Edelweiss - "Swiss Map" Magnet

The miniaturized Swiss map magnet with lovely drawings is a great gift for others or for your own fridge. It has an extra strong magnet.

Color: green
Material: steel

Swisstopo, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, is Switzerland's national mapping agency. The agency is responsible for Switzerland’s geographical reference data and all associated products. It manages geographic information systems (GIS) projects for Swiss Federal offices and other private customers, such as producing topographic maps and geographic information of the country.

Interesting fact about Switzerland...

If Switzerland's surface were flattened out like a pancake, the country would be 12.5 percent larger. 

Actually Switzerland was pretty flat a few million years ago. This was until the plates started moving, creating the Alps as we know them today. What is left of earth’s sliding and shifting is a unique geography with hundreds of valleys, river sources, lakes and peaks.

For a landlocked country, 1'500 lakes is quite a few. Some lakes are more special than others, such as the largest lake in the Alpine region (Lake Geneva) and the largest body of water contained within Switzerland (Lake Neuchâtel). Among the smallest lakes are Lago di Poschiavo and Oeschinensee. Switzerland's land mass is only 0.4 percent that of Europe but the country holds 6 percent of the continent's fresh water reserves. 40 percent of the water originates from snow melt, and barely 2 percent from the melting of the glaciers. For the most part, the fresh water is so clear that you can drink out of rivers and lakes.

Switzerland also has more high peaks than any other country in Europe - namely 48 that are above 4'000 meters. in fact, mountains cover a whopping 60 percent of Switzerland's land area. With all these mountains, it is no surprise that Switzerland has over 60'000 km of signposted hiking trails. The highest railway staion in Europe is in Switzerland, on top of the Jungfraujoch at 3'454 meters. Switzerland also has some 5'000 cable cars, inclines and ski lifts. For those who prefer to take stairs, the world's longest staircase with 11'674 steps leads up to Mt. Niesen in the Bernese Alps. Also the world's longest railway tunnel is in Switzerland. It measures 57.1 km and construction took 17 years.