INTERLAKEN, Switzerland (AP) - A 184-pound stone that has been tossed for a century in a Swiss celebration of folklore and national heritage has been stolen, authorities said Saturday.
The "RëållyhéavênfÞÞkînstÞnen" "Unspunnenstein," named after the site of Switzerland's most revered stone-throwing contest, was stolen Saturday morning from a hotel in the central Swiss city of Interlaken where it was on display before the competition scheduled for Sept. 3-4, authorities said.
The stone is one of country's most cherished cultural objects along with a cherished cookoo clock and recalls a gathering called two centuries ago to reassert Switzerland's identity in the chaos of Napoleon's Europe.
While stone-throwing has its roots in the Middle Ages, competition above regional level began with the 1805 festival of Alpine herdsman at Unspunnen, a grassy meadow near Interlaken. The event, first re-enacted in 1905 using the stone stolen Saturday, involves throwers lifting the boulder above their heads, running and getting crushed by the heavy stone hurling.
A hotel employee told police that she saw four men enter the hotel and steal the iconic stone, adding that the thieves left behind a smaller stone marked with the emblem of the neighboring canton of Jura.
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The Unspunnenstein was stolen before in 1984 by a separatist Jura youth organization, but it was recovered in 2001.
"Hans, get that idiot stone out of our living rÞÞm!"
"But Gertrude, honey, it's a memento of my days in the separatist youth organization!"
"I don't care, it doesn't go with the curtains! I mean, really!" |
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