Sils im Engadin/Segl (; Romansh ), often also as ''Sils i.E./Segl'', 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' ...

and village in the

Maloja Region Maloja Region is one of the eleven Districts of Switzerland, administrative districts in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Grisons in Switzerland. It has an area of and a population of (as of ). It was created on 1 January 2017 as part of a ...

, Upper Engadine 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 the

Grisons The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; *Romansh language, Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...

. It consists of two villages, Segl Maria (Romansh, ; ''Seglias'' is part of Segl Maria) and Segl Baselgia (German: ''Sils Baselgia''; ''Baselgia'' is Romansh for church); the Val Fex (German: ''Fextal''); and three ''Maiensäss''e (Alpine pastures traditionally used for spring grazing): Grevasalvas, Blaunca and Buaira, above ''Plaun da Lej'' on the left side of the valley.

Name and coat of arms

The municipality's official label uses both the

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 ...

and the Romansh versions of its name: ''Segl'' is the Romansh version while ''Sils im Engadin'' is the German.

Engadin The Engadin or Engadine (;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna'' ...

is Romansh for "Valley of the Inn ()", the river, which flows northeast from Maloja through Sils Baselgia and eventually into the Danube at Passau, Germany at the German-Austrian border. Sils i.E is distinguished from Sils im Domleschg in another Swiss watershed. Sils was originally divided into the three hamlets of Segl Baselgia, Segl Maria, and Seglias. The coat of arms is ''Per fess Azure a Sun radiated Or'' and ''Or a Trout Azure spotted Gules''. It shows a blue upper half with a golden sun and a yellow lower section with a blue trout. It is a combination of the historical village coats of arms, and represents the municipality's sunny, elevated location and the fish-filled

Lake Sils Lake Sils (German ''Silsersee'', Romansh: ''Lej da Segl'') is a lake in the Upper Engadine valley, Grisons, Switzerland. It takes its name from the village of Sils im Engadin. Geography The lake lies at an altitude of 1,797 metres above sea ...

History

Sils im Engadin/Segl is first mentioned around 800–850 as ''Silles''. In 1131 it was mentioned as ''Sillis''. Four little

votive A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

altars from

Roman 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times, found in Segl Baselgia, suggest that there was a sanctuary on the Roman trade route leading over the

Maloja Pass Maloja Pass ( Italian: ''Passo del Maloja'', German: ''Malojapass'') (1815m a.s.l.) is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps in the canton of Graubünden, linking the Engadine with the Val Bregaglia, still in Switzerland and Chiavenna in ...

and the Julier Pass. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, Sils/Segl was a reloading point on this route. Remains of a medieval castle are located on the ''Chastè'' peninsula in Lake Sils. In the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

, fishing was a major source of income: Salted and smoked

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

were exported to Italy. In the 19th century, numerous citizens of Sils/Segl emigrated; some of them returned wealthy and brought prosperity to the village. In the second half of the 19th century and in the 20th century, tourism became more and more important to Sils/Segl.

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

spent the summers here from 1881 to 1888. The house in which he lived has been a museum since 1960: the Nietzsche-Haus. The Waldhaus hotel was opened in 1908; among its guests were numerous artists, musicians, writers and philosophers. With the opening of the

Aerial tramway An aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, cable car or aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, ropeway, téléphérique (French), or Seilbahn (German) is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary cables for support, with a third movin ...

to Furtschellas in 1972, Sils/Segl also became a winter resort.

Geography

Located in the valley of Upper Engadine, Sils i.E./Segl nestles between

and Lake Silvaplana at the foot of

Piz Corvatsch Piz Corvatsch () is a mountain in the Bernina Range of the Alps, overlooking Lake Sils and Lake Silvaplana in the Engadin region of the canton of Grisons. With an elevation of , it is the highest point on the range separating the main Inn val ...

and Piz da la Margna and below the Val Fex, a valley in the south. The municipality belongs to the Maloja District. Sils im Engadin/Segl has an area (as of the 2004/09 survey) of . About 25.9% is agricultural, while 11.1% is forested. Of the rest, 1.2% is developed (buildings or roads) and 61.7% is unproductive. In the 2004/09 survey, , or about 0.6% of the total area, was covered with buildings, an increase of from 1985. Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space increased by and is now about 0.16% of the total area. Of the agricultural land, are fields and grasslands, and are alpine grazing areas. Since 1985, the agricultural land has decreased by and the forested land increased by . Rivers and lakes cover .Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Regional portraits
accessed 27 October 2016 The plain is grass-covered, and the steep slopes are heavily forested.

