Falera Mirasteilas

Falera is a municipality in the Surselva Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.

Falera is a part of the ''Alpenarena'' along with the towns of Flims and Laax and is the most secluded of the three.

History

Falera is a town of rich culture and history. In 1800 B.C., a settlement was started on the Mutta. This came during the Bronze Age and was very significant in the early development of what today is Switzerland. The village is first mentioned in 765 as ''Falariae''. While the first actual mention of a church in Falera was in 840-841. However, the current church was not built until 1491. The church was built on the foot of the Mutta and was named after St. Remigius. Around the church are stone pillars ( megaliths or menhirs), arranged geometrically, that are said to date around 1500 B.C.

Later, in the year 1903, another church was built. This church was built directly in the village and was named the Herz-Jesu-Kirche or "Heart of Jesus Church" . It, along with the original Falera church, are still standing today and the main attractions of Falera.

Falera today

Today, Falera is mostly overshadowed by the other two villages of the Alpenarena: Laax and Flims. Most people that have apartments in Falera do not live there year-round, but rather use them as vacation homes and weekend trips. The main language spoken is Romansh, a Romance language that is said to have descended from vulgar Latin.

The Sternwarte Mirasteilas, an astronomical observatory, was established by José De Queiroz in 2006.

Geography

Falera has an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of . Of this area, about 60.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 20.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and 17.3% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of or about 1.7% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of over the 1984/85 amount. Of the agricultural land, is fields and grasslands and consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1984/85 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by . Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by . Rivers and lakes cover in the municipality.

Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Ilanz sub-district of the Surselva district, after 2017 it became part of the Surselva Region. It is located on a terrace above the left bank of the Vorderrhein river at an elevation of . Until 1969 Falera was known as Fellers.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 23 September 2009

Demographics

Falera has a population () of . , 13.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. In 2015 a small minority (63 or 10.3% of the population) was born in Portugal. Over the last 7 years (2010-2017) the population has changed at a rate of 7.60%. The birth rate in the municipality, in 2017, was 11.4, while the death rate was 3.2 per thousand residents.

, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 18.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) are 54.7% of the population and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 26.8%. In 2015 there were 244 single residents, 326 people who were married or in a civil partnership, 18 widows or widowers and 26 divorced residents.

In 2017 there were 268 private households in Falera with an average household size of 2.32 persons. In 2015 about 23.7% of all buildings in the municipality were single family homes, which is much less than the percentage in the canton (49.4%) and much less than the percentage nationally (57.4%). Of the 321 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 30.5% were single family homes and 59.8% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 17.1% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 17.8% were built between 1991 and 2000.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Thema 09 - Bau- und Wohnungswesen
accessed 5 May 2016 In 2016 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 11.4. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.04%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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bar:1850 from:start till:415 text:"415"
bar:1860 from:start till:390 text:"390"
bar:1870 from:start till:370 text:"370"
bar:1880 from:start till:337 text:"337"
bar:1888 from:start till:329 text:"329"
bar:1900 from:start till:322 text:"322"
bar:1910 from:start till:336 text:"336"
bar:1920 from:start till:300 text:"300"
bar:1930 from:start till:298 text:"298"
bar:1941 from:start till:372 text:"372"
bar:1950 from:start till:370 text:"370"
bar:1960 from:start till:355 text:"355"
bar:1970 from:start till:309 text:"309"
bar:1980 from:start till:383 text:"383"
bar:1990 from:start till:404 text:"404"
bar:2000 from:start till:504 text:"504"
bar:2010 from:start till:579 text:"579"
bar:2017 from:start till:623 text:"623"

Economy

Falera is classed as a semitourist community.

, there were a total of 173 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 31 people worked in 11 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 64 workers, of which 54 people worked for one business. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 78 jobs in 22 businesses.

In 2017 a total of 11.4% of the population received social assistance. In 2011 the unemployment rate in the municipality was 1.3%.

In 2015 the average cantonal, municipal and church tax rate in the municipality for a couple with two children making was 3.2% while the rate for a single person making was 13.8%. The canton has an average tax rate for those making and an average rate for those making . In 2013 the average income in the municipality per tax payer was and the per person average was , which is less than the cantonal average of but greater than the per person amount of . It is also less than the national per tax payer average of but greater than the per person average of .

Politics

In the 2019 federal election the most popular party was the CVP with 45.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (29.3%), the GLP (7.8%) and the FDP (7.2%). In the federal election, a total of 260 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 57.3%.

Languages

Most of the population () speaks Romansh (67.5%), with German being second most common (28.8%) and Italian being third (2.0%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 4 October 2011 Until the late 20th Century, the entire population spoke the Romansh dialect of Surselvisch. In 1880 about 99% spoke Romansh as a first language, while in 1941 it was 97% and in 2000 it had decreased to 67%. In 1990 about 90% of the population understood Romansh and in 2000 it was 78%.

End of 2013, 381 persons, 64.4% are of Romansh mother tongue, 145 persons, 24.5% are of German mother tongue and 66 persons, 11.1% indicate other languages as mother tongue.

Religion

From the 84% are Roman Catholic, while 10% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church and 1% that are Orthodox. About 0.6% did not answer the question.

Heritage sites of national significance

The ''Church of S. Rumetg/St. Remigius'' and the ''Muota/Mutta'' and ''Planezzas'' (prehistoric settlements and megalith sites) are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.

Image:Remigius_Winter.jpg, St. Remigius
Image:Menhir_Winter.jpg, Menhir
Image:Remigius.jpg, Menhirs near St. Remigius
Image:Mutta-Remigius.jpg, The ''Mutta'' and St. Remigius
File:Megalithiker.jpg, Petroglyph from the megalith site
File:Remigius Falera.jpg, Menhir or standing stone (Megalith) with the Church of San Remigius
File:Menhire.jpg, Standing stone near Falera

References

External links

Falera homepageFlims Laax Falera

{{Authority control

Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland
Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden