Château-d'Œx () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the canton of

Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of Subdivisions of the canton of Vaud, ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It is in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut.

History

Château-d'Œx is first mentioned in 1115 as ''Oit'', ''Oyz'', ''Oix'' and ''Oyez''.

Prehistoric settlements

During the late

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

and

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, 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 i ...

(9500 BC to at least 6000 BC) caves around Château-d'Œx served as a seasonal settlement.

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

knives indicate that there was a settlement during that era as well. Many of the local names (''combe'' = valley, ''joeur'' = forest, ''man'' = rock) and the local dialect are the only traces of a

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

settlement in the area. The lack of iron ore and the sparseness of the soil probably prevented the

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

of lowland valleys. During the

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

era, the region may have been only sparsely populated. By the 10th century, the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

c settlements had only reached Le Vanel but then spread even higher and reached the pastures in L'Étivaz in the southern part of the municipality. The valley was known as the high Gau or Ogo. The name may have come from the word for Ox or be a form of Äesch, (or ash).

Medieval history

In the 10th century, the Count of Gruyere conquered La Tine and the Creux de l'Enfer. Subsequently, it was merged with Rossinière to form a district. The church of St. Donat was consecrated and first mentioned in 1175. The village church was under the authority of the

Cluniac Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter, Saints Peter and Saint Paul, Paul. The abbey was constructed ...

Priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

of Rougemont, which was founded in 1080. At the beginning of the 14th century, the castle at La Motte was rebuilt for the Counts of Gruyere. Another stronghold probably stood on the rocky spur which was known as Château Cottier. After clearing the woods, the region was intensively farmed and produced barley, hay, hemp and cheese. In 1388 the villagers threw off the obligation to serve the nobility. Then, in 1403, against the wishes of the Count of Gruyères, the villagers joined a limited alliance with

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Growth during the Early Modern era

In 1555 Bern received the upper part of the county of Gruyere including Château-d'Œx. It became part of the German-speaking

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. In English, the original French combi ...

of Saanen. The rights and freedoms of the villagers were now based on Bernese law and not on the Land Law of Moudon. However, the village church was still part of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

under the

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

. Following the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

in 1555, the parish also included Etivaz until 1713. Under Bernese rule, the economy experienced a strong upswing. The

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

was divided and sold before the end of the 16th century. The alpine pastures were leased to private cheesemakers, who there produced

Gruyère cheese Gruyère (, , ; , ) is a hard Swiss cheeses and dairy products, Swiss cheese that originated in the cantons of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg, Vaud, Canton of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Canton of Jura, Jura, and Canton of Bern, Berne in Switzerland. ...

. In the 18th century, the inhabitants of the municipality went over the Col de Jaman to sell the cheese, from the approximately 2,000 cows, at the market in

Vevey Vevey (; ; ) is a town in Switzerland in the Vaud, canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Leman, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used. It was the seat of the Vevey (district), district of the same name until 200 ...

. From there, it went to

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

where it was exported to Asia and America.

End of the Ancien Régime and Modern Château-d'Œx

In 1798, Château-d'Œx came to the newly formed

Canton of Léman Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an ...

. In 1800, a fire destroyed the wooden houses on the central hill. The houses had been built in this style and on the hill to avoid property taxes. Thanks to the efforts of the Dean Philippe-Sirice Bridel enough money was raised to rebuild the houses in stone. The municipality hired masons from

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

, carpenters from Simmental and plasterers from the lower Gruyere lands lower uplands. In 1803, the Canton of Léman was dissolved with the

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, French Consulate, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 to abolish the Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Old Swiss Confederacy, Switzerland by F ...

and the municipality became part of the new canton of Vaud. In 1849, the Institute Henchoz opened as a preparatory gymnasium, which replaced the older

Latin school The Latin school was the grammar school of 14th- to 19th-century Europe, though the latter term was much more common in England. Other terms used include Lateinschule in Germany, or later Gymnasium. Latin schools were also established in Colon ...

. The primary school received a new building in 1907. Starting in 1847 a parish of the Free Church of the Canton of Vaud was established with two priests. The Catholic parish was established in 1896 and the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church parish was created in 1899. Other religious communities, such as the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where it originated from Anglica ...

