Salvan () 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
Saint-Maurice District
The district of Saint-Maurice is a district in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a population of (as of ).
Municipalities
It comprises the following municipalities:
Mergers and name changes
On 1 January 2013 the former municipality ...
, in
Valais
Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...
,
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 ...
.
History
Salvan is first mentioned in 1018 as ''cum Silvano''. Around 1025-31 it was mentioned as ''in monte Salvano''. The municipality was formerly known by its German name , however, that name is no longer used.
In the 11th century, the
Abbey of Saint-Maurice had rights over Salvan (as well as
Ottanel), probably donated to it by
Rudolph III of Burgundy
Rudolph III (, ; 970 – 6 September 1032), called the Idle or the Pious, was the king of Burgundy from 993 until his death. He was the last ruler of an independent Kingdom of Burgundy, and the last legitimate male member of the Burgundian line ...
.
In the 19th century, Salvan developed rapidly as a resort after the creation of a carriage road in 1855, and in 1906 the
Martigny–Châtelard line.
On 5 October 1994, 25 people were found dead in three burned-out chalets in Salvan in what turned out to be a
mass murder-suicide. The chalets were owned by
Luc Jouret
Luc Georges Marc Jean Jouret (; 18 October 1947 – 5 October 1994) was a Belgian doctor and homeopath. Jouret founded the Order of the Solar Temple (OTS) with Joseph Di Mambro in 1984. He committed suicide in the Swiss village of Salvan on 5 ...
, founder of the
Order of the Solar Temple
The Order of the Solar Temple (, OTS), or simply the Solar Temple, was a new religious movement and secret society, often described as a cult, notorious for the mass deaths of many of its members in several mass murders and suicides throughout ...
. Several victims of the fire were children.
Geography

Salvan has an area, , of . Of this area, 7.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 25.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and 65.2% is unproductive land.
[
The municipality is located in the Saint-Maurice district, in the Trient Valley. It consists of the village of Salvan and several ]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 ...
, including Les Marécottes and until 1912, Vernayaz, Miéville and Gueuroz. Les Marécottes, a storage basin for the Swiss Federal Railways
Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland.
The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...
, is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire hamlet of Le Trétien 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 ...
.The territory of the municipality includes a significant portion of the Trient valley (along with the municipality of Finhaut
Finhaut is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Saint-Maurice (district), Saint-Maurice in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais in Switzerland.
History
Finhaut is first mentioned in 1293 as ''Finyaux''.
Geograp ...
) and two of its important side valleys: the entire Vallon d'Emaney (drained by the Triège) and the upper section of the Vallée de Barberine (drained by the Barberine and the Eau Noire) who is notably occupied by the artificial lake of Émosson. A small part of the territory of the municipality is not drained by the river Trient: it is the Vallon de Van, drained by the Salanfe which ends directly in the Rhone.
Although the municipality does not include the highest peak of the Trient Valley, several summits over 3,000 metres lie there. The highest are Tour Sallière and Mont Ruan
Mont Ruan (or ''Grand Mont Ruan'') is a mountain in the Chablais Alps, overlooking the lake of Emosson in the Swiss canton of Valais
Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 ca ...
, both in the Vallée de Barberine.
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 "''"''
Demographics
Salvan has a population () of . , 7.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008](_blank)
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 0.6%. It has changed at a rate of 7.1% due to migration and at a rate of -3.9% due to births and deaths.
accessed 22-September-2011
Most of the population () speaks French (947 or 92.8%) as their first language, 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 ...
is the second most common (31 or 3.0%) and Dutch
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
is the third (10 or 1.0%). There are 6 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 population was 47.4% male and 52.6% female. The population was made up of 495 Swiss men (44.4% of the population) and 33 (3.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 538 Swiss women (48.3%) and 48 (4.3%) non-Swiss women.[Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls](_blank)
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 522 or about 51.2% were born in Salvan and lived there in 2000. There were 159 or 15.6% who were born in the same canton, while 168 or 16.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 141 or 13.8% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.1%.
, there were 381 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 500 married individuals, 77 widows or widowers and 62 individuals who are divorced.[STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000](_blank)
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 439 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household. There were 163 households that consist of only one person and 25 households with five or more people. , a total of 418 apartments (38.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 601 apartments (55.0%) were seasonally occupied and 73 apartments (6.7%) were empty.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen](_blank)
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 8.1 new units per 1000 residents.
