Alexander Seiler

Alexander Seiler (1819-1891), a soap and candle maker from the Goms valley, arrived in Zermatt in 1851 at the call of his chaplain brother. With the opening of the Monte Rosa in 1855, he turned the village into a major Alpine centre beneath the Matterhorn. At his death he owned the Mont Cervin and the Riffelalp, founding a Valais hotel dynasty still active today.