Chur


Chur is the capital and largest town of the Swiss canton of the Grisons and lies in the Grisonian Rhine Valley, where the Rhine turns towards the north, in the northern part of the canton. The city, on the right bank of the Rhine, is reputedly the oldest town in Switzerland.
The official language of Chur is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of Alemannic, known as Grisonian German. Romansh and Italian are significantly spoken in the city as a result of the trilingual identity of the canton.
On 1 January 2020 the former municipality of Maladers merged into Chur and on 1 January 2021 Haldenstein also merged. On 1 January 2025 the former municipality of Tschiertschen-Praden merged into Chur.

History

Archaeological evidence of settlement at the site, in the Eastern Alps, goes back as far as the Pfyn culture, making Chur one of the oldest settlements in Switzerland. Remains and objects from the Bronze and Iron Ages have also been found in the eastern sector of the centre of the current city. These include Bronze-Age Urnfield and Laugen-Melaun settlements from 1300 to 800 BC and Iron-Age settlements from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC.
The Roman Empire conquered the area that then came to be known as the Roman province of Raetia in 15 BC. Under emperor Diocletian, the existing settlement of Curia Raetorum was made the capital of the newly established province of Raetia prima.
In the 4th century Chur became the seat of the first Christian bishopric north of the Alps. Despite a legend assigning its foundation to an alleged British king, St. Lucius, the first known bishop is one in AD 451. The bishop soon acquired great temporal powers, especially after 831 when his dominions were made dependent on the Empire alone.
After the invasion of the Ostrogoths it may have been renamed Theodoricopolis; in the 6th century it was conquered by the Franks. The city suffered several invasions, by the Magyars in 925–926, when the cathedral was destroyed, and by the Saracens, but afterwards it flourished thanks to its location where the roads from several major Alpine transit routes come together and continue down the Rhine. The routes had already been used under the Romans but acquired greater importance under the Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Otto I granted the town the right to collect tolls in 952 and appointed his vassal Hartpert as bishop of Chur in 958, giving the bishopric further privileges. In 1170 the bishop became a prince-bishop and kept total control over the road between Chur and Chiavenna.
In the 13th century the town had some 1,300 inhabitants and was surrounded by a line of walls. In the 14th century at least six fires damaged or destroyed the monasteries of and and and twice destroyed much of the town. The Gotteshausbund was formed in 1367 in Chur to resist the rising power of the Bishopric of Chur and the House of Habsburg. Chur was the chief town of the League and one of the places the League's assemblies met regularly. A burgomaster of Chur is first mentioned in 1413. The bishop's residence was attacked by the inhabitants in 1418 and 1422, when a series of concessions were wrung out of him.
On 27 April 1464 most of the town was destroyed in a fire, which only the bishop's estates and St. Luzi monastery survived. With the bishop's power waning as he came increasingly under the influence of the nearby Habsburg County of Tyrol, the citizens sent a delegation to Emperor Frederick III. The Emperor reconfirmed the historic rights of Chur and also granted them extensive new rights which freed the city from the bishop's power. In 1465 the citizens wrote a constitution that granted all governmental power to Chur's guilds. All government positions were restricted to guild members, allowing the guilds to regulate all aspects of life in Chur. Since guild membership had become the only route to political power, local patricians and nobles quickly became guild members, often joining the winemakers guild.
The Chur-led League of the House of God allied with the Grey League and the League of the Ten Jurisdictions in 1471 to form the Three Leagues. In 1489 Chur obtained the right to have a tribunal of its own but never had the title of Free Imperial City. In 1497–98, concerned about Habsburg expansion and with the Bishop of Chur quarrelling with Austria, the Three Leagues formed an alliance with the Swiss Confederation. In 1499 the Swabian War broke out between the Three Leagues and Austria and quickly expanded to include the Confederation. During the war troops from Chur fought under the Bishop's Vogt Heinrich Ammann in the Lower Engadin, in Prättigau and near Balzers. Troops from Chur also took part in the 1512 invasion of the Valtellina and the Second Musso War in 1530–31.
In 1523 was appointed parish priest of St Martin's Church and began preaching the new faith of the Protestant Reformation. It spread rapidly and by 1525 the bishop had fled the city and Protestant services were taking place in the churches of St Martin and St Regula. The of 1524 and 1526 allowed each resident of the Three Leagues to choose their religion and sharply reduced the political and secular power of the Bishop of Chur and all monasteries in League territory. By 1527 all of Chur except the bishop's estates had adopted the Reformation. On 23 January 1529 Abbot was publicly beheaded. Bishop, a friend of Charles Borromeo, tried, but without success, to suppress Protestantism. He died, probably poisoned, on 5 May 1565.
During the 16th century the German language started to prevail over Romansh. In 1479 about 300 houses and stalls burned in another fire. Nearly a century later, on 23 July 1574, a fire destroyed 174 houses and 114 stalls, or about half the city. Two years later, on 21 October 1576, another 53 houses were burned. Two years after the 1576 fire, the perpetrator, Hauptmann Stör, was executed.
After the Napoleonic Wars the Three Leagues became the Canton of Graubünden in 1803. The guild constitution of the city of Chur lasted until 1839 and in 1874 the Burgergemeinde was replaced by an Einwohnergemeinde. When Graubünden became a canton in 1803, Chur was chosen as its capital.
Chur's is in the centre of town, and in the middle of the cemetery is a 13-tonne stone monument that dwarfs the nearby gravestones. The huge monolithic block of granite was erected in 1938 and for decades was largely ignored by passers-by until in 2023 a controversy arose after a Swiss historian discovered that it was originally built as propaganda for the Nazi regime.

