The Reichenbach
Falls (Reichenbachfall) are a series of waterfalls
on the Reichenbach stream in the Bernese
Oberland region of Switzerland. They have a total drop of 250 metres (820 ft).
At 90 metres
(300 ft), the Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the
highest cataracts in the Alps. Today, a hydro-electric
power company harnesses the flow of the Reichenbach Falls during certain times
of year, reducing its flow.
In popular
literature, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave the falls as the
location of the final fight of hero Sherlock
Holmes with his nemesis Professor Moriarty, in The Final
Problem.
The falls
are located in the lower part of the Reichenbachtal
valley, on the Reichenbach stream, a tributary of the Aar river.
They are some 2 km (1.2 mi) south of the town of Meiringen,
and 25 km (16 mi) east of Interlaken.
Politically, the falls are within the municipality
of Schattenhalb in the canton of
Bern.
The falls
are made accessible by the Reichenbachfall funicular. The lower
station is some 20 minutes walk, or a 6 minute bus ride, from Meiringen station on the Brünig railway line that links Interlaken and Lucerne.
The town and
the falls are known worldwide as the setting for a fictional event: it is the
location where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's hero, Sherlock
Holmes, fights to the death with his archnemesis,
Professor Moriarty, at the end of The Final
Problem, first published in 1893. A memorial plate at the funicular
station commemorates Holmes and there is also a Sherlock Holmes museum in the
nearby town of Meiringen.
Out of many waterfalls
in the Bernese Oberland, the Reichenbach Falls seems
to have made the greatest impression on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the
Sherlock Holmes stories, who was shown them on a Swiss holiday by his host Sir Henry Lunn, the founder of Lunn Poly.
Sir Henry's grandson, Peter Lunn, recalled: "My grandfather said
'Push him over the Reichenbach Falls' and Conan Doyle hadn’t heard of them, so
he showed them to him." So impressed was Doyle that he decided to let his
hero die there.
The actual ledge from which Moriarty and Holmes apparently fell is on the
other side of the falls to the funicular; it is accessible by climbing the path
to the top of the falls, crossing the bridge and following the trail down the
hill. The ledge is marked by a plaque as illustrated here; the English
inscription reads: "At this fearful place, Sherlock Holmes vanquished
Professor Moriarty, on 4 May 1891." The pathway on which the duel between
Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty occurs ends some hundred meters (yards)
away from the falls. When Doyle viewed the falls, the path ended very close to
the falls, close enough to touch it, yet over the hundred years after his
visit, the pathway has become unsafe and slowly eroded away, and the falls have
receded further back into the gorge.
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