Alvaneu
{{Infobox Swiss town
| subject_name = Alvaneu
| image_photo = Alvaneu-Dorf.jpg
| municipality_type = former
| imagepath_coa = CHE Alvaneu COA.svg|pixel_coa=
| canton = Graubünden
| iso-code-region = CH-GR
| district = Albula
|coordinates = {{coord|46|41|N|9|39|E|display=inline,title}}
| postal_code = 7492
| municipality_code = 3511
| area = 35.63
| elevation = 1181|elevation_description=
| population = 403 |populationof= Dec 2013
| website = www.albula-alvra.ch
| mayor = Thomas Kollegger|mayor_asof=|mayor_party=
| mayor_title = |list_of_mayors =
| places =
| demonym =
| neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Brienz/Brinzauls, Filisur, Lantsch/Lenz, Schmitten, Surava, Tiefencastel
| twintowns =
|}}
Alvaneu (Romansh: Alvagni) is a former municipality in the district of Albula in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Alvaschein, Mon, Stierva, Tiefencastel, Alvaneu, Brienz/Brinzauls and Surava merged to form the new municipality of Albula/Alvra.[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/infothek/nomenklaturen/blank/blank/gem_liste/03.html Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz] published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office {{in lang|de}} accessed 2 January 2013
On 20 March 2007 Peter Martin Wettler, a media expert and resident of Zurich was appointed Prince of Belfort by the village's authorities.{{cite news |first= Isobel |last= Leybold-Johnson |title= Mountain village converts to a princedom |url= https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/mountain-village-converts-to-a-princedom/5791878 |newspaper= Swissinfo |date= March 20, 2007|accessdate=27 October 2020}}
History
Geography
Before the merger, Alvaneu had a total area of {{convert|35.7|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}. Of this area, 27% is used for agricultural purposes, while 32.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (38.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
The former municipality is located in the Belfort sub-district of the Albula district. It is located on a terrace above the Albula river. It consists of the village of Alvaneu (Alvaneu-Dorf) and Alvaneu-Bad on the valley floor. The municipality also includes the settlement of Aclas d'Alvagni as well as the alpine settlements of Creusch and Ramoz.
Demographics
Alvaneu had a population (as of 2013) of 403.{{cite web|url=http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/regionen/02/key.html |publisher=Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland) |access-date=2016-09-15 |title=Portraits of communes |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105172441/http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/regionen/02/key.html |archivedate=2016-01-05 }} {{as of|2007}}, 7.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -6.2%.
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 42% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (25.1%), the SPS (22.8%) and the FDP (7.9%).
In Alvaneu about 69.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).
Alvaneu has an unemployment rate of 0.27%. {{as of|2005}}, there were 43 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 37 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 4 businesses in this sector. 124 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 23 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:{{HDS|1415|Alvaneu}}[http://www.gr.ch/DE/institutionen/verwaltung/dvs/awt/dienstleistungen/volkswirtschaftlichegrundlagen/Seiten/default.aspx Graubunden in Numbers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924000647/http://www.gr.ch/DE/institutionen/verwaltung/dvs/awt/dienstleistungen/volkswirtschaftlichegrundlagen/Seiten/default.aspx |date=2009-09-24 }} {{in lang|de}} accessed 21 September 2009
| class="wikitable" |
| year
! population |
|---|
| 1838
| 362 |
| 1850
| 354 |
| 1880
| 314 |
| 1900
| 382 |
| 1930
| 441 |
| 1950
| 475 |
| 1960
| 396 |
| 1970
| 421 |
| 1980
| 379 |
| 1990
| 380 |
| 2000
| 407 |
Languages
The traditional language of the population until the middle of the 19th century was Romansh. However, in 1880, only 80.1% of the inhabitants spoke Romansch as their native language. This erosion continued (1910: 68.06%, 1941: 56.0%, 1970: 47.03%). 1960 was the last census that counted a Romansch-speaking majority.
| class="wikitable"
|+ Languages in Alvaneu | ||||||
| ----
! rowspan="2" | Language !! colspan="2" | Census of 1980 !! colspan="2" | Census of 1990 !! colspan="2" | Census of 2000 | ||||||
| ----
! Number !! Percentage !! Number !! Percentage !! Number !! Percentage | ||||||
| ---- | align=right | 189 | align=right | 49.87% | align=right | 230 | align=right | 60.53% | align=right | 308 | align=right | 76.43% |
| ----
|Romansh | align=right | 157 | align=right | 41.42% | align=right | 109 | align=right | 28.68% | align=right | 68 | align=right | 16.87% |
| ---- | align=right | 30 | align=right | 7.92% | align=right | 28 | align=right | 7.37% | align=right | 14 | align=right | 3.47% |
| ----
|Population | align=right | 379 | align=right | 100% | align=right | 380 | align=right | 100% | align=right | 403 | align=right | 100% |
Although 31% still speak some Romansch, German is now the only official language for municipality business.
Most of the population ({{as of|2000|lc=on}}) speaks German (76.4%), with Rhaeto-Romance being second most common (16.9%) and Italian being third ( 3.5%).
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Alvaneu}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20141216185005/http://alvaneu.ch/ Gemeinde Alvaneu]—official site of the municipality {{in lang|de}}
- [http://www.bad-alvaneu.ch Bad Alvaneu]—thermal baths {{in lang|de}}
- {{HDS|1415}}
{{Authority control}}