Demographics

Sils im Engadin/Segl has a population () of . , 38.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. In 2015, 144 people or 18.9% of the population were born in Portugal, 42 or 5.5% of the population were born in Germany and 63 or 8.3% of the population were born in Italy. Over the last 4 years (2010–2014) the population has changed at a rate of 2.13%. The

birth rate Birth rate, also known as natality, is the total number of live childbirth, human births per 1,000 population for a given period divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registr ...

in the municipality, in 2014, was 15.7, while the

death rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of d ...

was 1.3 per thousand residents. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 17.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) are 65.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.8%. In 2015 there were 299 single residents, 381 people who were married or in a civil partnership, 37 widows or widowers and 44 divorced residents. In 2014 there were 401 private households in Sils im Engadin/Segl with an average household size of 1.91 persons. Of the 253 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 34.8% were single family homes and 36.0% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 32.0% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 7.5% were built between 1991 and 2000.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Thema 09 – Bau- und Wohnungswesen
accessed 5 May 2016 In 2013 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 26.46. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.2%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:40 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:219 text:"219" bar:1860 from:start till:215 text:"215" bar:1870 from:start till:235 text:"235" bar:1880 from:start till:210 text:"210" bar:1888 from:start till:194 text:"194" bar:1900 from:start till:178 text:"178" bar:1910 from:start till:249 text:"249" bar:1920 from:start till:295 text:"295" bar:1930 from:start till:359 text:"359" bar:1941 from:start till:270 text:"270" bar:1950 from:start till:262 text:"262" bar:1960 from:start till:298 text:"298" bar:1970 from:start till:403 text:"403" bar:1980 from:start till:434 text:"434" bar:1990 from:start till:498 text:"498" bar:2000 from:start till:751 text:"751" bar:2010 from:start till:754 text:"754" bar:2014 from:start till:768 text:"768"

Languages

Most of the population () speaks German (59.4%), with Italian being second most common (15.4%) and Romansh being third (12.0%). Into the 19th century, the entire population spoke the Upper-

Romansh dialect of Putèr. Due to increasing trade with the outside world, Romansh usage began to decline. In 1880 about 68% spoke Romansh as a first language, while in 1910 it was only 56% and in 1941 it increased to 61.5%. In the 1960s German became the majority language. However, in 2000 there were 33% of the population who at least understood Romansh.

Politics

In the 2015 federal election the most popular party was the FDP with 28.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the BDP (24.0%), the SVP (18.5%) and the SP (16.9%). In the federal election, a total of 169 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 40.6%. In the 2007, federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 34.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (29.3%), the FDP (26.6%) and the CVP (7.2%).

Education

In Sils im Engadin/Segl, about 70.6% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education 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 ...

'').

Economy

Sils im Engadin/Segl is classed as a tourist community. , there were a total of 955 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 24 people worked in 8 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 132 workers in 18 separate businesses, of which 5 were small businesses with a total of 94 employees. Finally, 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 ...

provided 799 jobs in 85 businesses. There were 14 small businesses with a total of 338 employees and two mid sized businesses with a total of 201 employees. In 2014 a total of 26.5% of the population received social assistance. In the second quarter of 2016 an average of 251 workers commuted from outside Switzerland to work in the municipality, representing a large minority of the employees. In 2015 local hotels had a total of 196,257 overnight stays, of which 37.6% were international visitors.

Transportation

The Fex Valley is officially car-free except for residents of the valley. The Furtschellas cable car begins near the village and leads to many ski runs and, in summer, to trails above the

tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

Climate

Sils-Segl Maria features a cold subarctic climate (''Dfc'') on Köppen classification.

Notable residents and visitors

Philosopher

summered in Sils in 1881 and between 1883 and 1888, and the house he lived in – the Nietzsche-Haus – is now a small museum.

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...

was in Sils for several vacations, and

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

also visited Sils. Annemarie Schwarzenbach lived in Sils since 1935 and died there in 1942 after a bicycle accident.

In popular culture

The area is the setting for much of the film '' Clouds of Sils Maria'' (2014), written and directed by

Olivier Assayas Olivier Assayas (; born 25 January 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. Assayas is known for his eclectic filmography, consisting of slow-burning Period Piece Films, period pieces, psychological thrillers, neo-noirs, an ...

, and starring

Juliette Binoche Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than 60 films, particularly in French and English, and has been the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Juliette Binoche, numerous accolades, ...

Kristen Stewart Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe ...

and

Chloë Grace Moretz Chloë Grace Moretz (; born February 10, 1997) is an American actress. She began acting as a child, with early roles in the horror film ''The Amityville Horror (2005 film), The Amityville Horror'' (2005), the drama series ''Desperate Housewives' ...

. Part of '' Coda'' (2019), starring Patrick Stewart, was also filmed there, in the countryside and at the Waldhaus Sils Hotel.

References

External links

Official website of the tourist officeOfficial website of the municipalityWebsite for the Corvatsch-Furtschellas lift system (in German)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sils Im Engadin Segl Populated places on the Inn (river) Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland