In 1856 Johann Jakob Weissmüller from Wimmis built the Niesen Kulm Hotel (26 beds) on the summit of Niesen. With its magnificent panorama the mountain became a popular destination for guests from Switzerland and abroad who came here on foot, on horseback or in a sedan chair. In the visitors’ book we find barons from Russia, lords from England and – among others – Johannes Brahms from Vienna. Jules Beck (1825-1904), too, a businessman and mountain photographer from Biel, living in Strasbourg, climbed Niesen in August 1881 in order to take photographs of the gorgeous view of the surrounding mountain world.