Windisch 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 district of

Brugg Brugg (sometimes written as Brugg AG in order to distinguish it from other ''Brugg''s) is a Switzerland, Swiss Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a List of towns in Switzerland, town in the canton of Aargau and is the seat of the Bru ...

in the

canton 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 It ...

Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...

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 ...

Etymology

Windisch is situated at the site of the Roman legion camp

Vindonissa Vindonissa (from a Gaulish toponym in *''windo-'' "white") was a Roman legion camp, vicus and later a bishop's seat at modern Windisch, Switzerland. The remains of the camp are listed as a heritage site of national significance. The city of B ...

. Originally 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 ...

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

, the name ''Vindos'' points to a widespread prehistorical cult of Vindos and the most likely origin of the ''Windisch'' place name. In 1064 the current municipality was mentioned as ''Vinse'', and in 1175 as ''Vindisse''. Until the 19th Century the official name was ''Windisch und Oberburg''.

History

Windisch grew into a regional power following the foundation of Königsfelden Abbey in 1309 in memory of the

regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...

of King

Albert I of Germany Albert I of Habsburg () (July 12551 May 1308) was a List of rulers of Austria, Duke of Austria and Duchy of Styria, Styria from 1282 and List of German monarchs, King of Germany from 1298 until his assassination. He was the eldest son of King Ru ...

in the previous year. Albert was on the way to suppress a revolt in

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

when he was murdered on May 1, 1308, near Windisch on the

Reuss Reuss may refer to: *Reuss (surname) * Reuss (river) in Switzerland * Imperial County of Reuss or Reuß, several former states or countries in present-day Germany, and the People's State of Reuss * Principality of Reuss-Greiz and Principality of R ...

, by his nephew John of Swabi, afterwards called "the Parricide" or "John Parricida", whom he had deprived of his inheritance. After the foundation of the Abbey, the village was placed under the authority of the Abbey. Starting in 1348 the rights to high and low justice were held by Agnes of Hungary, a daughter of Albert I. In 1411 those rights transferred back to the monastery. The abbey church, possibly in antiquity under the patronage of St. Martin but 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 ...

under the patronage of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

, is built on the site of the 6th Century

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

's church. The present building, with a late-Romanesque

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and Gothic

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

, was built between 1310-30. The church's

charnel house A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves. The term can also be used more generally as a description of a plac ...

was rebuilt in 1793 into a schoolhouse. After the conquest of the Aargau by

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 ...

and the introduction of the

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

(1528) the monastery was suppressed. Until 1798 it served as the residence of the Bernese

bailiff A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...

s (). People from Windisch worked in the bailiff's residence as servants, maids and workmen, while the poor came to the former abbey for alms. The main sources of income in Windisch included handicrafting, ferries, fisheries, shipping, tavern and iron ore mining in Lindhof, but agriculture was the major contributor. There was a ferry over the Reuss on the Bern-Zurich road. This was replaced in 1799 by a bridge. Plague epidemics (in 1667 60% of the population died of the plague) and the restrictive immigration policies of the municipality prevented growth. However, during the 18th Century, the emergence of new occupations, led to a significant population increase. These new industries included cap and stocking weaving, and water powered light industry (including plaster and flour mills). At the same time improved agriculture techniques allowed more food to be produced from the fields. The nearest neighbor to Windisch was the town of

. The close proximity led to centuries of conflicts over grazing rights, city monopolies, taxation and especially the location of the municipal boundary. In 1863, due to a border adjustment, Windisch lost to Brugg. In the 19th Century the economy of the village changed. In 1825 Henry Kunz founded the

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven ...

''Kunz'' which had 567 employees in 1846. They built factory workers' homes and a village school. In 1804 part of Königsfelden Abbey converted into a District Hospital. In 1872 a new building was built and since 1887 it has been a psychiatric clinic. The construction of the railway network transformed Brugg and Windisch into a railroad hub with a large depot and repair shop (primarily for steam locomotives). These innovations resulted in the influx of factory workers, nurses and trained staff. This led to a restructuring of the population: for example, the locally born and working population fell from 88% (1815), 55% (1837) and 21% (1900) to 4% (1970), while the proportion of Catholics rose from 9% (1850) to 45% (1970). Agriculture employs only 0.6% of the population (1990). In 1965, a Higher Technical School of Windisch (now a university) opened. The changing population structure led to political shifts in favor of the Social Democratic Party (SP) (1921-49 was known as the period of the "red Windisch"). With a pronounced emphasis on political independence, Windisch grew together structurally and economically with Brugg.

