Lichtensteig is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of

Toggenburg Toggenburg is a region of Switzerland. It corresponds to the upper valley of the river Thur and that of its main tributary, the Necker. Since 1 January 2003, Toggenburg has been a constituency (''Wahlkreis'') of the canton of St. Gallen ( S ...

in the canton of

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

in Switzerland.

History

Lichtensteig was founded by the

counts of Toggenburg Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

in the early 13th century, first mentioned in 1228 as ''Liehtunsteige''. A

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

is mentioned in 1374, and the right to hold markets is confirmed in 1400. A letter of privileges issued by the lords of Raron 1439 confirms the existence of a council of twelve burghers, and the joint appointment of judges by the burghers and the land lords. The mayor ( Schultheiss) was appointed by the land lord from a list of candidates compiled by the burghers. After the acquisition of the

by the Abbey of St. Gallen in 1468, Lichtensteig became the seat of the abbot's reeve. Abbot Ulrich Rösch in 1469 confirmed the existing privileges of Lichtensteig. The council declared support of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in 1528. Lichtensteig church from this time was used both by Reformed and Catholics, while schools were separated by confession (until 1868). A neo-Gothic church was built in 1868, still used by both confessions, until the construction of two new churches in 1967 and 1970. Lichtensteig's importance as market town increased in the 19th century with the development of the textile home working industry in the Toggenburg. In the early 20th century, there were six yearly markets and a weekly livestock market. Connection to the railway dates to 1870. In 1874, the settlements of Blatten, Hof and Loretto, formerly

Oberhelfenschwil Oberhelfenschwil is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Oberhelfenschwil is first mentioned in 882 as ''Helfoltiswilare''. In 1515 it was mentioned as ''Oberhelfens ...

municipality, were incorporated into Lichtensteig. A municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of ''Per pale, or and sable'' was adopted in the 16th century, later changed to ''Per pale, gules and sable''. A town seal with the

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

L on the left (dexter) side and a branch ornament on the right (sinister) was in use in the 17th and 18th centuries. A flag dated 1767 shows the letter L in a red field. These elements were combined into the modern municipal coat of arms in 1946, blazoned ''Per pale gules and sable, overall a letter L or''. The

script typeface Script typefaces are based upon the varied and often fluid stroke created by handwriting. They are generally used for display or trade printing, rather than for extended body text in the Latin alphabet. Some Greek alphabet typefaces, especially h ...

used for the letter is taken from a seal of the 16th century, preserved on a document dated 1722.

Geography

The municipality is located in the

(the upper Thur basin), on the right side of the Thur. It is downstream of

Wattwil Wattwil is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the municipality of Krinau merged into Wattwil.Dietfurt (Bütschwil municipality), and on the western site of the

Wasserfluh Pass Wasserfluh Pass (el. 848 m.) is a mountain pass in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It connects Lichtensteig and Brunnadern. The pass road has a maximum grade of 10 percent and an elevation gain of 345 m. Overlooking the pass are the ...

. The ruins of

Neu-Toggenburg castle Wasserfluh Pass (el. 848 m.) is a mountain pass in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It connects Lichtensteig and Brunnadern. The pass road has a maximum grade of 10 percent and an elevation gain of 345 m. Overlooking the pass are the ...

are on a rocky outcropping above the village. Lichtensteig is the smallest municipality in Toggenburg in terms of area, with only . It is 35.7% of the area used for agricultural purposes, 44.6% is forested, and 18.2% is built up, the remainder (1.4%) being accounted for by bodies of water. The highest point is at 1,146 m (''Köbelisberg''), the lowst at 591 m (''untere Platten'').

Demographics

Lichtensteig has a population (as of ) of . , about 19.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 31 are from Germany, 82 are from Italy, 113 are from ex-

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, 13 are from Austria, 43 are from Turkey, and 91 are from another country.Der Kanton St. Gallen und seine Menschen in Zahlen - Ausgabe 2009
accessed 30 December 2009 Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -5.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (89.6%), with Italian being second most common ( 2.7%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 2.0%).
accessed 15-January-2010 Of the Swiss national languages (), 1,697 speak

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, 5 people speak French, 52 people speak

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, and 1 person speaks Romansh. The age distribution, , in Lichtensteig is; 188 children or 9.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 247 teenagers or 13.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 268 people or 14.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 328 people or 17.3% are between 30 and 39, 261 people or 13.8% are between 40 and 49, and 214 people or 11.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 176 people or 9.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 140 people or 7.4% are between 70 and 79, there are 62 people or 3.3% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 9 people or 0.5% who are between 90 and 99.Canton St. Gallen Statistics-Hauptergebnisse der Volkszählung 2000: Regionen- und Gemeindevergleich-Personen
accessed 30 December 2009 there were 371 persons (or 19.6% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 433 (or 22.9%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 926 (or 48.9%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 94 (or 5.0%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 4 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 22 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 43 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing. 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 28.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (22.4%), the FDP (19.5%) and the SP (14.6%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Lichtensteig about 69.2% of the population (between age 25 and 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 ...

''). Out of the total population in Lichtensteig, , the highest education level completed by 433 people (22.9% of the population) was

Primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

, while 739 (39.0%) have completed their secondary education, 207 (10.9%) have attended a

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

school, and 83 (4.4%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question. The historical population is given in the following table:

Heritage sites of national significance

The Old Town Council building at Hintergasse 22 is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Lichtensteig is designated as part of the

Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. Sites of national importance Types The types are based on t ...

Economy

, Lichtensteig had an unemployment rate of 2.12%. , there were 17 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 340 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construction. ...

and there are 32 businesses in this sector. 309 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 88 businesses in this sector. the average unemployment rate was 4.6%. There were 120 businesses in the municipality of which 34 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 82 were involved in the third. there were 350 residents who worked in the municipality, while 704 residents worked outside Lichtensteig and 521 people commuted into the municipality for work.

Religion

From the , 984 or 52.0% are

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, while 555 or 29.3% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

. Of the rest of the population, there is 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 46 individuals (or about 2.43% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 21 individuals (or about 1.11% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 95 (or about 5.02% of the population) who are

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic. There are 32 individuals (or about 1.69% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 109 (or about 5.76% of the population) belong to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 50 individuals (or about 2.64% of the population) did not answer the question.

Notable people

Jost Bürgi Jost Bürgi (also ''Joost, Jobst''; Latinisation of names, Latinized surname ''Burgius'' or ''Byrgius''; 28 February 1552 – 31 January 1632), active primarily at the courts in Kassel and Prague, was a Swiss clockmaker, a maker of astronomica ...

(1552 in Lichtensteig – 1632) a Swiss clockmaker, a maker of astronomical instruments and a mathematician. * Augustine Reding (1625 in Lichtensteig - 1692) a Swiss Benedictine, the Prince-Abbot of Einsiedeln, and theological writer Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12 (1913), Augustine Reding
retrieved 23 April 2019 *

Max Rychner Max Rychner (8 April 1897 in Lichtensteig, Switzerland – 10 June 1965 in Zurich) - was a Swiss writer, journalist, translator, and literary critic, writing in German. Hannah Arendt called him " e of the most educated and subtle figures in t ...

(1897 in Lichtensteig – 1965) a Swiss writer, journalist, translator, and literary critic * Paula Rueß (1902 in Lichtensteig - 1980) a German political activist, forced into exile by the Nazi takeover, during the early 1940s she worked with the French Resistance

References

External links

Official website
* * {{Authority control Cities in Switzerland Municipalities of the canton of St. Gallen Toggenburg Cultural property of national significance in the canton of St. Gallen