Pastor Künzle Trail Wangs

Themed circular hike with herbal information boards from Wangs Rappagugg via Vilters and back. In the former spa house Bad Wangs (today holiday complex Fatima) original sud pots and bathing facilities still exist.

Short biography Pastor Künzle 1857-1945
He acquired the foundation of his extensive knowledge about the native medicinal plants and their uses already in early childhood, when his father Jakob Anton Künzle, a gardener, showed him the different plants, named their Latin names, and also told him their origins.
Later, Pastor Künzle collected recipes of old, tried and tested remedies and studied animal behavior. Although scientists mocked him, he steadfastly drew conclusions from his observations. In Wangs, in 1914, he held the first herb market. Pastor Künzle had the herbs collected here because he had noted that the herbs in the föhn area in the Wangs region are significantly stronger than those in the area of the north wind. When the feared flu raged in 1918 and death was everywhere, the herbalist pastor fought with herbal teas against the “sinister fellow“, who did not succeed in winning even a single patient away from the “miracle doctor“.

The healing successes of the popular pastor caused a great stir and made him famous. More and more people turned to the herb expert and asked him for help and healing, so that he finally faced the decision whether to remain a clergyman or dedicate himself entirely to the sick. He decided for herbal medicine and settled in Zizers. In his new home, there was no shortage of patients, but rather a lack of understanding from the authorities of the canton of Graubünden. He was penalized for helping the sick, and scholarly circles spoke of superstition and quackery in connection with the herbal healing method. There was the famous vote on the herbal medicine initiative in the canton of Graubünden.

The people clearly voted in favor of herbal medicine. The opponents of the herbal pastor had not yet given up, hoping that the “miracle doctor” would fail the exam they had arranged. When the 65-year-old pastor was summoned for the exam, he asked the gentlemen whether he should answer the questions in Latin or Greek, which embarrassed the examiners considerably. Künzle passed the exam with flying colors. The way was now clear for healing. Pastor Künzle’s healing method with the 3Fs, for solid - liquid - volatile, is still applied today. Solid stands for herbal active ingredients for the organs, liquid for the organism, and volatile for the body's energy balance. Pastor Künzle was buried on January 11, 1945, in the municipality of Wangs.