Brig-Glis

Brig-Glis

State :	Switzerland Switzerland
Canton :	Canton of Valais Valais (VS)
District :	Brigw
BFS no. :	6002i1 f3 f4
Postal code :	3900
UN / LOCODE :	CH BRI (Brig)
Coordinates :	642 260 / 129562 coordinates: 46 ° 18 '58 " N , 7 ° 59' 14" O ; CH1903: 642,260 / 12956246.316136 7.98729 691
Height :	691 m above sea level M.
Height range :	650–2736 m above sea level M.
Area :	37.66 km²
Residents:	i13,058 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	347 inhabitants per km²
City President :	Louis origin
Website:	www.brig-glis.ch
The communities of Brig-Glis and Naters in front of the Glishorn
Location of the municipality
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Brig-Glis is a political municipality and a civic community with a civic council in the Swiss canton of Valais and the capital of the Brig district as well as a parish of the Brig dean's office . The municipality forms the economic center of the German-speaking Upper Valais and was Alpine City of the Year 2008.

geography

Aerial photo (1949)

Brig-Glis lies between the southern Bernese Alps and the northern Valais Alps at the confluence of the Saltina with the Rhone . The municipal area extends from the valley ( 678 m above sea level. M. ) up to the Weissmies group belonging Spitzhorli ( 2737 m above sea level. M. ), the west-northwest to the Simplon Pass rises.

As part of Europastraße 62 , main road 9 , which has been developed in sections as Autobahn 9 , runs through Brig-Glis, going south from the municipality up to the Simplon Pass and then on to Italy. Main road 19 branches off from this road in the western area of the municipality and runs northeast over the Furka Pass into the Rhine valley in the canton of Graubünden .

The Glacier Express route ( St. Moritz - Zermatt ) leads through Brig-Glis and the Simplon tunnel from the train station in the direction of Italy .

Brig-Glis consists of Brig , Glis (with the hamlet of Gamsen ) and Brigerbad . The neighboring communities in the Brig district are Naters , Termen , Ried-Brig and Simplon and in the Visp district Lalden , Visp and Visperterminen . With the first three of these communities, it is an agglomeration of around 30,000 inhabitants.

history

The community of Brig-Glis was created on January 1, 1973 from the merger of the former communities of Brig, Glis (with the hamlet of Gamsen) and Brigerbad. Since then, her face has developed significantly thanks to the brisk construction activity, especially in the Glis district.

As early as the Middle Ages, the Saltina had regular floods, which repeatedly led to devastating floods. The last time the Saltina overflowed its banks in 1993, when the enormous amounts of water built up on the Saltina Bridge and flooded the city center up to the train station. The attachments towered up to 3 m high at the train station. The problem was alleviated in 1997 with the commissioning of a lift bridge. The system proved itself during the floods in 2000.

politics

Since the merger in 1973, the council has consisted of eleven members. The number of seats was taken over from the former municipality of Brig. Following the local council elections in 2004, the council was reduced to seven members.

In the current legislative period (2012-2016) the following parties are represented in the municipal council: CSPO (1 seat), CVP (1 seat), FDP (1 seat), SP (1 seat) and SVP / Free Voters (3 seats).

In the Swiss parliamentary elections in 2019, the share of the vote in Brig-Glis was: CVP ( incl.CSPO ) 44.5%, SVP 32.8%, SP 10.0%, Greens 6.8%, FDP 3.9%, glp 1 ,8th %.

coat of arms

Description : A goldgebordetes red shield with three pole made golden six-pointed stars as a shield is located on a rotbewehrten and -gekrönten black eagle on a red arrow with tail in the golden shield.

population

Population development
year	1980	1990	2000	2010	2012	2014	2016
Residents	9608	10602	11590	12467	12728	12935	13158

economy

Brig-Glis is the center of the German-speaking part of Upper Valais. The village of Brig at that time received this role through the construction of the Simplon Tunnel , which was inaugurated in 1906 as a connection to the European rail network. Brig thus became a focal point for service companies, from freight forwarding at the beginning of the 20th century to the SBB's "virtual train station" in today's Brig-Glis , a call center from which information and tickets are issued worldwide via electronic communication channels become.

Around 80% of the population work in the service sector. The industry consists of just one larger operation, the Société Suisse des Explosifs (SSE) domiciled in Gamsen , a former explosives factory that is now a diversified chemical company.