Geography

Windisch has an area, , of . Of this area, or 23.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 24.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 45.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 6.3% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 5.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 21.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.8% uof the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 7.1%. 22.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 13.8% is used for growing crops and 6.9% is pastures, while 2.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located in the Brugg district, between the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to i ...

and

s in the region known as the ''Wasserschloss''. It consists of the former

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)= ...

s of Windisch and Oberburg as well as the

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 ...

of Fahrgut, Schürhof, Lindhof and Bachtalen and the region around the former Königsfelden Abbey.

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 ''Or on a Sevenfold Mount Vert a Castle embattled Sable towered on dexter and to its sinister a Lion rampant Gules.'' The coat of arms represents the nearby

Habsburg Castle Habsburg Castle (, ) is a medieval Swiss fortress located in what is now Habsburg, Switzerland, in the canton of Aargau, near the Aar River. At the time of its construction, the location was part of the Duchy of Swabia. Habsburg Castle is th ...

and the lion of the

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...

upon the verdant fields of the parish.

Demographics

Windisch has a population () of , 29.1% of the population are foreign nationals.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bereich 01 -Bevölkerung
accessed 20 January 2010 Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 4.5%. Most of the population () speaks German (80.6%), with Italian being second most common ( 4.9%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 3.2%).
accessed 12-April-2010 The age distribution, , in Windisch is; 732 children or 11.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 783 teenagers or 11.8% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 837 people or 12.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 888 people or 13.3% are between 30 and 39, 1,017 people or 15.3% are between 40 and 49, and 826 people or 12.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 693 people or 10.4% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 525 people or 7.9% are between 70 and 79, there are 302 people or 4.5% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 55 people or 0.8% who are 90 and older.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bevölkerungsdaten für den Kanton Aargau und die Gemeinden (Archiv)
accessed 20 January 2010 , there were 316 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 1,576 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 774 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. The average number of people per household was 2.29 individuals. , there were 2,726 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. there were 763 single family homes (or 24.9% of the total) out of a total of 3,066 homes and apartments.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau
accessed 20 January 2010 There were a total of 16 empty apartments for a 0.5% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.6 new units per 1000 residents. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 32.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (23%), the CVP (12.6%) and the FDP (10.7%). In Windisch about 61.8% 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 ...

''). Of the school age population (), there are 579 students attending

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, there are 316 students attending secondary school, there are 302 students attending tertiary or university level schooling in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following table:

Heritage sites of national significance

There are five sites in Windisch that are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The oldest is the

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 ...

military fort and settlement of Vindonissa. The other large site is the church of the former Königsfelden Abbey with its glass paintings of 1325, Agnes chapel, comptrollery and convent building. The other three are the former Upper Technical School at Klosterzelgstrasse, the former cotton mill ''Kunz'' at Alte Spinnerei 4,5 and the psychiatric clinic of Königsfelden.Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance
21.11.2008 version, accessed 12-Apr-2010 The city hosts a small Roman museum, displaying finds from the military fort of Vindonissa. File:Amphitheater of Vindonissa.jpg, Roman amphitheater of Vindonissa File:Königsfelden05.jpg, Church of Königsfelden Abbey File:Koenigsfelden 04.jpg, Interior of Königsfelden Abbey Church File:Windisch Villa.jpg, Villa near the ''Kunz'' cotton mill File:Vindonissa 01.jpg, Psychiatric clinic of Königsfelden

Economy

, Windisch had an unemployment rate of 2.52%. , there were 20 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector. 353 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 46 businesses in this sector. 2,308 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 195 businesses in this sector. there was a total of 3,181 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 2,446 or about 76.9% of the residents worked outside Windisch while 1,765 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 2,500 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau-Bereich 11 Verkehr und Nachrichtenwesen
accessed 21 January 2010 Of the working population, 20.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 39% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 2,288 or 34.4% 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 2,252 or 33.9% 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 5 individuals (or about 0.08% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic faith.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau - Aargauer Zahlen 2009
accessed 20 January 2010

References and notes

Notes

Citations

Secondary sources

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of Aargau Cultural property of national significance in Aargau