Prättigau

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Prättigau
The Prättigau to the east near Küblis

The Prättigau to the east near Küblis

location canton of Grisons
Waters Landquart
Mountains Silvretta , Rätikon , Verstanclahorn ( 3297  m )
Geographical location 779.12 thousand  /  198306 coordinates: 46 ° 55 '  N , 9 ° 47'  O ; CH1903:  779120  /  198306
Prättigau (Canton of Graubünden)
Prättigau
Type Sohlental
height 576 to  3297  m above sea level M.
length 40 km
particularities Tourism region , Vereina tunnel
Template: Infobox Glacier / Maintenance / Image description missing
Overview
The Klus zum Prättigau, seen from Landquart
The Prättigau near Saas to the west

The Prättigau (previously also written Prätigau , in the highest Alemannic valley dialect Prättigä, Rhaeto-Romanic Partenz ? / I ) is the valley of the Landquart in the Swiss canton of Graubünden and part of the Prättigau / Davos region . Audio file / audio sample

Geography and population

The Prättigau valley extends in a west-east direction over a length of almost 40 km between the valley entrance at the Klus and the Silvretta area near Klosters. The Landquart river, which has its source in the Silvretta region, runs through the valley and flows into the Rhine near the village of the same name. The highest point of the Prättigau is the Verstanclahorn ( 3297  m ), the lowest is in the Klus (576 m). The catchment area of ​​the Landquart is about 610 km².

The northern side of the valley is characterized by the Rätikon mountain range with its striking limestone walls and almost 3000 m high peaks (Schesaplana, Drusenfluh, Sulzfluh) and the transitions into the Austrian Montafon (Vorarlberg). In the west, the Prättigau borders on the Chur Rhine Valley , in the south on the Schanfigg and Davos areas , in the east on the Engadine .

15,128 people live in Prättigau, 87% have a Swiss passport (2017). The official language in all municipalities is German, a Walser , Most Alemannic dialect is spoken. The ruling denomination is evangelical reformed .

Places and traffic

The most important communities in the Prättigau are Klosters-Serneus and Schiers , and Küblis is a traffic hub. The entire length of the valley is opened up by the Rhaetian Railway , the rail connections lead from Klosters over the Wolfgang Pass to Davos and through the Vereina Tunnel, which opened in 1999, into the Engadine . The national road 28 through the valley has been greatly expanded in recent years. Since the Küblis bypass went into operation in June 2016, all localities have been exempt from transit traffic.

Economy and Infrastructure

The economy in the front Prättigau with the communities Seewis , Grüsch and Schiers is characterized by industry and commerce. Klosters-Serneus is a tourist municipality, and a tourist destination was formed together with Davos for marketing purposes . The large ski areas in Davos-Klosters and the smaller areas of Grüsch-Danusa and Fideriser Heuberge are important for winter tourism. The municipality of Luzein with the tourist resorts of Pany and St. Antönien is trying to expand its offer, especially in the area of ​​natural, gentle tourism and maintains a separate tourism organization together with other Prättigau municipalities. The well-known Prättigauer Höhenweg long-distance hiking route runs on the Rätikon side .

In 2015, there were 1566 companies in Prättigau that employed 7299 people. Converted to full-time equivalents, there were 547 jobs in agriculture and forestry, 2,167 in industry and trade, and 2,769 in service companies.

With the facilities of the Flury Foundation (Schiers hospital, retirement and nursing homes) and several medical practices, the Prättigau has a well-developed health care infrastructure. In terms of education, the Protestant Middle School Schiers and the Palottis Education Center in Schiers are worth mentioning.

history

Early days

Based on individual archaeological finds, it is assumed that the Prättigau was inhabited in the Bronze Age. This is certain for the Iron Age , from which the most important find from the early period comes: in Schiers , a settlement has been found near the current rectory that existed in Roman times and into the early Middle Ages .