, established churches in the valley. In the 19th century, the municipality suffered several outbreaks of livestock diseases. To protect the dairy industry, non-local herds were forbidden from passing through the municipality. Cheese was no longer allowed to be carried across the mountains but was now transported on local draft horses. Due to customs taxes with the neighbouring Canton of Fribourg, cheese was carried on a route over the Col de Chaude to Villeneuve (VD) and from there to the shores of

Lake Geneva Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () ...

, without crossing the Fribourg border. The abolition of the inter-canton customs and taxes in 1848 led to the demolition of the Fribourg customs station on the main road that had linked Château-d'Œx with the grain and livestock markets. Changes in markets and improvements in animal husbandry led to more

Simmental cattle The Simmental or Swiss Fleckvieh is a Swiss breed of dual-purpose cattle. It is named after the Simmental – the valley of the Simme river – in the Bernese Oberland, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The breed is typically reddish ...

being raised for meat rather than cheese production. The construction of the road over the

Col des Mosses Col des Mosses (elevation 1445 m) is a mountain pass in the western Bernese Alps of Switzerland. The pass is located in the municipality of Ormont-Dessous in the canton of Vaud. It links Aigle, to the south in the valley of the Rhone, with Ch ...

(1865–71) and the construction of a new road to Bulle (1895) eased transportation. Chateau d oex

The hospital, which had replaced the old hospital in 1926, was remodelled in 1979 into a nursing home and district hospital. At the same time, solar heating was added to the building. The municipal administration building was built in 1912, and renovated in 1958. The Musée du Vieux Pays-d'Enhaut was built in 1922. A power plant was operated in La Chaudanne from 1894 until about 1901. The opening of the

Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line The Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line is a metre-gauge electric railway line in Switzerland run by the Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB) and links Montreux on Lake Geneva by way of Les Avants, Montbovon, Rossinière, Château-d'Œx, Rou ...

in 1904 made Château-d'Œx an attractive summer resort. It was particularly appreciated by English tourists. Between 1916 and 1918 it also housed English internees during the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

. Half a dozen grand hotels with tennis courts sprang up in the municipality. A tennis club was founded in 1894 and the area has hosted the lawn tennis

Swiss International Championships The Swiss International Championships or simply the Swiss Championships was a combined men's and women's clay court tennis tournament established by the Swiss Lawn Tennis Association, and first played at Grasshopper Club, Zurich, Switzerland in 189 ...

. Other infrastructure included the suspension bridge at Turrian (1883), a swimming pool and a campsite (1932), a cable car (1945) and the Pont du Berceau (1945). The agricultural sector has remained important, with the emphasis again shifting to cheese. In the 20th century, winter tourism became an important additional source of income.

Hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carri ...

s and river rafting became common in the summer, while local crafts, sawmills and gravel mining are the main branches of the industrial sector. Since 1945, the area around Pierreuse has been a protected heritage site.

World War I internment

During World War I Switzerland accepted 68,000 sick or injured

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

from both sides of the conflict. These prisoners required medical care that they could not receive in internment camps due to a demand for doctors at the front to care for their own nation's injured. Following an agreement between the belligerent nations and with support from the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

the internees were transferred to neutral Switzerland. The first trainload of injured soldiers arrived to cheering crowds at Château-d'Œx on 30 May 1916. The British ambassador to Switzerland, Sir Evelyn Grant Duff, met the first train and recorded in his diary that evening: Château-d'Œx was the first community chosen to host the injured prisoners because its letter offering to help was the first one received by the Swiss government. Over the following two years many resort communities, devastated as tourism vanished during the war, experienced growth as internees were housed in empty resorts and as their loved ones visited.

Escher

In 1935, the Dutch painter

M.C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; ; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithography, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were Mathematics and art, inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular int ...

and his wife Jutta decided to leave Italy, where they had lived for many years after their nine-year-old son was forced to join the Fascist Ballila Youth Movement. They found refuge in Switzerland and lived for two years in Château-d'Œx.

Bank for International Settlements

In the second half of May 1940, the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...

relocated to Château-d'Œx from Basel, out of fear of an imminent German invasion of Switzerland. BIS President Thomas H. McKittrick and economic adviser Per Jacobsson moved into the nearby château of Rougemont, while the rest of the staff found accommodation in the village. The BIS moved back to Basel in October 1940.

