Pfäfers
| Pfäfers | |
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| State : |
 Switzerland
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| Canton : |
 Canton of St. Gallen (SG)
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| Constituency : | Sarganserland |
| BFS no. : | 3294 |
| Postal code : | 7312 Pfäfers 7313 St. Margrethenberg 7314 Vadura 7315 Vättis 7317 Valens 7317 Vasön |
| Coordinates : | 756 863 / 206 293 |
| Height : | 820 m above sea level M. |
| Height range : | 512–3234 m above sea level M. |
| Area : | 128.46 km² |
| Residents: | 1565 (December 31, 2018) |
| Population density : | 12 inhabitants per km² |
| Website: | www.pfaefers.ch |
 View of Pfäfers from Valenserstrasse |
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| Location of the municipality | |
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Pfäfers ( Rhaeto-Romanic ) is a municipality in the canton of St. Gallen in the Sarganserland constituency , above Bad Ragaz .
The localities Pfäfers, Furggels (on the St. Margretenberg), Vadura, Bläs, Valens, Vasön and Vättis belong to the municipality .
Localities
Pfäfers
The Pfäfers fraction includes the village of Pfäfers itself and the hamlets of St. Margretenberg and Vadura. Pfäfers lies at about 800 m above sea level at the entrance to the Tamina valley . It has around 600 inhabitants.
The most important employer with around 500 employees is the St. Pirminsberg Clinic for psychiatry, psychotherapy and addiction treatment. Mentally ill people from the southern part of the Canton of St. Gallen and the Principality of Liechtenstein are treated here. The St. Pirminsberg Clinic has 143 beds. In addition, agriculture, forestry and small businesses also offer numerous jobs.
The headquarters and the Mapragg compensation basin of Kraftwerke Sarganserland AG are located in Vadura. The pumped storage power plant produces an average of 444 million kWh of electrical energy annually.
The former monastery church , which was built in 1694 in the baroque style, is worth seeing . Pfäfers is also the starting point for the hike into the Tamina Gorge and to the old Bad Pfäfers . The high valley of St. Margretenberg, which can also be reached by post bus, is also suitable for hiking. In winter the Tristeli ski lift and the cross-country ski run are in operation.
Attractions
- Wartenstein ruins
- Old Bad Pfäfers with Paracelsusmuseum and bath museum
- Bad Pfäfers thermal baths
- Tamina Gorge
- Natural bridge
- former fortress of Furggels
Vattis
Vättis is located in the Tamina valley, at approx. 940 m above sea level. It has around 460 inhabitants. The most important economic sectors are agriculture, forestry and trade.
One of the sights is the Dragon Hole Museum, in which finds from this prehistoric site are exhibited. The valley station of the cable car after the Vättnerberg is in Gaspus. From there, mountain hikes are possible.
The Calfeisental behind Vättis is also a popular hiking area. The Gigerwald reservoir owned by Kraftwerke Sarganserland AG, with a 147 m high dam, and the former Walser settlement of St. Martin are well worth seeing .
Attractions
- Dragon hole; highest prehistoric site
- Dragon Hole Museum
- Walser settlement St. Martin
- Walserhaus on Alp Ebni
- Nature reserve Calfeisental and hunting ban area Graue Hörner
- Glarus thrust ; UNESCO World Natural Heritage
- Gnapperkopf silver mine
Valens
Valens is located in the Tamina valley, approx. 920 m above sea level. Together with the Balen-Gassaura area, it has around 400 inhabitants.
The most important employer is the Valens Clinic. She specializes in rheumatology and neurology. The treatments are supported by therapies in the medicinal thermal water from the Pfäfers thermal baths. The thermal bath is also open to the public.
In addition, agriculture, forestry and small businesses also offer numerous jobs.
Valens is the starting point for various mountain hikes. One of the routes leads into the Tamina Gorge and the old Bad Pfäfers.
Vason
Vasön is in the Tamina valley . The village belongs to the political community of Pfäfers (SG), but forms its own local community. It is about 920 m above sea level. It has about 85 inhabitants. The village of Vasön has around 65 inhabitants, the other 20 are in the 2 surrounding hamlets, Langwies and Tschenner . The most important branches of industry are: agriculture (7 companies: 4 fattening and rearing farms, 2 sheep farms, 1 rearing farm), forestry (1), carpentry (1), retail trade (1), carving (1), weaving (1) and gastronomy ( 1). Vasön is the starting point for various mountain hikes.
coat of arms
According to a legend, St. Pirmin wanted to found a monastery in the Landquart area. As the workers felled the trees, one of them hit his leg unhappy. While the monks were tending to the injured, a snow-white pigeon suddenly fluttered up, picked up a blood-splattered piece of wood and flew away. The monks followed her and found her again in Tamina valley , where she had perched on a tree. Saint Pirmin saw this as a sign of God and decided to build the monastery at this point where today's Pfäfers is.