Geography and climate

Topography

Chur has an area of. About 17.6% is used for agricultural purposes and 52.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 26.5% is settled and 3.9% is unproductive land. Over the past two decades the amount of land that is settled has increased by and the agricultural land has decreased by.
Chur is situated at a height of above sea level, on the right bank of the torrent Plessur just as it issues from the valley Schanfigg and about a mile above its junction with the Rhine, almost entirely surrounded by the Alps, overshadowed by the and Pizokel, hills that guard the entrance to the deep-cut valley Schanfigg.
The altitude in the city area varies from above sea level to above sea level and the Churer Hausberg is above sea level.
The water of Chur's spring is exported and sold as Passugger mineral water.

Climate

Chur has an oceanic climate in spite of its inland position. Summers are warm and sometimes hot, normally averaging around during the day, whilst winter means are around freezing, with daytime temperatures being about. Between 1981 and 2010 Chur had an average of 104.6 days of rain per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was August, with an average of of precipitation over an average of 11.2 days. The driest month of the year was February with an average of of precipitation over 6.6 days.

Politics

Coat of arms

Blazon: ''Argent, a city gate gules with three merlons, within which a capricorn rampant sable, langued and viriled of the second.''

Administrative divisions

Government

The City Council constitutes the executive government of the City of Chur and operates as a collegiate authority. It is composed of only three councilors, each presiding over a department. In the mandate period 2021–2024 the City Council is presided by Stadtpräsident. Departmental tasks, coordination measures and implementation of laws decreed by the Municipal Council are carried by the City Council. The regular election of the City Council by any inhabitant valid to vote is held every four years. Any resident of Chur allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the City Council. The current mandate period is from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2024. The delegates are elected by means of a system of proportional representation. The mayor is elected as such by public election by means of a system of majoritarian representation, while the heads of the other departments are assigned by the collegiate.
, Chur's City Council is made up of one representative of the FDP, one of the SP, and one new member of The Centre, giving the right parties a new majority of two out of three seats. The last regular election was held on 27 September 2020.
City Councillor
PartyHead of Department ofelected since
FDPFinanzen Wirtschaft Sicherheit 2012
Patrik Degiacomi SPBildung Gesellschaft Kultur 2016
Sandra Maissen CentreBau Planung Umwelt 2020

Parliament

The Municipal Council holds legislative power. It is made up of only 21 members, with elections held every four years. The Municipal Council decrees regulations and by-laws that are executed by the City Council and the administration. The delegates are selected by means of a system of Proporz.
The sessions of the Municipal Council are public. Unlike members of the City Council, members of the Municipal Council are not politicians by profession, and they are paid a fee based on their attendance. Any resident of Chur allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the Municipal Council. The parliament holds its meetings in the.
The last regular election of the Municipal Council was held on 27 September 2020 for the mandate period from January 2021 to December 2024. Currently the Municipal Council consist of 6 members of the Social Democratic Party, 4 Swiss People's Party, 4 The Liberals, 3 The Centre, 3 Green Liberal Party, 2 Freie Liste & Grüne, while the Conservative Democratic Party lost all their 3 seats due to Dissolution and merged with former CVP.