Betschwanden is a village, and former municipality, in the municipality of Glarus Süd and

canton of Glarus The canton of Glarus (german: Kanton Glarus rm, Chantun Glaruna; french: Canton de Glaris; it, Canton Glarona) is a canton in east central Switzerland. The capital is Glarus. The population speaks a variety of Alemannic German. The majority of ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

History

Betschwanden is first recorded in 1240 in the phrase ''in Beswando''. Until 1395, Betschwanden was obliged to pay tithes and taxes to

Säckingen Abbey Säckingen Abbey is a former Roman Catholic abbey located in Bad Säckingen, Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The Abbey was founded in the 6th or 7th century by Fridolin of Säckingen, an Irish monk. While the Abbey had both monks and nuns, only th ...

. At the same time it was part of the parish of Glarus. The village church was built in the Romanesque style in the 14th century. It was rebuilt several times and flood control walls were added in 1779-80. The

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

and

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

elements were added in 1915 and restored in 1975-77. The exterior of the church was rebuilt in 2001. When the Protestant Reformation arrived in Glarus, Betschwanden adopted the new faith. In 1528 it joined a Reformed parish with Braunwald,

Hätzingen Hätzingen is a village, and former municipality, in the municipality of Glarus Süd and canton of Glarus in Switzerland. History Hätzingen is first recorded in 1350 as ''Hezzinge(n)''. In 2004, the municipality of Hätzingen was merged int ...

, Diesbach and Rüti. In 1942 Braunwald separated to form an independent parish. Until the 19th century, alpine farming and herding was the primary source of income. A mill was built on the Diesbach river in 1778. Today it is a guest house for the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

. A parish school opened in 1727. A secondary school opened in 1844. A spinning mill opened in 1843 and a warehouse was added in 1910; it is now a textile chemical factory. A station of the Schweizerische Nordostbahn (Swiss North-East Railway) opened in the village in 1879. On 1 January 2011, the municipality of Betschwanden was merged into the new municipality of Glarus Süd.

Geography

Betschwanden is located in the valley of the

Linth The Linth (pronounced "lint") is a Swiss river that rises near the village of Linthal in the mountains of the canton of Glarus, and eventually flows into the Obersee section of Lake Zurich. It is about in length. The water power of the Linth ...

river, with the village situated on the east bank of the river, at an elevation of approximately . The village of Rüti lies to the south and Diesbach to the north. Above the village to the east is the mountain of

Kärpf The Kärpf (or Chärpf) is a mountain in the Glarus Alps, at an elevation of . The Kärpf is the highest point of the massif lying north of Richetli Pass (). This range separates the two main valleys of Glarus: the main Linth valley with the vi ...

(). Betschwanden has an area, as defined by the former municipal boundaries in 2006, of . Of this area, 36% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (33.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Transport

Betschwanden is located on the Hauptstrasse 17, which runs the length of the canton of Glarus before climbing the

Klausen Pass Klausen Pass (German: ''Klausenpass''; elevation: ) is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps connecting Altdorf in the canton of Uri with Linthal in the canton of Glarus. Somewhat unusually, the boundary between the two cantons does not lie ...

into the

canton of Uri The canton of Uri (german: Kanton Uri rm, Chantun Uri; french: Canton d'Uri; it, Canton Uri) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territ ...

, as well as on the Weesen to Linthal railway line that parallels the main road and the Linth river through Glarus. The high alpine Klausen Pass is normally only open to traffic between June and September, and for the rest of the year the road and railway up the valley form the only access to the village. The village is served by

Diesbach-Betschwanden railway station Diesbach-Betschwanden railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Glarus Süd in the Swiss canton of Glarus. It takes its name from the nearby villages of Diesbach and Betschwanden. The station is situated on the Weesen to Lintha ...

, which is served by the hourly Zürich S-Bahn service S25 between Linthal and Zurich.

Demographics

Betschwanden has a population, as of 2010 and as defined by the former municipal area, of 182. , 6.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.Canton Glarus population growth
accessed 9 September 2009 Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 9.1%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.0%), with Finnish being the only other language listed in the census ( 0.6%).
accessed 10-Sep-2009 In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...

the most popular party was the SVP which received 50.7% of the vote. Most of the rest of the votes went to the

SPS SPS may refer to: Law and government * Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO * NATO Science for Peace and Security * Single Payment Scheme, an EU agricultural subsidy * The Standard Procurement System, fo ...

with 47.9% of the vote. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Betschwanden about 72.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

''). Betschwanden has an unemployment rate of 4.75%. , there were 5 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 2 businesses involved in this sector. No one is employed in the secondary sector and there are no businesses in this sector. 19 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 7 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

References

External links

*
''Betschwanden''
from Glarus Süd municipal web site (in German) *
{{authority control Former municipalities of the canton of Glarus Villages in the canton of Glarus