The legend
When and how the cannon came to be in Saanen was somewhat of a mystery for many years. It was long thought to have been brought to the region to help prevent a French invasion of Bern in 1789. Following the fall of the Vaudois high plateau, the French planned to march through the Saanenland and Simmental toward Bern. Dragoon Colonel Beat Emanuel von Tscharner, the absconded governor of Aigle, was ordered to protect Ormont from the French, but he had inadequate armaments and poor supplies. Despite the difficult circumstances, Tscharner’s men were able to prevent the French from advancing to the Saanenland or Pays-d’Enhaut. After the Bernese troops were dismissed, rumors began to circulate in the Saanenland that Bern had nonetheless fallen to the French. Legend has it that, given the news about Bern falling, nobody in the Saanenland wanted to risk sending the cannon back to Bern in case it landed in enemy hands. And so the cannon remained in Saanen.Local residents believed this version of the cannon’s history until weapons expert and collector, Dr Pierre R. Zaugg, decided to find out the truth about the cannon’s origins and restore it to its original splendor.

What really happened
After a significant amount of research, Dr Zaugg was able to confirm that contrary to the legend, the cannon had not come to Saanen during the defense of Ormont, but rather during the civil war that ensued. Dr Zaugg published an article in the Anzeiger von Saanen in 1983 that revealed the true story of the Saanen cannon. He explains that two cannons were in fact brought to Saanen during the war against the French, but that these were returned to Bern after the war had ended. The cannon that is in Saanen today was requested by the liberal Saanen inhabitants from Bern to help protect themselves from the canton’s conservative faction during the civil war. The war between the two fronts ended with the Sonderbund War in 1847 and a new Swiss Federal Constitution transformed Switzerland into a federal state in 1848. Why the cannon remained in Saanen after the war is still unclear today.

On display in Saanen
The Saanen cannon has experienced and survived a lot over the years. After being initially used for defensive purposes, the cannon was shuffled around Saanen for many years. If it could speak, it would surely have a lot of stories to tell. Today, it belongs to the commune of Saanen and is on loan to the Saanen Museum. It is now housed in an alcove with a glass floor in the stairwell of the parking garage in the village for all to see.

Anne Christine Kempton / AvS