them is a shared stone honouring the Zermatt guides Peter Taugwalder, father and son, who guided Edward Whymper on the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865.
The Chamonix guide Michel Croz, one of the four who died on that 1865 descent, is buried here beside the Taugwalders; two of the others lie at Zermatt's separate English church, and Lord Francis Douglas, whose body was never found, has no grave. Also here is Eleonore Noll-Hasenclever, a pioneering German climber, and a Grave of the Unknown Climber set up in 2015. It is a place to walk slowly and in silence.
How long should you spend at Mountaineers' Cemetery?
Plan about ~25 min at Mountaineers' Cemetery. That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is Mountaineers' Cemetery worth visiting?
Mountaineers' Cemetery is one of the 13 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Zermatt, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Nearby stops in Zermatt
Day 1 of the Zermatt in 2 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of Mountaineers' Cemetery
Preview the Zermatt tour free in the Gingerguide app.