Schwanden is a village, and former

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 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

Schwanden is first mentioned in 1240 as ''de swando''. In 1879, Schwanden was connected to the Swiss railway network by the opening of the

Swiss Northeastern Railway The Swiss Northeastern Railway (''Schweizerische Nordostbahn''; NOB) was an early railway company in Switzerland. It also operated shipping on Lake Constance (''Bodensee'') and Lake Zürich. Until the merger of the Western Swiss Railways into the ...

line from Weesen. Between 1905 and 1969, the

Sernftal tramway The Sernftal tramway (german: Sernftalbahn, SeTB) was an electrical narrow-gauge tramway in the Swiss canton of Glarus, which was operated by a private company. The line linked Schwanden railway station, on the Weesen to Linthal railway line, ...

connected Schwanden with communities in the valley of the

Sernf river The Sernftal or ''Kleintal'' is an alpine valley within Glarus Süd, in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It is formed by the Sernf, a right tributary of the Linth. Situated in the Sernftal are the villages of Elm (977 m) and Engi (812 m). T ...

as far as

Elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...

. On 1 January 2011, Schwanden became part of the municipality of

Glarus Süd Glarus Süd is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Glarus. It comprises the upper Linth valley, and the entire Sernf valley, and includes the villages of Betschwanden, Braunwald, Diesbach, Elm, Engi, Haslen, Hätzingen, Leuggelbach, Lintha ...

Geography

Schwanden is situated at an elevation of at the point of

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

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 ...

and

Sernf The Sernftal or ''Kleintal'' is an alpine valley within Glarus Süd, in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It is formed by the Sernf, a right tributary of the Linth. Situated in the Sernftal are the villages of Elm (977 m) and Engi (812 m). T ...

rivers. The village is located along the roads to

, Linthal and Schwändi, and includes the formerly independent (until 1876)

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Thon. The villages of

Nidfurn Nidfurn is a village, and former municipality, in the municipality of Glarus Süd and canton of Glarus in Switzerland. History Nidfurn is first mentioned in 1289 as ''Nitfúre''. Nidfurn belonged to Säckingen Abbey until 1395. During the mi ...

and Haslen lie to south in the valley of the Linth, whilst the village of

Engi , also known as Entertainment Graphic Innovation, or Studio ENGI, is a Japanese animation studio founded by Kadokawa, Sammy Corporation, and Ultra Super Pictures, and is a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation. History On April 4, 2018, Kadokawa e ...

lies to the east in the valley of the Sernf. To the north, the village of

Mitlödi Mitlödi is a village, and former municipality, in the municipality of Glarus Süd and canton of Glarus in Switzerland. History Mitlödi is first mentioned in 1320 as ''Mitlodi''. The coat of arms was officially adopted in 1939. It displays a s ...

lies in the valley of the Linth, whilst Schwandi and

Sool Sool ( so, Sool, ar, صول) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in south eastern Somaliland/north western Somalia. It borders Togdheer to the west, Sanaag to the north, Ethiopia to the south and Nugal, Bari to the east. Its capital city ...

are respectively on the west and east slopes of the valley. South of Schwanden is the oldest ''Jagdbanngebiet'' (literally hunting-banned area) in Switzerland, the ''Freiberg Kärpf'', which has been protected since 1548. Also to the south, the Niederenbäch stream descends from the slopes of 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 ...

(). This stream has been dammed to create the

Garichtisee Garichtisee is a reservoir on Mettmenalp above Schwanden in the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. The lake's surface area is . See also *List of mountain lakes of Switzerland This is a list of high-altitude lakes in Switzerland. It includes all ...

reservoir. Schwanden has an area, as defined by the former municipal boundaries in 2006, of . Of this area, 32.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 38.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (26.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Transport

Schwanden 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. A side road branches off Hauptstrasse 17 in Schwanden and heads the valley of Sernf, serving the communities of that village, but there is no road connection beyond the head of that valley. 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 Linth valley form the only access to Schwanden. The village is served by

Schwanden railway station Schwanden railway station (german: Bahnhof Schwanden) is a railway station in the municipality of Glarus Süd in the Swiss canton of Glarus. It is an intermediate stop on the Weesen to Linthal railway line, and serves the village of Schwanden ...

, which is a calling point of the

Zürich S-Bahn The Zürich S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Zürich) system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zürich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, ...

service S25 between Linthal and Zurich, and is the terminus of the St. Gallen S-Bahn service S6 from

Rapperswil Rapperswil ( Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dia ...

. Both services operate once per hour, combining to provide two trains per hour between

Ziegelbrücke Ziegelbrücke is a village in Switzerland. Ziegelbrücke is shared by the municipalities of Niederurnen in the canton of Glarus and Schänis in the canton of St. Gallen. Geography and political situation The village of Ziegelbrücke is divided ...

and Schwanden. The

Sernftalbus The Autobetrieb Sernftal AG is a bus operating company in the Swiss canton of Glarus. The company operates under the trading name of Sernftalbus. The company is the successor to the company that operated the Sernftal tramway between Schwanden and ...

operates several bus services from Schwanden station: * an hourly service up the valley of the Sernf river to

Glarus , neighboring_municipalities= Glarus Nord, Glarus Süd, Muotathal (SZ), Innerthal (SZ) , twintowns= Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Germany) } Glarus (; gsw, Glaris; french: Glaris; it, Glarona; rm, Glaruna) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in S ...

(replacing the former Sernftal tramway) * an hourly service to Schwändi * a service to

, with several return journeys a day * a summer-only service, with several return journeys a day, to connect with an

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

to the

Demographics

, Schwanden had a population of 2,392. , 24.2% 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 decreased at a rate of -6.9%. Most of the population () speaks German (82.7%), with Italian being second most common ( 5.1%) and Albanian being third ( 2.9%).
accessed 14-Sep-2009 In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was 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 ...

which received 59% of the vote. Most of the rest of the votes went to the SVP with 31.6% of the vote. In Schwanden about 60.6% 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 ...

''). Schwanden has an unemployment rate of 2.18%. , there were 39 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 1,067 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 45 businesses in this sector. 525 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 92 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

References

External links

*
''Schwanden''
from the Glarus Süd municipal web site (in German) * {{Authority control Former municipalities of the canton of Glarus