Tarasp is a 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 district of

Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

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 ...

of Graubünden. Its eleven settlements are situated within the Lower Engadin valley along the

Inn River , image = UnterinntalWest.JPG , image_caption = Lower Inn valley from Rattenberg castle , source1_location = Swiss Alps (Lägh dal Lunghin) , source1_elevation = , source1_coordinates= , mouth_location = Danube (Passau) , mo ...

, at the foot of the

Sesvenna Range The Sesvenna Alps are a mountain range located in the Alps of eastern Switzerland, northern Italy and western Austria. Geography Sesvenna Alps are considered to be part of the Central Eastern Alps. Their high dolomitic peaks overlook Scuol in th ...

. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of

Ardez Ardez () is a former municipality in the district of Inn in the canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland. The village is located in the Lower Engadin valley. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Ardez, Guarda, Tarasp, Ftan and S ...

, Guarda, Tarasp,

Ftan Ftan is a former municipality in the district of Inn in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Ardez, Guarda, Tarasp, Ftan and Sent merged into the municipality of Scuol.Sent merged into the municipality of Scuol. Originally a

Romansh language Romansh (; sometimes also spelled Romansch and Rumantsch; Sursilvan: ; Vallader, Surmiran, and Rumantsch Grischun: ; Putèr: ; Sutsilvan: , , ; Jauer: ) is a Gallo-Romance language spoken predominantly in the Swiss canton of the Grison ...

area, the majority of the population today speaks High Alemannic German. Unlike the surrounding municipalities, the Tarasp parish is mainly

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

History

Primitive grinding stones known as or were found in the Tarasp area. This indicates that

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

food processing happened in the area. However, there are no records or indications of settlements in the area until the 11th Century. The Lordship of

Tarasp Castle Tarasp Castle (german: Schloss Tarasp, Romansh: ''Chastè da Tarasp'') is a castle in Switzerland, near the former municipality of Tarasp (now Scuol), in Lower Engadin, Graubünden. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. Histo ...

was established in the 11th century and for centuries claimed by the Bishopric of Chur and the

Counts of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with the secularised pr ...

. After the Lords of Tarasp had become extinct, their estates became a Tyrolean fief in 1239. In 1273 the Counts of Matsch held Tarasp as

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

s for the

. They remained the Vogt of Tarasp when the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

archdukes of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

became the Counts of Tyrol in 1363. From 1422 until his death in 1436, it was owned by Frederick VII of Toggenburg. After his death, the Matsch family held it again until 1463, when it was sold to the Habsburg. With this sale, Tarasp became an Austrian

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

inside the Free State of the Three Leagues, an associate of the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy (German language, Modern German: ; historically , after the Swiss Reformation, Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ...

in 1464. In 1687 Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor Leopold I granted the Lordship of Tarasp to the Princes of Dietrichstein as an immediate territory of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

. In the course of the 1803 and the

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion ...

, Austria finally ceded the territory to the Napoleonic Swiss Confederation, after which it was incorporated into the canton of Graubünden. The

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

style Grand Hotel Waldhaus Vulpera-Tarasp with

Sgraffito ''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive laye ...

-Elements was opened on 8 June 1897 and was one of the first addresses in the

Swiss Alps The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (german: Schweizer Alpen, french: Alpes suisses, it, Alpi svizzere, rm, Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss ...

and was a major

Belle Époque The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...

monument in Europe.

Geography

Tarasp had an area, , of . Of this area, 12.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 34.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (51.6%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The former municipality is located in the Sur Tasna sub-district of the Inn district on the right bank of the

river. It consists of the village of Tarasp with 10 sections and the castle hill.

Demographics

Tarasp had a population (as of 2014) of 337. , 36.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 14.9%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 13-Oct-2009 Tarasp Fontana2

, the gender distribution of the population was 49.2% male and 50.8% female.Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009 The age distribution, , in Tarasp is; 26 children or 7.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 37 teenagers or 11.3% are 10 to 14, and 22 teenagers or 6.7% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 30 people or 9.1% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 42 people or 12.8% are 30 to 39, 53 people or 16.2% are 40 to 49, and 38 people or 11.6% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 30 people or 9.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 27 people or 8.2% are 70 to 79, there are 21 people or 6.4% who are 80 to 89, and there are 2 people or 0.6% who are 90 to 99.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009 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 44% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (34.5%), 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 ...

(16.3%) and the FDP (5.2%). In Tarasp about 66.8% 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 ...

''). Tarasp has an unemployment rate of 3.83%. , there were 17 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 6 businesses involved in this sector. 9 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 4 businesses in this sector. 220 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 21 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

Languages

Most of the population () speaks German (52.4%), with Romansh being second most common (38.4%) and Portuguese being third (3.4%). Despite centuries of

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

rule, until

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the population spoke the Romansh dialect Vallader. In 1880, 92% spoke Romansh, and in 1910 it was 87%. By

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the percentage had dropped to 79% (in 1941). German continued to gain ground, but even in 1970 45.3% of the population spoke Romansh. In 1990 a total of 58% could speak Romansh, though not all spoke it as a first language, and in 2000 a total of 46.6% could understand Romansh.

Heritage sites of national significance

Tarasp Castle and the ''Trinkhalle'' (drinking hall) are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance
21.11.2008 version, accessed 13-Oct-2009 Schloss Tarasp-IMG 8840

Transportation

The '' Scuol-Tarasp'' station is the eastern terminus of the private Rhaetian Railway network, served by trains from Chur and Pontresina.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Scuol Former municipalities of Graubünden Lordships of the Holy Roman Empire Former countries in Europe Former principalities 1683 disestablishments Austrian Circle Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden Populated places disestablished in 2015