The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Zermatt

ZERMATT, tsĕr-māt', or zĕr-māt' (formerly called PRABORGNE), Switzerland, a mountain village and tourist-resort in the canton of Valais, at the foot of the Matterhorn and near the head of the Visp Valley, 22½ miles by rail southwest of Visp. It stands 5,315 feet above sea-level, having to the south the great Théodule glacier, above which tower the Breithorn on the east, and beyond the Monte Rosa group, and on the west the rocky cone of the Matterhorn. An electric mountain railway connects with the Riffelberg and the summit of the Gornergrat (10,290 feet). The Théodule Pass or Matterjoch (10,899 feet) leads to Aosta in Italy. Its scenery compares in grandeur with that of Grundewald and Chamonix. In the village churchyard are the graves of many victims of mountaineering. Pop. about 750.