Tower Belvedere

The castle was built as a personal residence by the eccentric Belgian Count Camille de Renesse who at the end of the nineteenth century dreamed of transforming Maloja into a popular tourist destination for wealthy aristocrats. The tower and the adjacent hotel, however, were only completed after the count's death, at the beginning of the twentieth century.

In 1953 the castle was bought by the Federal Nature Conservation Society. The hotel is now in ruins, while the tower has become the emblem of Maloja.

During summer, the Belvedere Tower shows temporary exhibitions and you can visit the permanent Pro Natura exhibition entitled, "The history of the Maloja landscape: geology, flora and fauna".

During the construction of the tower, seven deep glacial mills were discovered. The glacial mills formed during the last ice age. They are deep and smooth holes in the rocks and are called "cauldrons of giants." During the retreat of the glaciers some boulders were trapped in the ice and began to spin around, forming deep holes. There have been 36 glacial mills discovered in the the nature reserve that surrounds the tower.