Carl Meili, born in Weisslingen in the Canton of Zurich, was a graphic artist, painter and modeller. He first came in contact with terrain modelling in 1899, as an assistant of Imfeld‘s team, creating the model of the Jungfrau group. There, the talented Meili learned how to build superb terrain models. Until the death of Imfeld in 1909, Meili was his pupil and assistant. Between 1899 and 1903, he created the relief model of the Säntis under the direction of Albert Heim. It is in a scale of 1:5,000 [1], and measures 184 x 192 cm [2]. The skilful and subtle modelling and painting of the rock faces of this cliffy mountain are excellent. Beside the map at 1:25,000, 350 drawings from Heim and about 850 photographs provided the necessary information [3].

Later on, Meili created two more relief models of the Säntis in 1:2,500 and 1:25,000 [4]. Meili reproduced other regions as well. His models are very accurate and carefully designed [5].