Grimentz

Grimentz occupies a terrace at 1,572 metres in the Val d'Anniviers, among the alpine pastures of Avoin, Moiry and Torrent. The village has kept its larch building: façades blackened by the sun, granaries and raccards perched on their stilts, narrow lanes where three fountains are still driven by water from the torrent.

The name is written Grimiens in 1052, Grimesi in 1243, Grimenchy in 1250, Grimeynchi in 1305, Grimenzi in 1812. It was formed by adding a Latin suffix to a Germanic personal name — Grimo, Grima or Chrimo — and would therefore mean the holding of Grimo. In 1243 Grimentz became the first village in Anniviers to constitute itself as a commune; in the 14th century it formed, with the hamlet of Saint-Jean, one of the valley's quarters alongside Vissoie, Saint-Luc and Ayer.

In the middle of the village, the Maison Bourgeoise of 1550 keeps in its cellars the vin du Glacier, which was once served only to the bishop. Grimentz long lived from raising Hérens cattle on its pastures; the Moiry dam, built in 1957, and then tourism from the late 1960s took over. Every 17 January the Boconett is celebrated: the legend tells that in 1348 girls tending cattle above the Saint-Jean pasture escaped the plague and promised that a share of the cheese from the Torrent pasture would be given out to the children each year.

The commune itself has ceased to exist: on 26 November 2006, 65.8% of voters accepted the merger with five other communes to form Anniviers, effective on 1 January 2009. The village has belonged since 2016 to the association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Switzerland. The flood of the Marais torrent, in May 1999, remains the event people talk about here: it carried away the sawmill built around 1819 and the larch on the post office square, of which only the roots remain, turned into a fountain.

Why this place is remarkable

What holds Grimentz together is wood: raccards on stilts, larch façades blackened by the sun, fountains turned by the torrent. The village lost its status as a commune in 2009 without its plan changing, and its best-known cellar, beneath the Maison Bourgeoise of 1550, keeps a wine once served only to the bishop.

History and origin

The first traces of settlement on this land go back to the 3rd or 4th century BC. In the 11th century these lands belonged to the lords of Granges and then to Bishop Aymon of Savoy. The village arms are recorded on the stove of the burghers' hall, with the date 1771 and the inscription LC DG, for Louable Commune De Grimentz; its four stars are taken to stand for the old quarters of Anniviers, and their tincture, long left undefined, was only settled in 1945.