Village tour: Lantsch/ Lenz

- A historical journey through time, a walk through the village of Lantsch/Lenz
- A mountain village then and now
- Romansh is the ancestral language of the municipality of Lantsch/Lenz.

The official languages are Romansh and German, with the municipality promoting efforts to preserve the Romansh language. Lantsch/Lenz is part of the Albula Valley and lies on an idyllic sunny terrace south of Lenzerheide at 1350 metres above sea level. The valley that opens up offers a magnificent view of our beautiful mountain world. Archaeological finds in and around the Iron Age settlement of Bot da Loz prove the presence of the Romans and indicate that the village was already inhabited in the Bronze and Middle La Tène periods (2200 - 800 BC). The imperial charter of 831 mentions the importance of Lantsch/ Lenz as a station on the transit route with a royal court, a church and two taverns. The village was one of the four ports on the upper road (Chur-Chiavenna) and had a main port with customs rights. After the abolition of port rights in 1861, the village developed into an important postal stage station with a rest stop and horse exchange. The abolition of the horse depot meant the end of one of the greatest economic prosperities with work and additional income to the meagre agricultural yields. The situation only improved with the opening of the Albula railway line in 1903. The municipality of Lantsch/Lenz only slowly recovered after the Second World War with the emergence of tourism.