Schiers is a

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 Internati ...

village in the Prättigau and 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 political district Prättigau/Davos Region in the

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. The first concrete girder bridge ever built,

Salginatobel Bridge Salginatobel Bridge is a reinforced concrete arch bridge designed by Swiss civil engineer Robert Maillart. It was constructed across an alpine ravine in the grisonian Prättigau, belonging to the municipality of Schiers, in Switzerland between ...

, is located in Schiers. Designed by Robert Maillart and completed in 1930, in 1991 it was the first concrete bridge to be designated an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

History

Schiers is first mentioned in 1101 A.D. as ''Scieres''.

Geography

Schiers has an area, , of . Of this area, 36.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 44.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (17.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Schiers sub-district of the Prättigau/Davos district on the border with

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 ...

. The highest point is the Drusenfluh at . It is located in the lower Prättigau valley at the mouth of the Schraubach. It is the center of the middle and outer Prättigau valley. It consists of the linear village of Schiers and the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depi ...

of Tersier in the valley and the settlements of Lunden, Fajauna-Stels, Maria-Montagna, Pusserein as well as Schuders on the south slope of the valley. In 1875, the hamlet of Sigg left Schiers for the municipality of Valzeina.

Neighbouring municipalities

Demographics

Schiers has a population (as of ) of . , 12.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 3.2%. Most of the population () speaks German (89.6%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 2.1%) and Italian being third ( 1.6%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 30-Oct-2009 , the gender distribution of the population was 50.2% male and 49.8% female.Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009 The age distribution, , in Schiers is; 339 children or 12.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 421 teenagers or 16.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 289 people or 11.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 405 people or 15.4% are between 30 and 39, 377 people or 14.3% are between 40 and 49, and 262 people or 9.9% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 208 people or 7.9% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 183 people or 6.9% are between 70 and 79, there are 124 people or 4.7% who are between 80 and 89 there are 29 people or 1.1% who are between 90 and 99.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009 In the 2007 federal election, the most popular party was the SVP which received 39.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (32.4%), the SP (20.4%) and the local, small right-wing parties (4.4%). In Schiers about 66.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

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 ar ...

''). Schiers has an unemployment rate of 1%. , there were 130 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 56 businesses involved in this sector. 333 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 constructio ...

and there are 29 businesses in this sector. 850 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 secon ...

, with 87 businesses in this sector. From the , 389 or 14.8% are

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 letter ...

, while 1,755 or 66.6% 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 ...

. Of the rest of the population, there are fewer than five individuals who belong to the

Christian Catholic The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is an Old Catholic denomination in Switzerland. This denomination is part of the Union of Utrecht (Old Catholic). Recent developments In 1871 the Zürich Catholic community planned to build a chu ...

faith; there are 28 individuals (or about 1.06% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church; and there are 58 individuals (or about 2.20% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 135 (or about 5.12% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 36 individuals (or about 1.37% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 149 (or about 5.65% of the population) belong 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 sufficie ...

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 87 individuals (or about 3.30% of the population) did not answer the question. The historical population is given in the following table:

Heritage sites of national significance

The

is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The Salginatobel Bridge is a reinforced concrete

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vau ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

Robert Maillart. It was constructed across an alpine valley in Schiers between 1929 and 1930. In 1991, it was declared an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, the thirteenth such structure and the first concrete bridge so dedicated.Billington, David P. ''The Art of Structural Design: A Swiss Legacy.''

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

. Princeton, USA, 2003. , p.60 As with Maillart's Schwandbach Bridge and

Vessy Bridge Vessy may refer to: People * Robert Vessy (died 1430), English politician and Member of Parliament Places * Vessy, a locality within the municipality of Veyrier in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland See also *Vess * Vessey (disambiguation) *Vesy * ...

, the structure's fame among civil engineers is a consequence of the techniques involved and the elegance of its design rather than its prominent location: it serves a town of under a thousand people. File:Salgina schemat.svg, Salginatobel Bridge File:Salginatobel Bridge mg 4077.jpg, The bridge File:Salginatobel Bridge mg 4055.jpg, Concrete arch under the bridge File:Salginatobel Bridge mg 4065.jpg, View from the bridge into the canyon

Transportation

The municipality has a railway station, , on the Landquart–Davos Platz line. It has regular service to , , , , and .

References

External links

Municipality website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Graubünden Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden