Sachseln is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

and

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 canton of

Obwalden Obwalden, also Obwald (german: Kanton Obwalden, rm, Chantun Sursilvania; french: Canton d'Obwald; it, Canton Obvaldo), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of seven municipalities and the seat of the govern ...

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 ...

. Besides the village of Sachseln, the municipality includes the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Edisried, Ewil and Flüeli-Ranft.

History

Sachseln is first mentioned in 1173 as ''Saxhslen''.

Geography

Sachseln has an area, , of . Of this area, 45.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 39.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (12.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is located on

Lake Sarnen Lake Sarnen (German: ''Sarnersee'') is a lake in the Swiss canton of Obwalden. The lake is on the Sarner Aa, which flows out of the Lake Lungern, through the Lake Sarnen, and into Lake Lucerne. The municipalities of Sarnen and Sachseln are located ...

(''Sarnersee''). It consists of the village of Sachseln and the hamlets of Edisried, Ewil and Flüeli-Ranft. The

geographic center In geography, the centroid of the two-dimensional shape of a region of the Earth's surface (projected radially to sea level or onto a geoid surface) is known as its geographic centre or geographical centre or (less commonly) gravitational centre. I ...

of Switzerland is in Sachseln.

Demographics

Sachseln, Unterwald, Switzerland-LCCN2001703272

Sachseln has a population (as of ) of . , 13.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.Canton Obwalden Statistics
accessed 2 September 2009 Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8.7%. Most of the population () speaks German (92.8%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 1.5%) and Portuguese being third ( 1.1%).
accessed 03-Sep-2009 the gender distribution of the population was 49.6% male and 50.4% female. there are 1,417 households, while in the total was 2,104 with 1,867 households in Sachseln and 237 in Flüeli-Ranft. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 36.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (30.9%), the Other (19.9%) and 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 ...

(13%). In Sachseln about 71% 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 ...

''). the religious population distribution was; 3,641 or 78.8% 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 315 or 6.8% 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 ...

. There are 664 individuals (or about 14.37% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census) or no church. The historical population is given in the following table:Municipality of Sachseln website
- Sachseln in numbers. accessed 3 September 2009

Economy

Sachseln has an unemployment rate of 0.76%. , there were 251 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 100 businesses involved in this sector. 1,452 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 constructi ...

and there are 46 businesses in this sector. 709 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 105 businesses in this sector. A major employer within the municipality is

Maxon Motor Maxon Group is a Swiss manufacturer and supplier of high-precision motor systems. The group, including its subsidiaries, offers electric DC motors, AC motors, encoders (sensors), gears, and electric motor controllers. History On December 5, 196 ...

, a manufacturer of precision electric motors, who have their corporate headquarters and a production plant at Ewil. A total of 1,150 employees are employed at Maxon Motor's Sachseln site.

Transport

Sachseln is served by the railway stations of

Sachseln Sachseln is a village and municipality in the canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. Besides the village of Sachseln, the municipality includes the hamlets of Edisried, Ewil and Flüeli-Ranft. History Sachseln is first mentioned in 1173 as ''Saxhslen' ...

and Ewil Maxon, situated respectively in the village centre and in the hamlet of Ewil. Both stations are on the Brünig line, and the half-hourly

Lucerne S-Bahn The Lucerne S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Luzern) is an S-Bahn-style commuter rail network focusing on Lucerne, Switzerland. Opened on 12 December 2004, the network forms part of the Central Switzerland S-Bahn project (german: S-Bahn Zentralschweiz, lin ...

S5 service stops at both stations.

Notable people

Dorothea Wyss Dorothea Wyss (c. 1430/32 – after 1487), also known Dorothea von Flüe, married Niklaus von Flüe, the patron saint of Switzerland. Life Dorothea Wyss was born around 1430/32 in Obwalden Obwalden, also Obwald (german: Kanton Obwalden, ...

(* around 1430/32, † after 1487), wife of

Niklaus von Flüe Niklaus may refer to: In Swiss geography: * Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus Feldbrunnen-St.Niklaus is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. History Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus is first mentioned in 1319 as ''V ...

, the patron saint of Switzerland.

Sights

The main sights of Sacheln are: the local saint '' Bruder Klaus'' (place of birth, place of residence, museum, crust ''Flüeli-Ranft''), a church of pilgrimage, the school building ''Mattli'', and the

geographical centre of Switzerland The geographical centre of Switzerland has the coordinates ( Swiss Grid: 660158/183641). It is located at Älggi-Alp in the municipality of Sachseln, Obwalden. The point is the centre of mass determined in 1988 by Swisstopo. As the point is di ...

''Aelggi''.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Municipalities of Obwalden