The article discusses the complex relations between the three different areas of culture and language in the Swiss canton of Grisons and describes the historical processes that have created this situation. The developing of the diversity of languages and cultures on the territory of Grisons was infl uenced to a high degree by the mountainous confi guration of this region, the isolation of the alpine valleys and by the situation of Grisons on the border line between the territories of the German and Romance cultures and languages. So the linguistic landscape of the canton of Grisons is composed nowadays of areas of German, Italian and Romansh. The peculiarity of Grisons is the existence of Romansh, one of the most ancient languages of the Alps. This Romance language was in the 5th century the only language used in Grisons, but has lost his dominant position to German and today it is struggling for its survival.