middle Ages

The development in the Middle Ages has been shaped by various feudal lords since the 12th century (Counts of Kirchberg, Nobles of Aspermont, Barons of Vaz, Bailiffs of Matsch, Counts of Toggenburg, Counts of Montfort, Dukes of Austria). They shared the property with the diocese and the cathedral chapter of Chur and with the St. Jakob monastery , which was founded at the beginning of the 13th century on the site of today's Reformed Church of the monastery . In the late Middle Ages , the German-speaking Walsers settled the higher elevations of the Prättigau from Davos . Their increasing number contributed significantly to the Germanization of the valley, which originally belonged to the Rhaeto-Romanic language area; towards the end of the 16th century the Prättigau was German-speaking. Since it was founded in 1436, the Prättigau courts have belonged to the Ten Courts Union, which was formed in 1450 with the Church of God and in 1471 with the Gray or Upper League of the Three Leagues . Together with the Davos and Schanfigg valleys , the Prättigau fell under the Habsburg hereditary lands at this time .

Modern times

The valley was reformed in the 16th century , and there were numerous disputes with the Catholic Austrians , who saw the Prättigau in league with the opposing French party in the battle for the Graubünden Alpine passes. After the lost battle of Aquasana near Saas in Prättigau , many Prättigau villages and settlements were destroyed by the Austrians in 1622. The following hunger winter in Graubünden hit the Prättigau in particular.

A few years later (1649–1652) the people of Prättigau bought themselves off together with the other courts of the Ten Court Association of Austria. Since then, the federal government has been a full member of the Free State of the Three Leagues , from which Napoleon's mediation act in 1803 resulted in the canton of Graubünden .

In the 17th and 18th centuries, many people from Prättigau were employed as mercenaries in foreign services (mainly in France and Holland, but also in Spain and Italy). The mercenary services was the beginning of the 19th century and was banned from the 1859th During this time, however, numerous Prättigauers emigrated to the neighboring states, to Russia and later to America.

The old valley road through the Prättigau - previously a barely passable mule track - was expanded from 1843 to 1863. In addition, the Landquart was tamed with Wuhr buildings in the second half of the 19th century ; This is how valuable agricultural land emerged, for example in the valley floor between Schiers and Grüsch . The railway line through the Prättigau was opened in 1889 after only one and a half years of construction; from 1890 the route continued from Klosters to Davos .

The valley of the Prättigau, like the neighboring Davos landscape, has a rich dialect literature that has flourished since the 19th century. Well-known representatives were Michael Kuoni and especially Georg Fient .

Municipalities in the Prättigau

media

Local newspapers are the Prättigauer und Herrschäftler , which appears twice a week, and the Klosterser Zeitung / Prättigauer Post (weekly).

literature

  • Otto Clavuot: Prättigau. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Christian Hansemann-Bergamin, Ulrich Senn-Stapfer, Alfred Schneider: The Prättigau . Haupt, Bern 1999, ISBN 3-258-05730-3 .
  • Florian Hitz: princes, bailiffs and communities. Political culture between Habsburg and Graubünden in the 15th to 17th centuries. Verlag Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2012, ISBN 978-3-03919-249-6 .
  • Marietta Kobald-Walli (project leader): Läsiblüescht. Prättigau and Davos dialect texts from 159 years. Edited by the Walser Vereinigung Graubünden. o. O. 2017, ISBN 978-3-909210-05-3 .
  • Stefan Niggli: A valley in transition: the Prättigau from the late 19th to the early 21st century . Regional Association Pro Prättigau, Küblis 2005, ISBN 3-9522754-2-5 .
  • Regional Association Pro Prättigau (Ed.): Prättigau dialect . Verlag AG Buchdruckerei Schiers, Schiers 2014, ISBN 978-3-033-04624-5 . (Dictionary, stories and CD)
  • Mathias Thöny: Prättigau history, told to the youth and the people . Schiers printing house, Schiers 1948.

Web links

Commons : Prättigau  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marietta Kobald-Walli (project leader): Läsiblüescht. Prättigau and Davos dialect texts from 159 years. Edited by the Walser Vereinigung Graubünden. o. O. 2017.