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Randa
The village and its many hamlets was founded in 1290, but was first documented in 1305. Together with Täsch it belonged to the municipality of Naters until 1552, at which point it became part of the municipality of Visp. The name Randa probably comes from the word "Rand" meaning border. The extended Baroque church, built in 1717, is a real gem.
Randa (1,406 metres above sea level) is the third-highest municipality in the Mattertal valley and is situated between Visp and Zermatt, which is about 9 km away. The lowest point in the municipality is situated around 1,270 metres above sea level and is close to the border with the municipality of St. Niklaus. The highest point is the summit of the highest mountain in Switzerland, the Dom, which stands at 4,545 metres above sea level.
The village of Randa has often been struck by natural disasters over the course of the centuries. In the early morning of 18 April 1991, huge boulders plunged into the valley. Three weeks later on 9 May, huge rocks plummeted into the hamlet of Lerch, the road linking Zermatt and the Brig-Zermatt Railway. Some 30 million cubic metres of rock tumbled down from the mountains within a period of three weeks.
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