Valais is a bilingual cantone since 1815 and became the 20th Swiss canton after the downfall of Napoleon I. 

It is situated in the South of Switzerland and rises from the valley of Rhone at the foot of the Rhone glacier until Lake Geneva. It is surrounded by the Pennine and Lepontine Alps, the Alps of Valais, Uri and Bern and borders on Italy and France.

46 peaks of the Alps with more than 4000m height, amongst them the famous Matterhorn or the Dufour peak, and the deepest and most spacious glacier in Europe: The big glacier of Aletsch (24km long and 900m thick). It is acknowledged by the UNESCO and classified a world cultural heritage. The canton has about 680 glaciers, which corresponds to an area of two third of Switzerland’s ice and one third to the ice of the whole Alps.

The former Roman area, which has a population of 339 100 residents, is known for its animals like the Eringer cow and the Saint Bernard dog. The first animal is the main actor in the yearly “cow wrestling matches” taking place in spring. The origin of the Saint Bernard dogs is the hospice on the mountain of St. Bernhard. This breed is a representative of the area and there is also a museum in Martigny, which tells its story.