From the , 810 or 79.4% 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 90 or 8.8% 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 9 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.88% of the population), and there were 5 individuals (or about 0.49% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 individuals (or about 0.20% 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 3 (or about 0.29% of the population) who were Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. There were 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 68 (or about 6.67% 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 ...
or 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 33 individuals (or about 3.24% of the population) did not answer the question.
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:2100
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:400 start:0
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:80 start:0
PlotData=
color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center
bar:1850 from:start till:1520 text:"1,520"
bar:1860 from:start till:1595 text:"1,595"
bar:1870 from:start till:1790 text:"1,790"
bar:1880 from:start till:1907 text:"1,907"
bar:1888 from:start till:1841 text:"1,841"
bar:1900 from:start till:1916 text:"1,916"
bar:1910 from:start till:2084 text:"2,084"
bar:1920 from:start till:1033 text:"1,033"
bar:1930 from:start till:988 text:"988"
bar:1941 from:start till:1017 text:"1,017"
bar:1950 from:start till:1102 text:"1,102"
bar:1960 from:start till:988 text:"988"
bar:1970 from:start till:996 text:"996"
bar:1980 from:start till:932 text:"932"
bar:1990 from:start till:1056 text:"1,056"
Twin Towns
Salvan is twinned with the towns of St-Jeannet, Nice, France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and Saint-Jeannet, Alpes-Maritimes
Saint-Jeannet (; ) is a hilly commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the southeastern Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in France. Located just northeast of Vence, it is part of the Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur.
In the 10th century, ...
, France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 43.21% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (22.63%), the SP (14.75%) and the SVP (9.32%). In the federal election, a total of 520 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 57.6%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 417 votes were cast, of which 35 or about 8.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 47.6%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 501 votes were cast, of which 30 or about 6.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 58.8%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Salvan had an unemployment rate of 4.6%. , there were 15 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 7 businesses involved in this sector. 29 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 constructi ...
and there were 11 businesses in this sector. 207 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 38 businesses in this sector.[ There were 455 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 182. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 6, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 25 of which 12 or (48.0%) were in manufacturing and 14 (56.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 151. In the tertiary sector; 10 or 6.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 7 or 4.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 36 or 23.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 5 or 3.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 7 or 4.6% were in education and 55 or 36.4% were in health care.
, there were 51 workers who commuted into the municipality and 262 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 62.6% used a private car.[
]
Education
In Salvan about 385 or (37.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 108 or (10.6%) 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 108 who completed tertiary schooling, 51.9% were Swiss men, 28.7% were Swiss women, 8.3% were non-Swiss men and 11.1% were non-Swiss women.[
, there were 5 students in Salvan who came from another municipality, while 83 residents attended schools outside the municipality.][ Salvan is home to the ''Bibliothèque communale et scolaire'' library. The library has () 4,031 books or other media, and loaned out 7,169 items in the same year. It was open a total of 80 days with average of 6 hours per week during that year.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, list of libraries]
accessed 14 May 2010
Transportation
The narrow-gauge Martigny–Châtelard line passes through the eastern edge of the municipality and has four stations: , , , and .
Skiing
The ski area located above Les Marécottes is relatively small and ranges from 1100m to 2200m and has 5 Lifts. 1 Gondola Lift, 1 Chairlift, 1 Platter Lifts and 1 Rope Tow. There are 25 km of varied runs, ranging from steep black slopes like "Le Rec" to easy blue pistes like "Le Perron". Les Marécottes is part of "Ski Super St. Bernard", a group of several other small ski resorts located in the Martigny-St. Bernard area that share one common skipass. This group includes other villages such as: La Fouly, Champex, Vichères, Bruson and Super St. Bernard (now closed). Les Marécottes is different in the sense that it is the only of the 6 ski resorts which owns itself, all the other were bought by Téléverbier (The operator of Verbier ski lifts).
The ski lifts in the Marécottes-La Creusaz ski area are relatively old, in the summer of 2012, a new detachable chairlift
A detachable chairlift or high-speed chairlift is a type of passenger aerial lift, which, like a fixed-grip chairlift, consists of numerous chairs attached to a constantly moving wire rope (called a ''haul rope'') that is strung between two ...
along with a new platter lift
A surface lift is a type of cable transport for mountain sports in which skiers, snowboarders, or Mountain bike, mountain bikers remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularit ...
will be replacing the two that are currently there.
References
External links
Official website
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Valais
Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland
Cultural property of national significance in Valais