Four boulders resting near the geographic center of Switzerland mark the lives of figures who shaped environmental and humanitarian advocacy, Republik reported in November 2026. Placed across the remote Älggi alp at 1,650 meters above sea level, the monuments carry no QR codes, maps, or directional signs to guide hikers. Instead, the stones stand as quiet testaments to pioneers whose work spanned solar energy, rainforest conservation, climate litigation, and rural bridge-building.
Stones Carved Across Millennia
The collection began following the October 2019 death of Martin Vosseler, a Basel physician, solar pioneer, and peace activist. In October 2023, environmental activist Toni Reichmuth and musician Michael Schoch carried a 15-kilogram silicious limestone rock from Elm—where Vosseler often visited his mother’s birthplace—to the Obwalden alp. The stone, dating back roughly 130 million years, honors Vosseler’s decades of campaigning for a fossil-free energy supply and nonviolent ecological policies.
A second boulder followed a year later: a 600-million-year-old gneiss from Andeer, placed to remember environmentalist Bruno Manser. Manser lived for years with the nomadic Penan people in the rainforests of Sarawak, Malaysia, before disappearing in the jungle in May 2000. Andeer served as a preparation base for Manser before his expeditions into Southeast Asia.
On August 12, 2025, a third stone joined the site. Weighing 85 kilograms, a red sandstone sphere from Strasbourg was placed in a protected niche by Reichmuth, geophysicist Roy Freeman, and members of the Klima seniorinnen—a group of older Swiss women who successfully challenged government climate inaction at the European Court of Human Rights. Strasbourg gifted the stone, carved from the same material used to build the city’s cathedral, to honor the legal victory led by attorney Cordelia Bähr.
The Suspension Bridge Builder Recognized
The fourth monument arrived on September 21, 2026. A granodiorite-tonalit from the Morteratsch region in the Upper Engadine represents the work of Beat Anton Rüttimann, widely known as Toni el Suizo. Born in Pontresina in 1967, Rüttimann traveled to Ecuador as a 19-year-old following a devastating earthquake, carrying 9,000 Swiss francs in donations. Without prior training in civil engineering, he began constructing pedestrian suspension bridges using recycled materials alongside local communities.
Rüttimann and his collaborators have built suspension bridges across Latin America and Southeast Asia. The rust-red and black speckled stone, positioned between two smaller boulders overgrown with shrubs, symbolizes the connecting pathways he created for isolated villages to access schools, medical care, and markets.
Decades of Ecological Mobilization
The placement of these memorials traces its roots to August 1, 1993, when environmental activists gathered on the Älggi alp for a “Sonnenlandsgemeinde” organized by physicians for environmental protection and social responsibility. Participants hiked from across Switzerland to camp and demand a rapid transition away from fossil fuels and nuclear power. Then-Federal President Adolf Ogi and cabinet member Ruth Dreifuss both sent written messages acknowledging the gathering.
Reichmuth, who maintains a connection to the nearby birthplace of Niklaus von der Flüe in Flüeli-Ranft, emphasizes that environmental transformation requires spiritual grounding alongside political action. The network behind these actions continues its advocacy, having filed a referendum against new nuclear power plants in early October.
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