Schwyz

The town of Schwyz is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.

The Federal Charter of 1291 or Bundesbrief, the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the Bundesbriefmuseum.

The official language of Schwyz is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

Name

The earliest certain record of the name dates to 972 as villa Suittes. There are a number of uncertain records dated between 924 and 960, in the form Swites (Suuites) and Switz. The name is recorded as Schwitz in the 13th century, and in the 17th to 18th century often as Schweitz. The name's etymology is uncertain. It was long presented as derived from the name of an eponymous founder in Swiss legend, one Suito or Switer, an explanation found in Swiss school textbooks until the first half of the 20th century. There is currently no consensus on the name's derivation. A Germanic etymology was suggested by Gatschet (1867), deriving the name from an Old High German verb suedan "to burn" (referring to slash-and-burn clearing of woodland for habitation). Brandstetter (1871) is critical of Gatschet's suggestion and prefers derivation from an Alemannic personal name in Svid- as it were presenting a scholarly defense of the Suito of the founding legend. The etymology proposed for the Schweizerisches Idiotikon by Hubschmied (1929) derives the name from a Gallo-Roman *(alpes) suētas, from the Gaulish or Latin word for "pig", via a Romance *suēdes "(mountain, pasture) of pigs" yielding an Alemannic Swītes. Hubschmied himself distanced himself from this opinion in 1961, preferring an unspecified pre-Roman (or "Etruscan") source. Sonderegger (1966) revisits Gatschet's suedan "slash-and-burn" proposal, but now claims derivation from a cognate Celtic root, *sveit-, Proto-Celtic *sveitos with a meaning of "clearing" or similar, giving Gaulish *Svētos (the long vowel as in Rēnos "Rhine"), Gallo-Romance *Svēdus, -is, and finally Swītesin Old High German by the 8th century.

The name Schwyz was extended to the area dominated by Schwyz (the Canton of Schwyz), and later to the entire Old Swiss Confederacy. Other cantons tended to resent this in the 15th century, but after 1499 the term Schwyzer was widely self-adopted, out of spite so to speak, since it had been employed as a term of abuse by the Swabian side during the Swabian War. Eidgenossenschaft and Schwytzerland (the origin of the English name "Switzerland") could be used interchangeably as country names in the 16th century.

The Swiss German pronunciation [ʃviːts] is homophonous for the name of the town and that of the country (the two are distinguished only by use of the definite article for the latter, [ʃviːts] "Schwyz", [tʃviːts] "Switzerland"). The spelling of y for [iː] originates as a ligature ij in 15th-century handwriting.

History

While a few Roman era coins have been found in Schwyz, the earliest evidence of a settlement comes from the 8th century. The Alamanni cemetery at the parish church and the church itself are both from the first half of the 8th century. This first church was followed by a second ottonian church around 1000, which may have been destroyed by an earthquake in 1117. In 1121 the third church building, a romanesque building, was consecrated. This was followed in the 15th Century by the much larger fourth church which was destroyed, along with much of the village, by fire in 1642. The fifth church, an early baroque church was replaced because of serious structural defects by the current late baroque church which was dedicated in 1774.

Because Schwyz was the capital of a canton, many of the government organizations administered both the town and the canton at the same time, and the history of the town is closely tied to the history of the canton.

According to the chronicle of Johann Stumpf from 1548, the old town originally consisted of a village square, the church and its cemetery, the town hall, the inn, the archive tower and a number of scattered wooden houses. Around 1500, to distinguish it from the Canton of Schwyz, Schwyz town was often called Kilchgassen, which meant the village around the church but not the surrounding villages. The fire of 1642, which destroyed 47 buildings in the center of the village, allowed the town to be totally rebuilt. A new, larger town square with major roads radiating out was built in front of the new church and the new city hall. The houses were rebuilt as urban townhouses and ring of about 30 large patrician farm houses grew up surrounding the village center.

Geography

Besides the town of Schwyz, the municipality includes the settlements of Ibach, Seewen and Rickenbach. To the east, the municipality includes, or borders on, the mountains of Hochstuckli, Kleiner Mythen, Grosser Mythen, Rotenflue, and Furggelenstock. The river Muota flows out of these mountains and through the municipality on its way to Lake Lucerne. The Haggenegg Pass and Holzegg Pass both cross to Alpthal, whilst the Ibergeregg Pass crosses to Oberiberg.

Schwyz has an area, as of 2006, of 53.2 square km. Of this area, 46.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 39.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (5.8%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a Confederate cross couped in the hoist argent.

