---
title: Zälg terrace landscape
url: "https://www.erschmatt.ch/en/discover/sights/zaelg-terrace-landscape/"
date: 2024-07-22
modified: 2025-05-13
lastUpdated: 2025-05-13
---

# Zälg terrace landscape

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4. Zälg terrace landscape

  The terraced fields in the «Zälg»
=================================

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  The field terraces (Zälg in the local dialect) northeast of the village of Erschmatt form an impressive cultural landscape. Living 1,100 to 1,600 meters above sea level, the people of Erschmatt and Bratsch grew rye on these terraces for their subsistence. Over the past 60 years, the nature of the Zälg and its biodiversity have changed fundamentally. It is the responsibility of all of us to maintain and preserve this cultural heritage and its biodiversity for future generations through appropriate use.

  ### Zälg

  ![](https://www.erschmatt.ch/fileadmin/_processed_/d/1/csm_Zaelg-Ackerterrassen_Parzellen_57cb2fda31.png) The Zälg is a small parcel of land; several owners had a plot of land on a single terrace, which they could only reach via neighbouring plots. There were therefore regulated time slots for spreading manure, ploughing, sowing and harvesting, which everyone had to adhere to. This constraint on the owners is the defining characteristic of a zelgen system.

### Terraced landscape

  ![](https://www.erschmatt.ch/fileadmin/_processed_/3/9/csm_6._Erschmatt-Undri_Zaelg_Roggenaecker_713bf8067e.jpg) For centuries, people terraced steep mountain slopes in order to be able to farm them. The agricultural terraces of the Zälg consist of flat to slightly sloping terraced areas for use as fields as well as steeply sloping terraced slopes or ravines (the ‘Furä’ in dialect). Terraces for the cultivation of grain, rice, wine, etc. are characteristic landscapes all over the world and some of them are Unesco cultural heritage sites: e.g. [Lavaux-Weinberge](https://www.region-du-leman.ch/de/Z9584/lavaux-ein-geschichtstraechtiger-weinberg), [Reisterrassen von Banaue](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reisterrassen_von_Banaue).

### Grain

  ![](https://www.erschmatt.ch/fileadmin/_processed_/f/0/csm_Roggenko__rner_fu__r_Aussaat_074da3c3a5.jpg) Cereals have been one of the most important sources of food for humans and animals for thousands of years. The main type of grain in a region is colloquially referred to as ‘grain’; in Valais, for example, rye is known as ‘Korn’ (local dialect ‘Choru’).

  [  ![](https://www.erschmatt.ch/fileadmin/_processed_/d/9/csm_obere_zelg_erschmatt_1950er-e1428858304339_f9ac7275be.jpg) ### Zälg in history

The cultivated terraces were once divided into the Upper and Lower Zälg, which lay fallow in one year and were planted with winter rye the next. This two-phase system arose in the 16th century and was maintained until the end of the 1960s.

 mehr Informationen

 ](https://www.erschmatt.ch/en/roggen/terassenlandschaft-zaelg/zaelg-frueher/)

  [  ![](https://www.erschmatt.ch/fileadmin/_processed_/0/2/csm_20201004_160014_6759479bd9.jpg) ### Zälg today

The greatest part of the original rye fields are currently grazed meadows. In all, 11 terraces have been recreated by Erlebniswelt Roggen Erschmatt together with Pro Natura Wallis and planted with winter rye, which has produced a living environment for many now rare plants and creatures.

 mehr Informationen

 ](https://www.erschmatt.ch/en/roggen/terassenlandschaft-zaelg/zaelg-heute/)

  [  ![](https://www.erschmatt.ch/fileadmin/_processed_/f/4/csm_Dreschmaschine_Erschmatt_52cd0169dc.jpg) ### Working the cultivated terraces

The grain cultivation practised on the cultivated terraces of mountain regions has aroused increasing interest, but these days machinery plays a large part in agriculture. So the rye harvest is a key issue. Until now no machines have been able to carry this out work.

 mehr Informationen

 ](https://www.erschmatt.ch/en/discover/sights/zaelg-terrace-landscape/managing-the-terraces/)

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  #### Sage - Der geprellte Teufel

Geschichte zur Zälg und dem Hugostein
 Die Ackerterrassen wurden jährlich abwechselnd einmal in der oberen Zälg und einmal in der unteren Zälg mit Roggen bepflanzt. Das war aber nicht immer so...