Missing since 2005 New photos emerge - Unspunnenstein is said to be in the Jura Mountains
Is the mystery of the Unspunnenstein really over after 19 years? A proof photo is said to show the discovery of the original Unspunnenstein.
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- New photos should prove that the missing Unspunnenstein is buried in the canton of Jura, as the "Quotidien Jurassien" reports.
- The stone was originally stolen by Jura separatists in 1984 as a political act and has been missing since 2005.
- Stone cutter Peter Michel and Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider are hoping for the return of the historic stone.
Switzerland's most famous stone - the Unspunnenstein- was missing for 19 years. Now new pictures of the stone are supposed to prove that the unique stone is buried in the canton of Jura, as "Le Quotidien Jurassien" writes. There is "no doubt" that it is the real stone, the newspaper writes.
The evidence photo shows the stone and an August 2024 edition of the "Quotidien Jurassien". According to editor-in-chief Rémy Chételat, the newspaper had received several photos of the partially buried stone, which were accompanied by an issue of the newspaper from August 26, 2024.
As the SRF writes, stone pusher Peter Michel from the Interlaken gymnastics club spent years searching for the Unspunnenstein. He still can't quite believe that the stone has reappeared. But he doesn't want to fall into euphoria just yet. "I'd like to pick it up in the Jura and exhibit the stone in a museum. And certainly raise a glass to it," he says.
It is probably one of the most exciting periods in Swiss history. On June 3, 1984, the 83-kilo stone was stolen for the first time from the tourist museum in Unterseen BE. The Béliers, Jura separatists, were behind it. It was a subversive political act - because the Béliers are still fighting for the independence of the entire Bernese Jura.
Elisabeth Baume-Schneider also wants the Unspunnenstein back
The stone remained missing for a long time. Then in 2001 it was dissolved. The Béliers presented the stone to Shawne Fiedling, the wife of the then ambassador in Berlin, Thomas Borer, to great media effect.
But the mystery did not end there. In 2005, the separatists stole the stone again - two weeks before the Unspunnen Festival. The second time it was stolen from the lobby of the Hotel Victoria-Jungfrau in Interlaken. The separatists left behind a paving stone with a Jura coat of arms painted on it. The Unspunnenstein from 1808 has been missing ever since.
Recently, Jura Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider also commented on the disappearance of the stone. Baume-Schneider told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper last August that it was time for the people concerned to think about how and when the Unspunnenstein would be returned. "At an institutional level, the Jura question is over."