Aigle

Aigle (French for "eagle") is a historic town and a municipality and the capital of the district of Aigle in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.

The official language of Aigle is (the Swiss variety of) French.

Geography

Aigle lies at an elevation of 415 m (1,362 ft) about 13 km (8.1 mi) south-southeast of Montreux. It is on the east edge of the Rhône valley, at the foot of the Swiss Alps.

Aigle has an area, as of 2009, of 16.41 square km. Of this area, 5.59 km2 (2.16 sq mi) or 34.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.13 km2 (2.37 sq mi) or 37.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.2 km2 (1.6 sq mi) or 25.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.45 km2 (0.17 sq mi) or 2.7% is either rivers or lakes and 0.1 km2 (25 acres) or 0.6% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 5.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.5% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.4%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 21.5% is used for growing crops and 2.4% is pastures, while 10.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.6% is in lakes and 2.1% is in rivers and streams.

Aigle includes the villages of Le Cloître, Vers Pousaz, and Fontanney. The surrounding municipalities are Yvorne, Leysin, Ormont-Dessous, and Ollon in the canton of Vaud, and Vouvry and Collombey-Muraz in the canton of Valais.

History

The municipality was settled very early. Burials and ceramics from the Bronze Age have been discovered. During Roman times, Aigle lay on the road from the Great Saint Bernard pass via Viviscus (Vevey) to Aventicum (Avenches), the Roman capital. The Romans had a number of names for Aigle: Ala (Wing), Alena (Little Wing), Aquilegia and Aquilas (Eagles).

The first medieval mention of the municipality occurs in 1150 under the name of Alium.

A mention in 1153 gives the name as Aleo. Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV gave the territory of Aigle in 1076 to the house of Savoy. The Abbeys of Great Saint Bernard and Saint-Maurice also had holdings in Aigle, and the latter established a priory, from which the village of Le Cloître takes its name.

In 1231, Aigle was made a market town by Thomas I of Savoy, and in 1314 it was raised to a free town by Amadeus V of Savoy.

It became an important commercial center because of its location on the road to Italy.

It had a common parish with Leysin (until 1702) and with Corbeyrier and Yvorne (until 1831). SInce the 14th century, it had a treaty with Sembrancher in Valais, that committed the two communities for mutual aid in case of war or natural disaster.

In 1475, the mountain regions of Saanen and Pays-d'Enhaut, who were allied with Bern, attacked and burned the tower of Aigle Castle. They then gave Aigle town and the surrounding district, including Ollon, Bex, and Les Ormonts, to Bern in exchange for not having to pay one-third of their income to Bern. In the treaty of Fribourg from 1476, Fribourg received rights over the Aigle district, which they gave up to Bern in 1483. Bern rebuilt Aigle Castle in 1489 and made it the seat of the bailiwick of Aigle. The Aigle bailiwick included all of the present district except Villeneuve. It was thus the first of the French-speaking parts of Switzerland to become subject to Bern.

In 1528, the Reformation was first preached in Aigle by Guillaume Farel.

From 1798 to 1803, Aigle belonged to the canton of Léman in the Helvetic Republic, which was transformed into the canton of Vaud with the mediation of Napoleon.

The Geographical dictionary of 1821 by J. van Wijk Roelandszoon names the village Aelen, comprises 600 houses and 2.500 inhabitants, with a Salt mine that yields 15,000 cents. The district Aelen is 5 miles (8 kilometres) long and 6 miles (10 kilometres) in width, with a total of inhabitants of 7.500.

In the 19th century, the canton of Vaud was an outspoken opponent of an attempt by a number of cantons to secede from Switzerland. This Catholic separatist movement (Sonderbund) led to intervention in 1847 by 99,000 Swiss Federal troops under General Henri Dufour against 79,000 separatists in what is called the Sonderbund war. Separation was prevented at the cost of 86 lives. The 1848 Swiss Federal Constitution was created in response of the Sonderbund war.