Culture and sights

The Stockalper Castle, Brig's landmark

Important facilities are the Keller-Theater, the Zeughaus Kultur, the knight's hall in the Stockalper Palace and the Grünwaldsaal in the Valais media library . Events are also regularly staged in the Simplonhalle (congress center).

Twin cities

Domodossola

In 2006, both cities honored the centenary of what used to be the longest railway tunnel in the world. For this purpose an organizing committee was set up under the patronage of the two city councils, which accompanied the celebration with a number of activities. One of them is the town twinning of Brig-Glis and Domodossola , which allows an old connection to flourish again. Today a year-round open Simplon Pass and the train connection through the Simplon Tunnel ensure cross-border traffic.

Langenthal

A town partnership has existed with the town of Langenthal in the Bernese Oberaargau since summer 2001. Although Langenthal, in contrast to Brig-Glis, is an industrial city, there are a number of similarities: On the one hand, both form a regional center, on the other hand, water plays a major role in both cities. Both cities can also boast a remarkable carnival tradition.

San Jerónimo Norte

From 1858, many people from Upper Valais emigrated to Argentina , where they were assigned arable land in the province of Santa Fe. From this the colony of San Jerónimo Norte developed with 7500 inhabitants, who mainly descended from immigrants from Upper Valais. They never completely lost their connection to their old homeland and the German language. Since 1991 the contacts have intensified through mutual visits until a partnership was signed with the municipality of Brig-Glis in 2015. In addition, three of the first five families to emigrate to Argentina were from Brig and the surrounding area. During their visit, the delegation from the city council brought a replica of the medieval Madonna statue in the Glis Church to Argentina, which is supposed to symbolize the solidarity across the Atlantic. Just one year later, in 2016, a team from FC Brig-Glis took part in an inter-American tournament in San Jerónimo Norte in order to maintain the partnership on the sporting level.

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the church

Hans Loretan (1920–2008), sculptor
Paul Schmidhalter (1931–2005), politician, President of the National Council
Iwar Werlen (* 1947), linguist and university professor
Peter Bodenmann (* 1952), politician and entrepreneur
Viola Amherd (* 1962), politician (CVP), 2000–2012 President Brig-Glis, 2005–2018 National Councilor, since 2019 Federal Councilor
Silvan Zurbriggen (* 1981), ski racer
Nicolas Eyer (* 1986), writer

People related to Brig-Glis

Josef Escher (1885–1954), politician and federal councilor buried in Glis
Hieronymus Lochmatter (1916–1993), lived and died in Brig-Glis, conductor and composer
Josef Zimmermann (1939–2018), Matura at the College Spiritus Sanctus Brig, Roman Catholic clergyman
Aldo Zenhäusern (1951–2012), died in Brig-Glis, national ice hockey player
Esther Waeber-Kalbermatten (* 1952), Matura at the College Spiritus Sanctus Brig, politician, State Councilor for the Canton of Valais
Kurt Marti (* 1960), lives and works in Brig-Glis, journalist

literature

Editor: Brig-Glis. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2002 .

Web links

Commons : Brig-Glis - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Brig-Glis on the ETHorama platform
Official website of the municipality of Brig-Glis
Brig-Glis citizenship

Individual evidence

↑ Permanent and non-permanent resident population by year, canton, district, municipality, population type and gender (permanent resident population). In: bfs. admin.ch . Federal Statistical Office (FSO), August 31, 2019, accessed on December 22, 2019 .
^ Federal Statistical Office : NR - Results parties (municipalities) (INT1). In: Federal Elections 2019 | opendata.swiss. August 8, 2019, accessed August 1, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c City of Brig-Glis: City of Brig-Glis - town twinning. Retrieved December 12, 2017 .

[1] Permanent and non-permanent resident population by year, canton, district, municipality, population type and gender (permanent resident population). In: bfs. admin.ch . Federal Statistical Office (FSO), August 31, 2019, accessed on December 22, 2019 .

[2] Federal Statistical Office : NR - Results parties (municipalities) (INT1). In: Federal Elections 2019 | opendata.swiss. August 8, 2019, accessed August 1, 2020 .

[:0-3] City of Brig-Glis: City of Brig-Glis - town twinning. Retrieved December 12, 2017 .