Guarda is a former

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 Inn District in the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of

Ardez Ardez () is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Inn District, Switzerland, Inn in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland. The village is located in the Lower Engadin valley. On ...

, Guarda,

Tarasp Tarasp is a former municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Inn District, Switzerland, Inn in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. Its eleven settlements are situated within the Lower Engadin ...

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 Scuol () is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Engiadina Bassa/Val Müstair Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Grisons. The official language in Scuol is Romansh language, Romansh. On 1 January 2 ...

. Guarda was awarded the

Wakker Prize The Wakker Prize (German: ''Wakkerpreis'', French: ''Prix Wakker'', Italian: ''Premio Wakker'') is awarded annually by the Swiss Heritage Society to a Municipality of Switzerland for the development and preservation of its architectural herita ...

for the preservation of its architectural heritage in 1975.

History

Guarda is first mentioned in 1160 as ''Warda''. Between 1939 and 1945 a major building renovation was carried on in Guarda which was conducted by the Swiss architect Iachen Ulrich Könz.

Geography

Guarda had an area, , of . Of this area, 35.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 12.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (51.4%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The former municipality is located in the Sur Tasna sub-district of the Inn district on a terrace above the left bank of the

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 accomm ...

river. It consists of the

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

of Guarda above the valley and the settlement of Giarsun along the valley floor.

Demographics

Guarda had a population (as of 2014) of 155. , 13.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -13.4%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 12-Oct-2009 , the gender distribution of the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female.Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009 The age distribution, , in Guarda is; 8 children or 5.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 9 teenagers or 6.3% are 10 to 14, and 7 teenagers or 4.9% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 16 people or 11.1% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 13 people or 9.0% are 30 to 39, 28 people or 19.4% are 40 to 49, and 17 people or 11.8% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 13 people or 9.0% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 21 people or 14.6% are 70 to 79, there are 12 people or 8.3% who are 80 to 89.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009 In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 46.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (35%), the CVP (8.7%) and the FDP (7.4%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Guarda about 77.3% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

or additional higher education (either university 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 ...

''). Guarda has an unemployment rate of 1.83%. , there were 27 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 19 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 8 businesses in this sector. 56 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 ...

, with 14 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

Transport

Guarda railway station Guarda railway station () is a railway station in the village of Guarda, within the municipality of Scuol, in the Swiss canton of Grisons. It is an intermediate stop on the gauge Bever–Scuol-Tarasp line of the Rhaetian Railway. Services t ...

is an intermediate stop on the Bever to Scuol-Tarasp line of the

Rhaetian Railway The Rhaetian Railway (; ; ), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the RhB operates all the railway lines of the Cantons of Switzerland, ...

Wakker Prize

In 1975 the

Swiss Heritage Society The Swiss Heritage Society (SHS) is a non-profit organization, non-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of Switzerland's architecture, architectural heritage. Its focus is on the preservation of important landmarks, the development of ...

awarded Guarda the

for the preservation of its architectural heritage. The award notes that it is one of the best preserved and characteristic villages of the Unterengadin. It notes that the municipality struggled with a harsh landscape and the demands of tourism as well as the migration of young people from the village into the cities of Switzerland.Swiss Heritage Society-Wakker Prize
accessed 12 October 2009

Languages

Most of the population () speaks

Rhaeto-Romance Rhaeto-Romance, Rheto-Romance, Rhaeto-Italian, or Rhaetian, is a purported subfamily of the Romance languages that is spoken in south-eastern Switzerland and north-eastern Italy. The name "Rhaeto-Romance" refers to the former Roman province of ...

(62.5%), with German being second most common (30.6%) and French being third (2.8%). The majority of the population speaks the

Vallader Vallader (Vallader, Sursilvan, Puter, Surmiran, and Rumantsch Grischun: ''vallader'' ; Sutsilvan: ') is a variety of the Romansh language spoken in the Lower Engadine valley (''Engiadina Bassa'') of southeast Switzerland, between Martina, Swi ...

dialect of Romansh. Until the 1980s, the village was almost totally Romansh speaking (1880 96%, 1900 99%, 1941 91% and 1980 90%). While the village school still supports the Romansh language, the German-speaking population is growing in Guarda.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Scuol Former municipalities of Graubünden Populated places disestablished in 2015