Geography

Château-d'Œx has an area, , of . Of this area, or 44.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 35.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 2.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.0% is either rivers or lakes and or 15.6% 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 1.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, 30.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.1% is used for growing crops and 10.5% is pastures and 34.0% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 0.6% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 9.3% is unproductive vegetation and 6.3% is too rocky for vegetation. The municipality was part of the Pays-d'Enhaut District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Château-d'Œx became part of the new district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 4 April 2011 The municipality is the largest in land area in the canton. It is located in the upper Saane valley. In the 14th to 18th Centuries, the seven ''établées'' of Sous le Scex, Mont, Village, Frasse, Entre deux Eaux, Monteiller and L'Étivaz merged into the municipality. It consists of the villages of Château-d'Œx, L'Étivaz, Les Moulins and Les Granges, 35

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

and 22 alpine herding camps.

Climate

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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Gules, a tower embattled Or, a wall embattled of the same in the dexter, surmounted by a crane Argent''.

Demographics

Château-d'Œx has a population () of . , 19.1% 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 5%. It has changed at a rate of 8.8% due to migration and at a rate of −3.6% due to births and deaths.
accessed 9 August 2011 Most of the population () speaks French (2,611 or 88.5%), with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

being second most common (105 or 3.6%) and English being third (71 or 2.4%). There are 19 people who speak

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

. The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 54.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 21.5%. , there were 1,140 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,422 married individuals, 227 widows or widowers and 160 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 1,350 private households in the municipality and an average of 2.1 persons per household. There were 550 households that consist of only one person and 92 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 1,381 households that answered this question, 39.8% were households made up of just one person and there were 11 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 363 married couples without children, 340 married couples with children. There were 66 single parents with a child or children. There were 20 households that were made up of unrelated people and 31 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 608 single-family homes (or 47.8% of the total) out of a total of 1,271 inhabited buildings. There were 342 multi-family buildings (26.9%), along with 217 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (17.1%) and 104 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (8.2%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , a total of 1,302 apartments (57.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 871 apartments (38.5%) were seasonally occupied and 90 apartments (4.0%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 6.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.54%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1140 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:3900 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:800 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:160 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1416 from:start till:480 bar:1416 at:490 fontsize:S text: " 120 Hearths" shift:(8,5) bar:1764 from:start till:1751 text:"1,751" bar:1803 from:start till:2001 text:"2,001" bar:1850 from:start till:2054 text:"2,054" bar:1860 from:start till:2259 text:"2,259" bar:1870 from:start till:2511 text:"2,511" bar:1880 from:start till:2741 text:"2,741" bar:1888 from:start till:2674 text:"2,674" bar:1900 from:start till:3025 text:"3,025" bar:1910 from:start till:3567 text:"3,567" bar:1920 from:start till:3464 text:"3,464" bar:1930 from:start till:3840 text:"3,840" bar:1941 from:start till:3336 text:"3,336" bar:1950 from:start till:3381 text:"3,381" bar:1960 from:start till:3378 text:"3,378" bar:1970 from:start till:3203 text:"3,203" bar:1980 from:start till:2872 text:"2,872" bar:1990 from:start till:3110 text:"3,110" bar:2000 from:start till:2949 text:"2,949"

Notable people

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; ; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithography, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were Mathematics and art, inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular int ...

(1898–1972) a Dutch graphic artist of woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints; lived in Château d'Œx 1935–1937 * Kitty Muggeridge (1903 in Château d'Œx – 1994) a British writer and translator, *

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was an English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. His accolades include an Academ ...

(1910 – 1983 in Château d'Œx) an English actor, memoirist and novelist, lived in Château d'Œx from 1960 * George Rudolf Hanbury Fielding (1915–2005 in Château d'Œx) a Major in the SOE in WWII; brought up in Château d'Œx and lived there again in his later years * Françoise Roch-Ramel (1931 in Château d'Œx – 2001) a Swiss

pharmacologist Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between ...

Mike Horn Michael Horn (born 16 July 1966) is a South African-born Swiss professional explorer and adventurer. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, he currently resides in Château d'Œx, Switzerland. He studied Human Movement Science at Stellenbosch Uni ...