This story is depicted in the ceiling paintings in the custodian of the Pfäfers monastery church.
history
The Tamina valley can look back on a long history of settlement. In the Drachenloch ob Vättis stone tools from cave dwellers and bear bones were found, which are believed to be around 50,000 years old. Some of the finds are exhibited in the Vättis local museum. Pfäfers gained importance through the establishment of the Benedictine monastery in the first half of the 8th century. It existed for over 1000 years and was disbanded in 1838. The monastery buildings have been used as a psychiatric clinic since 1847.
In the 14th century, the Walsers settled in the Calfeisental . You can still visit the St. Martin settlement and the Walserhaus on Alp Ebni today .
The thermal spring in the Tamina Gorge was discovered around 1240. The sick, who bathed in the medicinal water, were lowered into the narrow gorge on ropes. In 1630 a bathhouse was built at the exit of the gorge, which was expanded in the 18th century. In 1840 the road to Ragaz was built, and as a result the spa business increasingly relocated there. Today, Bad Pfäfers, the oldest baroque bath building in Switzerland, houses a restaurant and a museum.
Two important milestones of the 20th century in economic terms were the opening of the Valens Clinic in 1970 and the Sarganserland power plants in 1975. The Sarganserland AG power plants operate a pumped storage power plant, which includes the Gigerwald reservoir and the equalization basin and headquarters in Mapragg. Both companies are important employers for the community's population.
population
| Population development | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | 1831 | 1850 | 1900 | 1950 | 1980 | 2000 | 2010 | |
| Residents | 1634 | 1315 | 1510 | 1900 | 1814 | 1754 | 1571 | |
Attractions
economy
Healthcare
The largest employers in the municipality are the two clinics: the St. Pirminsberg Clinic (Psychiatry Services South) in Pfäfers and the Valens Clinic (rehabilitation center) in Valens.
tourism
The landmark of Pfäfers is the baroque former monastery church, which was built at the end of the 17th century. From Pfäfers it goes up into the high valley of St. Margretenberg, to the Pizalun viewpoint or further over the Alp Salaz towards Calanda. It goes down over the natural bridge into the Tamina Gorge and to the warm spring.
The rugged Calfeisental can be reached from Vättis. A cable car leads to the Vättnerberg. From there, Drachenloch can be reached, which was already inhabited in the Stone Age.
From Valens you can also descend into the Tamina Gorge and visit the old bath house with the museum and the Paracelsus memorial.
Those who visit the Tamina Valley in winter will find a ski lift and groomed slopes on the St. Margretenberg. From the terrace of the restaurant at the mountain station you have a view of the Rhine Valley and the Grisons mountains. Cross-country skiing is possible both on the St. Margretenberg and in Vättis.
traffic
Pfäfers and Valens are independently connected to Bad Ragaz by roads. There is also a road from Pfäfers to Vättis. Postbuses from Bad Ragaz drove on both roads until the Tamina Bridge was opened . With the opening of the Tamina Bridge and thus the direct connection from Pfäfers to Valens, the two PostBus courses were merged to form a Bad Ragaz-Pfäfers-Valens-Vasön-Vättis route.
In 2010, a road bridge between Valens and Pfäfers was planned, as a rehabilitation of the road between Bad Ragaz and Valens would be uneconomical due to the unstable slide area along the road. The project was approved by the Cantonal Council in February 2012, and construction of the Tamina Bridge began in March 2013 . This was put into operation in 2017 in order to continue to guarantee a safe access to Valens.
From 1892 to 1964, Pfäfers could be reached with the Ragaz-Wartenstein cable car in summer .
education
There are three kindergartens, three primary schools and an upper school center in the Pfäfers community. There is a kindergarten and a primary school each in Pfäfers, Vättis and Valens. The secondary school or the Realschule is attended by the students in Pfäfers.
Personalities
- Robert Mader (born July 21, 1847 in Pfäfers, † April 27, 1936 in St. Gallen), hotelier and patron
- August Cramer (born November 10, 1860 in Pfäfers, † September 5, 1912 in Göttingen), German psychiatrist and university professor
literature
- Erwin Rothenhäusler, Dora Fanny Rittmeyer, Benedikt Frei: The Art Monuments of the Canton of St. Gallen, Volume I: Sargans District. (= Art Monuments of Switzerland. Volume 25). Edited by the Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 1951. DNB 750089172 .
- Fritz Lendi : Blessed Waters. A description. Walter Loepthien, Meiringen / Stuttgart 1954.
- Collection of Swiss Legal Sources, XIV. Department: The Legal Sources of the Canton of St. Gallen, Part Three: The Landscapes and Country Cities, Volume 2: The Legal Sources of the Sarganserland by Sibylle Malamud and Pascale Sutter, Basel 2013 [1] .
Web links
- Official website of the Pfäfers community
- Website of the village of Vättis
- Franz Xaver Bishop: Pfäfers (community). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
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 .