Swiss Alignment & Constitutional Monarchy

Frankish/Carolingian power and the Holy Roman imperial order in Central Europe.

1 chapter

1699 - 1866

In 1699, Prince Johann Adam Andreas of Liechtenstein purchased the indebted Herrschaft Schellenberg; in 1712 he added the County of Vaduz. On 23 January 1719, Emperor Charles VI united them as the Principality of Liechtenstein—a dynastic project that gave an old Austrian noble family a sovereign seat in the Holy Roman Empire. Vaduz Castle became the administrative center, though the Princes themselves rarely resided. Napoleon's dissolution of the Empire in 1806 paradoxically secured Liechtenstein's sovereignty: joining the Confederation of the Rhine, the principality emerged as an independent state. The Congress of Vienna (1815) confirmed this status. A limited constitution was granted in 1818, but real governance remained absolutist. The parish of Mariä Himmelfahrt at Bendern—the Unterland's mother parish, dedicated to the Assumption—would later lend its feast day to the National Day, fusing a Marian feast with dynastic celebration. Through all these political upheavals, the parish feast-day cycle continued undisturbed, the liturgical calendar anchoring each community's ritual year beneath changing flags.

1938 - 1990

Prince Franz Joseph II took up residence at Vaduz Castle in 1938—the first reigning Prince to live in the principality. When war came, Liechtenstein clung to Swiss neutrality, applying Swiss war-economy laws and refusing Nazi annexation demands. In 1940, the government instituted the Staatsfeiertag (National Day) on August 15, fusing the Catholic feast of the Assumption (Mariä Himmelfahrt) with the day before the Prince's birthday—a triple layering of religious, dynastic, and national identity. Fireworks at Vaduz Castle since 1941 carried the motto "Für Gott, Fürst und Vaterland." On the night of May 2, 1945, around 500 soldiers of the First Russian National Army crossed the border at Hinterschellenberg seeking asylum; the government refused Soviet repatriation demands—a story marked by the Russian Monument erected in 1980. Postwar, low taxes and banking secrecy transformed the agrarian principality into a financial center. Organized Fasnacht emerged: FC Schaan launched the first parade in 1952; the Narrenzunft Schaan was founded on September 20, 1965, structuring parades, Guggenmusik (from 1970 onward), and the Kindermaskenball into scheduled civic events atop older diffuse customs. Funkensonntag—burning a tall Funken pyre crowned with a Funkenhexe (straw witch) on the first Sunday after Ash Wednesday—continued as a community fire rite, now organized by local Funkenzünfte.

1342 - 1699

The County of Vaduz, carved from the County of Werdenberg in 1342, and the Lordship of Schellenberg—defined by 1438—formed the two territorial units that would later become Liechtenstein. Imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbarkeit) granted in 1396 placed the County directly under the Emperor, a status visible today in the castles that governed each territory. Vaduz Castle ruled the Oberland; the twin Schellenberg castles (Obere Burg and Untere Burg) commanded the Unterland's Eschnerberg. Gutenberg Castle at Balzers guarded the southern frontier against Swiss expansion, suffering siege in the Swabian War of 1499. The Counts of Hohenems (1613–1699) left a darker mark: Ferdinand Karl was deposed in 1684 for witch hunts that executed approximately 50 people in Schaan alone. Throughout, the parish network remained the stable ritual backbone—Pfrundbauten Eschen (the medieval rectory, origins in the 15th century) housed clergy who maintained the feast-day cycle regardless of which count held political power.

From 1990

Liechtenstein's sovereignty entered a new phase with UN membership (1990), EFTA accession (1991), and EEA entry (1995)—international integration that reshaped the financial sector through transparency demands. The creation of the Archdiocese of Vaduz on December 2, 1997, by Pope John Paul II, was contested: critics saw a political-dynastic maneuver to place the traditionalist Wolfgang Haas over the local church. Haas's tenure (1997–2023) reinforced traditional forms—processions, Tridentine-tinged liturgy—shaping feast-day aesthetics across the parishes. His retirement was accepted by Pope Francis on September 20, 2023; Bishop Benno Elbs of Feldkirch serves as Apostolic Administrator while the see remains vacant. Today you can experience the living cultural calendar: Funkensonntag pyres on the first Sunday after Ash Wednesday (Invocabit, not Laetare as some tourism guides conflate), Schaan's Fasnacht season from November 11 through Ash Wednesday, the September Alpabfahrt at Steg where Walser-influenced decorated herds descend, and the National Day on August 15 when Vaduz Castle opens its meadow to the public. The Walser Museum in Triesenberg preserves dialect (Walserditsch) and alpine customs, while the 75-km Liechtenstein Trail threads all 11 municipalities—walking it, you read every layer from Roman villa foundations to a contemporary microstate navigating European integration with its parish festivals, carnival guilds, and dynastic symbolism still intact.