Historic population

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Historic Population Data Year Total Population German Speaking Italian Speaking Catholic Protestant Other Jewish Islamic No religion given Swiss Non-Swiss 1621 2,052 1669 ca. 2,500 1743 4,639 1799 6,338 1802 ca. 5,000 1837 5,225 1850 5,432 5,428 4 5,406 26 1870 6,137 6,114 38 5,987 167 1888 6,616 6,424 110 6,552 64 21 6,380 236 1900 7,398 7,072 246 7,268 129 18 1 6,911 487 1910 8,000 7,549 352 7,807 184 48 3 7,399 601 1930 8,256 7,866 245 8,004 246 50 7,830 426 1950 10,259 9,827 255 9,888 358 92 1 9,896 363 1970 12,194 11,206 744 11,615 501 209 5 17 11,080 1,114 1990 12,872 11,530 453 11,420 667 849 3 225 160 11,319 1,553 2000 13,802 12,441 273 11,269 751 1,065 5 502 377 11,756 2,046

Heritage sites of national significance

The Bundesbriefmuseum (Federal Charter Museum), the Dominican nuns Convent of St. Peter am Bach, the entire medieval and early modern settlement, the Hermitage and chapel, the Forum der Schweizer Geschichte (Forum of Swiss History), the Ab Yberg im Grund House, the Bethlehem House at Reichsstrasse 9, the Ceberg im Feldli house at Theodosiusweg 20, the house at Gotthardstrasse 99 in Ibach, the Grosshus at Strehlgasse 12, the Immenfeld house, the house at Langfeldweg 14 in Kaltbach, the house at Oberschönenbuch 79 in Ibach, the Herrenhaus Waldegg, the Hettlingerhäuser, the Hofstatt Ital Reding, the Catholic Parish Church of St. Martin, the Maihof, the Palais Büeler, the Rathaus (Town council house), the Reding House, the State Archives of Schwyz and the Köplihaus house are listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old city of Schwyz is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

• Bundesbriefmuseum(Federal Charter Museum)

• Dominican Nuns Convent of St. Peter am Bach

• Hermitage with Chapel,14 Emergency Helpers and a Brothers' House

• Forum der Schweizer Geschichte (Forum of Swiss History)

• Ab Yberg im Grund House with St. Sebastian Chapel

• Bethlehem House at Reichsstrasse 9

• Ceberg im Feldli House at Theodosiusweg 20

• House at Gotthardstrasse 99, Ibach

• Grosshus House at Strehlgasse 12

• Immenfeld House

• House at Langfeldweg 14, Kaltbac

• House at Oberschönenbuch 79, Ibach

• Hettlingerhäuser

• Hofstatt Ital Reding

• Catholic Parish Church of St. Martin ith Kerchel and Heiligkreuz Chapel

• Maihof

• Palais Büeler (formerly Palais von Weber)

• Rathaus (Town council house)

• Reding House

• State Archives of Schwyz

Religion

From the 2000 census, 11,269 or 81.6% were Roman Catholic, while 675 or 4.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 423 members of an Orthodox church (or about 3.06% of the population), there were 7 individuals (or about 0.05% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 155 individuals (or about 1.12% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 5 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who were Jewish, and 502 (or about 3.64% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 42 individuals who were Buddhist, 31 individuals who were Hindu and 7 individuals who belonged to another church. 377 (or about 2.73% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 385 individuals (or about 2.79% of the population) did not answer the question.

Weather

Schwyz has an average of 149.2 days of rain per year and on average receives 1,629 mm (64.1 in) of precipitation. The wettest month is August during which time Schwyz receives an average of 199 mm (7.8 in) of precipitation. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 13.9 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is June, with an average of 14.8, but with only 182 mm (7.2 in) of precipitation. The driest month of the year is February with an average of 99 mm (3.9 in) of precipitation over 13.9 days.

Transport

The A4 motorway, between Zürich and the Brunnen passes through the west of the municipality, and the town is linked to it by main roads and motorway junctions. Other main roads connect the town to Lucerne (along both banks of Lake Lucerne), to the Gotthard Pass and southern Switzerland, and to Pfaffikon and Einsiedeln in the north of the canton of Schwyz. A minor road crosses the Ibergeregg Pass to Oberiberg, providing an alternate route to Einsiedeln. Other minor roads reach to near the summits of both the Haggenegg Pass and Holzegg Pass, but only hiking trails actually cross these passes and continue to Alpthal.

Schwyz railway station, on the Gotthard railway, is located about 2 km (1.2 mi) outside the town, in the parish of Seewen. The station is served by InterRegio und S-Bahn trains.

Early plans for the Schweizerische Südostbahn included a proposal for what is now the Pfäffikon SZ–Arth-Goldau railway to terminate at Brunnen railway station instead of Arth-Goldau railway station. If that proposal had come to fruition, the Schwyz town centre would have had a railway station - initially on the Kollegi football field, and later in Steisteg.

From 6 October 1900 to 14 December 1963, the Schwyzer Strassenbahnen linked the Schwyz railway station with the town centre. On 8 May 1915, the additional section between Schwyz and Brunnen See was opened – and on the same day, the Schwyz SBB–Schwyz line was shut down. The trams were eventually replaced by the Auto AG Schwyz, which today operates 12 bus lines in the cantons of Lucerne and Schwyz.

The Rotenfluebahn, a gondola lift, links Rickenbach with the summit of the Rotenfluh mountain, which is, in summer, a popular vantage point over the Lake Lucerne region, and, in winter, a ski area.