The Chablais and the Chablais Alps

Chablais was a former province of the Duchy of Savoy. Its historic capital was Thonon-les-Bains. The modern Chablais "region" is three territories: the Chablais Savoyard, the Chablais Valaisan, and the Chablais Vaudois. The Chablais Savoyard is within the department of Haute-Savoie in France, the Chablais Valaisan is in the Swiss canton of Valais, and the Chablais Vaudois is in the Swiss canton of Vaud. The Chablais Alps is the mountain range situated between France and Switzerland.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess Sable and Or, two displayed eagles 1-1 counterchanged.

Heritage sites of national significance

Aigle Castle and Museum De La Vigne, the Swiss Reformed Church of Saint-Maurice and the De la Dîme House are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire town and castle of Aigle are listed as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

• Aigle Castle

• Swiss Reformed Church of Saint-Maurice

Religion

From the 2000 census, 2,857 or 35.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 2,853 or 35.9% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 96 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.21% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.06% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 211 individuals (or about 2.65% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were two individuals who were Jewish, and 720 (or about 9.05% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 18 individuals who were Buddhist, 36 individuals who were Hindu and 27 individuals who belonged to another church. 657 (or about 8.26% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 473 individuals (or about 5.95% of the population) did not answer the question.

Transportation and the Transports Publics du Chablais

Aigle is a stop on the Swiss Federal Railway's SBB CFF FFS high speed Simplon line between Italy (Domodossola) north to Lausanne and Geneva. At the Aigle SBB CFF FFS station, connections can be made to three narrow gauge railways, the ASD, AL, and AOMC. The Aigle-Sepey-Diablerets railway's (ASD) route goes east and rises from Aigle to the ski resort of Diablerets. The Aigle-Leysin railway's (AL) route goes east and rises from Aigle to the ski resort and grand vista of Leysin. The Aigle-Ollon-Monthey-Champerey railway's (AOMC) route runs west from Aigle across the Rhone and valley, then climbs to the ski resort of Champery. These railways, plus the Bex-Villars-Bretaye railway (BVB) which runs east from Bex, a village just south of Aigle, are operated by Transports Publics du Chablais with the motto: "Depuis plus de cent ans et contre toute attente, des lignes des TPC reunissent plaine et montagne, Vaud et Valais, ville et campagne, terres catholiques et protestantes." Translated roughly: "For over 100 years and contrary to all expectations, the railways of TPC have joined plain and mountain, town and country, of the Vaud and Valais districts of Switzerland, land of both Catholics and Protestants." The TPC "motto" refers to the religious composition and history of the general region known historically as the Chablais which has known turmoil. In 1846-7, the Valais canton tried to secede from Switzerland with the intention of joining a proposed Catholic confederation of cantons called the Sonderbund, but this was put down by Swiss Federal troops. The ASD, the AL, and the BVB railways operate within the canton of Vaud. The AOMC operates in the Vaud and into the Canton of Valais when it crosses the Rhone to reach Monthey and Champery.

New construction rebuilt Aigle's Place de la Gare in partnership with municipal and canton administration and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS). The project provided new train platforms at the SBB CFF FFS station to accommodate the trains of the AL, ASD and AOMC. Also added was AOMC track alongside SBB CFF FFS track to a new TPC office and workshop at En Châlex. With approximately 3 million passengers using its facilities each year, Aigle is the second most important station in canton Vaud after Lausanne. (Source: Le Bleu Matin, 8.10.2007). There are plans, awaiting approval, for the extension of the Aigle-Leysin line beyond Leysin deep into the Berneuse whereby passengers will be able to travel, without transfers, to a site that provides magnificent views of the Alps, the Jura, and Lake Geneva. This project is an investment which will benefit the entire region and offer a boost to tourism, the region's No. 1 industry. Landslides have required periodic emergency work to stabilise above and below the trackside adjacent soil and rock, much of which is covered in coniferous forest. This has included the erection of 150 meters of mesh barrier to prevent falling rock reaching the tracks and to offer protection to railway workers.