722 – Cooling Cellar from Unterschächen UR, 18th Century
The barren utility building is of quarrystone masonry without mortar or plaster. One side is buried in the hillside. Natives say that "Nidlers", thats how the cooling cellars are called in Swiss dialect, additionally served for the storage of not only milk and potatoes but also meat.
Natural Refrigerator
The cooling cellar from Unterschächen is one of many variations of the type. The architecture is often simple, indeed archaic-looking. Tucked under boulders, dug into the ground, covered with earth, beneath trees, water channels running through cellars – anything that promised shade and a cool environment was exploited.
A “Nidler”
The barren utility building is of quarrystone masonry without mortar or plaster. One side is buried in the hillside. The cellar was located on the “Erlenbödeli” between the hamlets of Ribi and Schwanden. There were several such buildings there. They were known as “Nidler” in Swiss dialect. “Nidel” is cream: if milk is left standing overnight, cream will rise and can be skimmed off in the morning – it’s the cream of the crop. Natives say that Nidlers additionally served for the storage of not only milk and potatoes but also meat. When good times caused the earliest mechanical refrigerators to show up in villages, the Nidler became redundant. When dismantled in 1983 this cooling cellar was derelict.
Alps = Milk
Alpine regions are synonymous with livestock farming which in turn is synonymous with wool, meat and, of course, milk, whether it comes from sheep, goats or cows. Fresh milk must be kept cool until it is processed to cheese. Premature coagulation and souring of the milk can only be prevented if the temperature is continuously kept low. From the “bories” of the French Alps to the “nevere” of Ticino, farmers have always developed variations on buildings for cooling milk.
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