Stans: Difference between revisions

Stans
Municipality
Coat of arms
Location of Stans
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Nidwalden
District	n.a.
Government
• Mayor	Gemeindepräsidentin Beatrice Richard-Ruf FDP/PRD
Area [1]
• Total	11.08 km2 (4.28 sq mi)
Elevation	452 m (1,483 ft)
Population  (31 December 2018)[2]
• Total	8,393
• Density	760/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (Central European Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (Central European Summer Time)
Postal code(s)	6370
SFOS number	1509
ISO 3166 code	CH-NW
Surrounded by	Buochs, Dallenwil, Ennetbürgen, Ennetmoos, Oberdorf, Stansstad
Website	www.stans.ch SFSO statistics

Stans is the capital of the canton of Nidwalden (Nidwald) in Switzerland.

History

Stans is one of the oldest settlements in the entire Nidwalden valley. The first traces of human settlement date to the 2nd Century BC.^[3] During the Roman era there is little evidence of a settlement except for some gallo-roman Ustrinum or funeral pyres and the Latin root (stagnum meaning a pool or sump) of the name Stans.^[3]

During the 7th or 8th Century the Alamanni settled in the region. The christian Alamanni built the first church in Stans around 750 AD. This pre-Carolingian church served as the parish church for the entire Engelberg Valley. The church was expanded numerous times until it was finally replaced in 1647 by the new church of St. Peter and Paul.^[3]

Stans was first mentioned in 1124.^[4] By 1291, when Unterwalden joined Uri and Schwyz in what became the Swiss Confederation, Stans was already the capital of the section known as Unterwalden nid dem Kernwald which would become the half canton of Nidwalden.

In 1386, during the Battle of Sempach, a soldier from Stans, Arnold von Winkelried, is claimed to have thrown himself on the pikes of the Habsburg army which led the Swiss to victory. However it is doubtful whether he existed or died in the battle as the first mention of his selfless act appears over 150 years after the battle and a man who may have been Arnold was party to a lawsuit in 1389. Regardless, the legend is firmly in place in Stans, with a monument and his house located in the town.

Following the Swiss victories in the Burgundian Wars the Old Swiss Confederation was nearly torn apart by internal conflict when the city cantons insisted on having the lion's share of the proceeds since they had supplied the most troops. The country cantons resented this and the Tagsatzung or leadership of each of the cantons met in Stans in 1481 to resolve the issues. However, they were unable to resolve the issues and war seemed inevitable. A local hermit, Niklaus von der Flüe, was consulted on the situation. He requested that a message be passed on to the members of the Tagsatzung on his behalf. The details of the message have remained unknown to this day, however it did calm the tempers and led to the drawing up of the Stanser Verkommnis. As part of the Verkommnis Fribourg and Solothurn were admitted into the confederation.

During the Middle Ages, Stans was protected with seven towers. However, the town never built a wall to connect the towers and encircle it.^[3]

In 1713 two-thirds of the town was destroyed in a fire. Following the fire, new regulations kept the village square (Dorfplatz) open and clear of construction. The large, open square surrounded by baroque houses and the town council house (Rathaus) owe their appearance to the fire and subsequent reconstruction.

In 1798 Stans was stormed by French troops, following the decision of Nidwalden not to adopt the constitution of the Helvetic Republic. Children orphaned by this event were gathered by the educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi for his first school. He converted the Convent of St. Klara (built in 1621-1625) into a school for the children.^[4] However, he only had the school until the following year when the French Army needed the building and the orphan's school came to a sudden end.^[5] In 1814, following the collapse of the Napoleonic Act of Mediation, Nidwalden attempted to return to the Ancien Regime government, with subject lands belonging to the canton. Stans and the rest of Nidwalden only gave up their subject lands when Federal troops marched into the city.^[6] Stans and the rest of Nidwalden joined the Sonderbund in 1845 and were involved in the 1847 Sonderbund War.

In the 20th Century, modern technology and transportation changed Stans. In 1893 Stans was connected to the rail network of Lucerne by steam ferry. In 1964 the Lucerne-Stans-Engelberg rail way was opened and in 1966 the A2 motorway (which is Switzerland's main north-south axis from Basel to Chiasso) connected Stans to the rest of Europe.

The open-air assembly (Landsgemeinde) was held in Stans annually until its abolition in 1997.

Geography

The area of Stans is Template:Km2 to mi2. Much of the land within the borders of Stans is agricultural (43.7%), while just over a third (36.5%) is forested. Of the remaining area, about 17% is settlements and less than 2.6% is unproductive (mountains, rivers or glaciers).^[7] The highest point within the borders of Stans is on the Stanserhorn and is Template:M to ft above sea level. The lowest point is at Fronhofen where the elevation is Template:M to ft. The village square (Dorfplatz) has an elevation of Template:M to ft.^[8] Stans receives Template:Mm to in of precipitation per year, spread out over 138 days. June, July and August are usually the wettest months of the year.^[9]

Demographics

Stans has a population (as of 2008^[update]) of 7,784, 9.4% of which is of foreign nationality.^[8] Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 13.2%. Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (91.6%), with Italian being second most common (2.0%) and Serbo-Croation being third (1.2%). In the 2007 election the FDP party had a clear majority in Stans, receiving 88% of the vote.^[7] The historic population of Stans is given in the following table:^[8]

Industry

The town has a low unemployment rate (1.27% in 2007). There are (as of 2005) about 630 local businesses which employ about 7100 people. 1.2% of these are in the agricultural sector, 34% in trade and industry, 65% in services.^[7]

Sights

The local mountain, the Stanserhorn (Template:M to ft) is also a tourist resort. It is accessible via one of the oldest mountain railways in Switzerland, the Stanserhornbahn (1893), and by cable car. The Stanserhornbahn was originally built as a rack and pinion railway, with three seperate sections. In 1970 the upper section was destroyed by a fire following a lightning strike. In 1975 the destroyed upper section and the middle section were replaced by an aerial cable car. At the peak of the Stanserhorn is the Rondorama, a revolving restaurant that was built in 2001. From the peak of the Stanserhorn, on a clear day the view stretchs nearly Template:Km to mi and includes 10 Swiss lakes and the Black Forest of Germany.^[10] There is a short hiking trail around the peak of the Stanserhorn and a small population of Marmots are kept near the trail.^[11]

Following the fire in 1713, the village square (Dorfplatz) was fully rebuilt, to its current unified appearance, in 1715 according to a plan by Josef Aebi and Ludwig Gassmann. The square now houses the Winkelried fountain and the sculpture Der Tod und das Mädchen (Death and the Maiden). The Winkelried monument was carved from Carrarain marble in Rome and then shipped by boat, rail and horse team to Stans in 1865.^[12] The monument is in a Gothic Revival style and was carved by Ferdinand Schlöth. Death and the Maiden was done by Rudolf Brem.^[13]

The Parish church, St. Peter und Paul was built from 1641 until 1647 by the architect Jakob Berger. The church was constructed in an early-Baroque style, while the bell tower is an older Romanesque structure. The three nave Basilica was built south of the earlier church, though the older bell tower dates from this previous church.^[4] The interior is decorated in white, gold and black. The simple interior ornamentation comes from Lombardy while there altar figures were done by Georg Allhelg.^[13] Next to the church is a two story chapel and ossuary for the nearby Capucin monastery.

• A Capucin monastery
• Monastery St. Klara
• A monument for the local hero Arnold von Winkelried and his birth place (Winkelriedhaus)
• Salt storage house
• The Schmiedgasse

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stans.

• Official Page Template:De icon
• Stanserhorn