(born 1966) a South African-born professional explorer and adventurer, lives in Château d'Œx

Sport

* Bruno Leuzinger (1886 in Château d'Œx – 1952) a Swiss ice hockey player, competed in the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

and the

1924 Winter Olympics The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Chamonix 1924 (), were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Originally held in association with the 1924 Summer ...

* Madeleine Berthod (born 1931 in Château d'Œx) a Swiss former alpine skier, gold medallist at the

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( or ), were a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956. Cortina, which ...

* René Berthod (born 1948 in Château d'Œx) a retired Swiss alpine skier, competed in the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (, ) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 (), were a winter multi-sport event celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from February 4 to 15, 1976. The games were awarded to Inn ...

* Edmond Plawczyk (born 1971) a Swiss speed snowboarder, lives in Château d'Œx

Heritage sites of national significance

Les Ciernes-Picat, a Mesolithic shelter, is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of L'Étivaz is 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 ...

Sights

The International Hot-Air Balloon Festival has been held each year since 1979 in January. Up to 100 balloonists gather for the festival each year. The '' Breitling Orbiter 3'', the first hot air balloon to circumnavigate the Earth, took off from Château-d'Œx on 1 March 1999. A museum dedicated to Montgolfier type balloons is located in the centre of the town.

Music Festival

The popular annua
Le Bois qui Chante
music festival is held every year in the month of October.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 32.23% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (18.37%), the SP (16.21%) and the LPS Party (14.68%). In the federal election, a total of 854 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 41.6%.

Economy

, Château-d'Œx had an unemployment rate of 2.3%. , there were 234 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 97 businesses involved in this sector. 252 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 54 businesses in this sector. 1,012 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 ...

, with 173 businesses in this sector. There were 1,372 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.5% of the workforce. the total number of

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

jobs was 1,196. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 169, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 232 of which 60 or (25.9%) were in manufacturing and 156 (67.2%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 795. In the tertiary sector; 191 or 24.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 50 or 6.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 116 or 14.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 15 or 1.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 46 or 5.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 42 or 5.3% were in education and 198 or 24.9% were in health care.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3
accessed 28 January 2011 , there were 238 workers who commuted into the municipality and 266 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 5.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 53.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 527 or 17.9% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 1,746 or 59.2% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 12 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.41% of the population), there was 1 individual who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 363 individuals (or about 12.31% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 9 individuals (or about 0.31% of the population) who were

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and 89 (or about 3.02% of the population) who were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. There were 2 individuals who were

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and 9 individuals who were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

. 258 (or about 8.75% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

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 110 individuals (or about 3.73% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Château-d'Œx about 986 or (33.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 299 or (10.1%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Of the 299 who completed tertiary schooling, 45.5% were Swiss men, 30.4% were Swiss women, 13.0% were non-Swiss men and 11.0% were non-Swiss women. , there were 92 students in Château-d'Œx who came from another municipality, while 95 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Sport

Skiing is a key activity in the area with the ski station of La Braye accessible via cable car (also open in Summer) from the heart of Château-d'Œx village. In 1922 and 1924, the Hockey Club Château d'Œx was the Swiss champion in its ranks with a local international player in the person of Edouard Mottier who participated in the 1924 Olympic Games in Chamonix. In 1997, the Mountain Bike World Championships were held in Château d'Œx. On 1 March 1999,

Bertrand Piccard Bertrand Piccard Royal Scottish Geographical Society, FRSGS (born 1 March 1958) is a Swiss explorer, psychiatrist and balloon (aircraft), environmentalist. Along with Brian Jones (aeronaut), Brian Jones, he was the first to complete a non-stop b ...

and

Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English musician and founder of the Rolling Stones. Initially a slide guitarist, he went on to sing backing vocals and played a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones r ...

took off from Château d'Œx and made the first non-stop around the world with a

Rozière balloon A Rozière balloon (or simply Rozière) is a type of hybrid balloon that has separate chambers for a non-heated lifting gas (such as hydrogen or helium) as well as for a heated lifting gas (as used in a hot air balloon or Montgolfière). The de ...

, landing 21 March in Egypt after 20 days and .

References

External links

* *
Château-d'Œx & Pays-d'Enhaut Tourist Office.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau D'oex Municipalities of the canton of Vaud Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Vaud