Albinen 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

Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 ...

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

Albinen is first mentioned in 1224 as ''Albignun''. Later, it was known as ''Albinnon'' or by its French name ''Arbignon''.

Geography

Albinen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 46.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 39.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 3.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 10.7% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.9%. Out of the forested land, 34.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.1% is used for growing crops and 3.3% is pastures and 43.0% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 3.7% is unproductive vegetation and 7.0% is too rocky for vegetation. The municipality is located in the Leuk district. It consists of the village of Albinen, the alpine pasture settlements of Chermignon and Torrent along with the former herding camp (now vacation villages) of Ober Dorbu and Tschingere. These towns were established back in the days when the farmers of Albinen lived a

semi-nomadic A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

life. Albinen is situated in the south of Switzerland 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 ...

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. The town is on a sunny, south-facing slope between two creeks. The territory of Albinen reaches from the river "Dala" at above sea level to the

Torrenthorn The Torrenthorn is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Leukerbad in the canton of Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages out ...

at above sea level.

Flora and fauna

The flora changes with the different altitudes of the territory. The lower areas are dominated by woods and meadows. The countryside changes to mountain meadows, rocks and cliffs at the higher altitudes. A large variety of wild flowers can be found, especially during spring and in the early summer when most of them flourish. In autumn the larch trees turn yellow and bushes appear at all kinds of red, orange and yellow colouring. Albinen is home to many bird species as well as to local wildlife such as deer, chamois buck, fox, lux and steinbock.

Coat of arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...

of the 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 ...

is ''Argent, issuant from Coupeaux vert a Latin cross sable.''

Demographics

Albinen has a population () of . , 6.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 2.1%. It has changed at a rate of 9.6% due to migration and at a rate of -6.4% due to births and deaths.
accessed 8 September 2011 Most of the population () speaks

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 ...

(255 or 97.7%) as their first language, French is the second most common (2 or 0.8%) and Romansh is the third (1 or 0.4%). , the gender distribution of the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 124 Swiss men (43.2% of the population) and 14 (4.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 139 Swiss women (48.4%) and 10 (3.5%) non-Swiss women.Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality 155 or about 59.4% were born in Albinen and lived there in 2000. There were 40 or 15.3% who were born in the same canton, while 33 or 12.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 24 or 9.2% were born outside of Switzerland. The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 51.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 24.9%. , there were 106 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 130 married individuals, 17 widows or widowers and 8 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 107 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 35 households that consist of only one person and 9 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 114 households that answered this question, 30.7% were households made up of just one person and there were 3 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 31 married couples without children, 34 married couples with children There were 3 single parents with a child or children. There was 1 household that was made up of unrelated people and 7 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 121 single family homes (or 64.4% of the total) out of a total of 188 inhabited buildings. There were 46 multi-family buildings (24.5%), along with 6 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (3.2%) and 15 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (8.0%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , a total of 104 apartments (33.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 167 apartments (53.7%) were seasonally occupied and 40 apartments (12.9%) were empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.93%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:960 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:380 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:80 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:16 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:370 text:"370" bar:1860 from:start till:325 text:"325" bar:1870 from:start till:339 text:"339" bar:1880 from:start till:361 text:"361" bar:1888 from:start till:355 text:"355" bar:1900 from:start till:380 text:"380" bar:1910 from:start till:359 text:"359" bar:1920 from:start till:353 text:"353" bar:1930 from:start till:367 text:"367" bar:1941 from:start till:376 text:"376" bar:1950 from:start till:323 text:"323" bar:1960 from:start till:307 text:"307" bar:1970 from:start till:281 text:"281" bar:1980 from:start till:250 text:"250" bar:1990 from:start till:242 text:"242" bar:2000 from:start till:261 text:"261"

Sights

The entire village of Albinen 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 ...

Tourism

The local business is mainly dependent on tourism. Albinen benefits from its calm and sunny location but, being situated in the middle of the tourist region

, still offers good connections to some of the most famous locations in the Swiss Alps (

Zermatt Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO). ...

Saas-Fee Saas-Fee () is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The village is situated on a high mountain plateau at 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), surrounded ...

, Montana,

Verbier Verbier is a village located in south-western Switzerland in the canton of Valais. It is a holiday resort and ski area in the Swiss Alps and is recognised as one of the premier off-piste resorts in the world. Some areas are covered with snow all ...

) and the alpine resort

Leukerbad Leukerbad (french: Loèche-les-Bains, Walliser German: ''Leiggerbad'', although locally known as ''Baadu'') is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History The story of Leukerbad dates back to the 4th ...

. A regular bus service connects the town with the local main town

Leuk Leuk (french: Loèche-Ville) is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013, the former municipality of Erschmatt merged into the municipality of Leuk.Leukerbad Leukerbad (french: Loèche-les-Bains, Walliser German: ''Leiggerbad'', although locally known as ''Baadu'') is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History The story of Leukerbad dates back to the 4th ...

(15 minutes away) with its hot water pools. Albinen Tourism maintains an extensive hiking network that offers trails of different length and difficulty. A tourism highlight is the "Albinenleitern": a series of ladders climbing a cliff, formerly providing the main connection between Albinen and

. A cable car connects to the ski station Rinderhütte situated in the mountain area

Torrent Torrent or torrents may refer to: * A fast flowing stream Animals * Torrent duck, a species of the family Anatidae * Torrent fish * Torrent frog, various unrelated frogs * Torrent robin, a bird species * Torrent salamander, a family of s ...

at 2313 meters above sea level. In winter it is a paradise for skiers, providing over 50 km of slopes. In summer Torrent offers a large network of hiking and mountain bike trails. The panoramic views of the peaks of the Swiss, French and Italian Alps from the Torrent area are breathtaking.

Old town

Albinen is famous for being one of the best-preserved traditional Swiss mountain villages. Narrow stone alleys run between old larch houses. Many of these homes and sheds are several hundred years old and demonstrate impressively the craft of former generations. After an earthquake has damaged the old church of Albinen, the church has been replaced by a relatively modern building. The church building is one of the landmarks of Albinen and it matches well the architecture of the old town.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 70.93% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (18.08%), the SP (8.49%) and the FDP (1.3%). In the federal election, a total of 146 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

was 67.0%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 150 votes were cast, of which 2 or about 1.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 68.8%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 145 votes were cast, of which 2 or about 1.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 67.1%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

, Albinen had an unemployment rate of 1.8%. , there were 16 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 11 people were 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 were 2 businesses in this sector. 48 people were 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 11 businesses in this sector. There were 114 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 39.5% of the workforce. the total number of

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employee, employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to me ...

jobs was 55. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 7, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 10, all of which were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 38. In the tertiary sector; 2 or 5.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 30 or 78.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 5.3% were in education.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3
accessed 28 January 2011 , there were 13 workers who commuted into the municipality and 68 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 14.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.8% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 220 or 84.3% were

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 28 or 10.7% 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 ...

. 8 (or about 3.07% of the population) belonged 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 5 individuals (or about 1.92% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Albinen about 80 or (30.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 19 or (7.3%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

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 ...

''). Of the 19 who completed tertiary schooling, 47.4% were Swiss men, 15.8% were Swiss women. , there were 13 students from Albinen who attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Municipalities of Valais Articles which contain graphical timelines