Schinznach 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 district of

Brugg , neighboring_municipalities = Gebenstorf, Habsburg, Hausen, Holderbank, Lupfig, Riniken, Rüfenach, Schinznach, Untersiggenthal, Villigen, Villnachern, Veltheim, Windisch , twintowns = Rottweil (Germany) , website ...

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capita ...

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 ...

. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of

Oberflachs Oberflachs is a former municipality in the district of Brugg in Canton Aargau in Switzerland. It is located about 6 km south west of the town of Brugg. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Oberflachs and Schinznach-Dorf merged in ...

and

Schinznach-Dorf Schinznach-Dorf is a former municipality in the district of Brugg in canton of Aargau in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Schinznach-Dorf and Oberflachs merged into the new municipality of Schinznach.

merged to form the new municipality of Schinznach.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 13 December 2014

History

Oberflachs

While various

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

bricks and coins have been discovered, the first record of Oberflachs is in 1342 as ''Obreflaht''. Beginning in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Kasteln Castle Kasteln Castle (german: Schloss Kasteln) is a castle in the municipality of Oberflachs in Canton Aargau, Switzerland. It is located west of the village on a rocky outcrop, surrounded by vineyards and woods. Today, it serves as a boarding school ...

ruled over the village and held the local low court. Initially the high court was held by the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

of Schenkenberg. However, in 1460 the high court was acquired by the city of

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

. By 1607 the village is identified as a semi-independent municipality. In 1732 the village came fully under Bern's authority when Bern bought the Kasteln Castle and acquired the low court. Oberflachs was, like the whole Schenkenberger valley in the 18th Century, a very poor municipality. Grain and vineyard cultivation were the major economic sources in the 17th Century. However, in 1850 wine production collapsed because of

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...

. The poverty and collapse of the wine industry forced many residents to emigrate overseas. Eventually treatments were developed for vineyards and they began to recover. By 1990 vineyards covered a total of 22 hectares in the municipality. In 1960, the number of commuters exceeded the number of locals that worked in the municipality. However, the population continued to grow and in the 1970s several new housing districts were built. In 2005, agriculture provided 28% of the jobs in the community. A merger of Oberflachs with four municipalities failed in 2009 because

Veltheim Veltheim (historically known as Veltheim an der Ohe) is a municipality in the district of Wolfenbüttel, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Veltheim family The noble Brunswick ''ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a ...

voters rejected the proposal.

Schinznach-Dorf

Schinznach-Dorf was first mentioned in 1189 as ''Schincennach'', however the region was occasionally inhabited as far back as the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

era. In addition to a Mesolithic shelter, a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

settlement and two

Roman 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 letter ...

villas Villas may refer to: Places * Villas, Florida, United States * Villas, Illinois, United States * Villas, New Jersey, United States * Las Villas, a region of Spain * Las Villas (Cuba), a former Cuban Province * The Villas, a housing estate in Stok ...

indicate that the area was anciently inhabited. The city of

gained the rights to the low court in the village in 1460. Politically the villagers gradually gained rights from their Zwingherr and by 1547 they had a

town charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charter ...

. A village school opened in the 1600s. In 1654, a sulfur hot spring was discovered near the village and the town of Schinznach-Bad grew up around the spring. It retained the name even after the spring vanished in 1670 and then moved to the opposite side of the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it descend ...

river in 1691. The local economy depended on the

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s. When production deceased due to diseases in the 1870s many residents were forced to emigrate. Today, vineyards cover about 31 hectares, compared to 81 hectares in 1857. In 1875 a railway station was built in the village. However, the line did not do well and the station was closed in 1993. In the 1960s the population increased and several new housing developments opened in the village. The village church of

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

was first mentioned in 1227. In 1650 a funeral

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

for the wealthy von Erlach family was built next to the church. The old church building was replaced with a new one in 1779.

Geography

The former municipalities that now make up Schinznach have a total combined area of .

Demographics

The total population of Schinznach () is .

Historic population

The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:500 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:35 bottom:90 right:35 Legend = columns:3 left:20 top:70 columnwidth:160 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:2200 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:400 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:80 start:0 Colors= id:SC value:yellowgreen legend:Schinznach-Dorf id:OB value:green legend:Oberflachs PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:30 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from: 0 till:1334 text:"1,334" color:SC bar:1860 from: 0 till:1225 text:"1,225" color:SC bar:1870 from: 0 till:1173 text:"1,173" color:SC bar:1880 from: 0 till:1158 text:"1,158" color:SC bar:1890 from: 0 till:1100 text:"1,100" color:SC bar:1900 from: 0 till:985 text:"985" color:SC bar:1910 from: 0 till:932 text:"932" color:SC bar:1920 from: 0 till:984 text:"984" color:SC bar:1930 from: 0 till:912 text:"912" color:SC bar:1940 from: 0 till:925 text:"925" color:SC bar:1950 from: 0 till:1083 text:"1,083" color:SC bar:1960 from: 0 till:1081 text:"1,081" color:SC bar:1970 from: 0 till:1154 text:"1,154" color:SC bar:1980 from: 0 till:1228 text:"1,228" color:SC bar:1990 from: 0 till:1517 text:"1,517" color:SC bar:2000 from: 0 till:1637 text:"1,637" color:SC bar:1850 from: 1334 till:1846 text:"512" color:OB bar:1860 from: 1225 till:1740 text:"515" color:OB bar:1870 from: 1173 till:1677 text:"504" color:OB bar:1880 from: 1158 till:1678 text:"520" color:OB bar:1890 from: 1100 till:1557 text:"457" color:OB bar:1900 from: 985 till:1413 text:"428" color:OB bar:1910 from: 932 till:1338 text:"406" color:OB bar:1920 from: 984 till:1397 text:"413" color:OB bar:1930 from: 912 till:1281 text:"369" color:OB bar:1940 from: 925 till:1298 text:"373" color:OB bar:1950 from: 1083 till:1447 text:"364" color:OB bar:1960 from: 1081 till:1486 text:"405" color:OB bar:1970 from: 1154 till:1587 text:"433" color:OB bar:1980 from: 1228 till:1699 text:"471" color:OB bar:1990 from: 1517 till:1983 text:"466" color:OB bar:2000 from: 1637 till:2105 text:"468" color:OB

Heritage sites of national significance

The Reformed Church and Erlach Chapel is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The villages of Schinznach-Dorf and Oberflachs are 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 ...

.ISOS site
accessed 09-Apr-2010

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of Aargau Cultural property of national significance in Aargau