Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Zermatt peak to be renamed after Red Cross founder

wikipedia.org


The Ostspitze mountain in Zermatt will be renamed after Henri Dunant, who founded the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1863. The idea, put forward by Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, has been approved by the local commune. 

“Didier Burkhalter asked us some time ago whether, as a sort of present for the jubilee [the 150th anniversary of the ICRC], we could rename a peak on the Monte Rosa Massif the Dunant Peak,” Christop Bürgin, mayor of Zermatt, told the Swiss News Agency recently. 

“We think it’s an excellent idea. The Ostspitze is not a well-known mountain and this celebrity name will make it more famous.” 

The Ostspitze will now become the Dunant-Spitze (Dunant Peak), or Pointe-Dunant in French. 

At 4,632 metres, the peak is the second-highest in Switzerland, two metres lower than the Dufourspitze, named after Swiss General Guillaume-Henri Dufour.

External Content

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR