Glarus (German: ; ; ) is the capital of the
Canton of GlarusThe Canton of Glarus is a canton in east central Switzerland. The capital is Glarus. There are 25 municipalities in the canton . The population is German speaking and typically either Protestant or Catholic. There are 38,237 people living in the canton of which 7,314 are foreigners.-History:The...
in
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
.
Glarus lies on the
Linth RiverThe Linth is a Swiss river starting above Linthal the mountains of Glarus near the Klausen Pass and flowing from there north through the Glarus valley passing Schwanden, where it is joined by its main tributary Sernft, Ennenda, the town of Glarus, Netstal, and Näfels, from where it is channeled to...
at the foot of the
GlärnischThe Glärnisch is a mountain of the Glarus Alps, Switzerland, consisting of two ridges of either side of the Glärnischfirn glacier: the Ruchen at 2901 m to the west, rising above the Klöntalersee, and the Bächistock at 2914 m to the southwest. The best known peak is the Vrenelisgärtli at 2904 m....
foothills in the
Glarus AlpsThe Glarus Alps are a mountain range in central Switzerland. They extend from the Oberalp Pass to the Klausen Pass, and are bordered by the Urner Alps to the west, the Lepontine Alps to the south and the Appenzell Alps to the northeast...
. The
municipalityCommunes are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,636 as of 2009. While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
has about 5800 inhabitants. Very few buildings built before the fire of 1861 remain. Wood, textile, and plastics, as well as printing, are the dominant industries. The symbol of the city is the neo-romanesque city church.
Glarus is first mentioned in the early 9th Century in
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
as
Clarona.
Glarus (German: ; ; ) is the capital of the
Canton of GlarusThe Canton of Glarus is a canton in east central Switzerland. The capital is Glarus. There are 25 municipalities in the canton . The population is German speaking and typically either Protestant or Catholic. There are 38,237 people living in the canton of which 7,314 are foreigners.-History:The...
in
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
.
Glarus lies on the
Linth RiverThe Linth is a Swiss river starting above Linthal the mountains of Glarus near the Klausen Pass and flowing from there north through the Glarus valley passing Schwanden, where it is joined by its main tributary Sernft, Ennenda, the town of Glarus, Netstal, and Näfels, from where it is channeled to...
at the foot of the
GlärnischThe Glärnisch is a mountain of the Glarus Alps, Switzerland, consisting of two ridges of either side of the Glärnischfirn glacier: the Ruchen at 2901 m to the west, rising above the Klöntalersee, and the Bächistock at 2914 m to the southwest. The best known peak is the Vrenelisgärtli at 2904 m....
foothills in the
Glarus AlpsThe Glarus Alps are a mountain range in central Switzerland. They extend from the Oberalp Pass to the Klausen Pass, and are bordered by the Urner Alps to the west, the Lepontine Alps to the south and the Appenzell Alps to the northeast...
. The
municipalityCommunes are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,636 as of 2009. While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
has about 5800 inhabitants. Very few buildings built before the fire of 1861 remain. Wood, textile, and plastics, as well as printing, are the dominant industries. The symbol of the city is the neo-romanesque city church.
History
Glarus is first mentioned in the early 9th Century in
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
as
Clarona. In 1178 it was first mentioned in
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
as
Glarus.
It became the capital of the Linth valley in 1419. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the valley began to be industrialized.
Huldrych ZwingliHuldrych Zwingli was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system, he attended the University of Vienna and the University of Basel, a scholarly centre of humanism...
a leader of the
Reformation in SwitzerlandThe Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate and population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich and spread to several other cantons of the Old Swiss...
served in his first, Roman Catholic, ecclesiastical post in Glarus, starting around 1506. He served there for ten years. It was in Glarus, whose soldiers were used as mercenaries in Europe, that Zwingli became involved in politics. The Swiss Confederation was embroiled in various campaigns with its neighbours: the French, the Habsburgs, and the Papal States. Zwingli placed himself solidly on the side of the
Roman SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic...
. In return,
Pope Julius IIPope Julius II , nicknamed Il Papa Terribile , was born Giuliano della Rovere. He was Pope from 1503 to 1513. His reign was marked by an aggressive foreign policy, ambitious building projects, and patronage for the arts.-Early life:There is disagreement about Julius' date of birth...
honoured Zwingli by providing him with an annual pension. He took the role of chaplain in several campaigns in Italy, including the
Battle of NovaraThe Battle of Novara was a battle of the War of the League of Cambrai fought on June 6, 1513, near Novara, in Northern Italy.The French had been victorious at Ravenna the previous year. Nevertheless, the French under King Louis XII were driven out of the city of Milan the following month by the...
in 1513. However, the decisive defeat of the Swiss in the
Battle of MarignanoThe Battle of Marignano was a battle fought during the phase of the Italian Wars called the War of the League of Cambrai, that took place on 13 and 14 September, 1515, near the town today called Melegnano, 16 km southeast of Milan...
caused a shift in mood in Glarus in favour of the French rather than the pope. Zwingli, the papal partisan, found himself in a difficult position and he decided to retreat to
EinsiedelnEinsiedeln is a municipality and district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland known for its monastery, the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey. Einsiedeln is also the birthplace of Paracelsus, a medieval doctor and alchemist who is credited with first naming zinc.-Prehistoric Einsiedeln:Archaeologists...
in the
canton of SchwyzSchwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....
. While he was not a reformer at Glarus, there he began to develop the ideas that would lead to the break with the Catholic church in
ZurichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne...
In 1528 the Reformation gained a foothold in Glarus, directed by Zwingli in Zürich. Even though he had preached in Glarus for 10 years, the town remained strongly Catholic. However, following the
Second war of KappelThe second war of Kappel was an armed conflict in 1531 between the Protestant and the Catholic cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Reformation in Switzerland.-Cause:...
in 1531 both the Catholic and Protestant residents were given the right to worship in town. This led to both religious groups using the town church simultaneously, an arraignment that caused numerous problems. By the 18th Century both the groups shared the church but had separate organs. In 1697 there were two financially and theologically independent
parishA parish is a territorial unit that was usually historically served by a local church. This administrative unit is typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Sweden, United Methodist, and Presbyterian churches...
es meeting in the city church.
Following the French invasion in 1798, Glarus became the capital of the
Canton of LinthLinth was a canton of the Helvetic Republic from 1798 to 1803, consisting of Glarus and its subject County of Werdenberg, the Höfe and March districts of Schwyz and the Züricher subject Lordship of Sax, along with a handful of shared territories....
in the
Helvetic RepublicIn Swiss history, the Helvetic Republic represented an early attempt to impose a central authority over Switzerland, which until then consisted mainly of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance, and conquered territories such as Vaud...
. The administration of the Canton moved into Glarus. However, the new administrators had difficulties in establishing and enforcing any new regulations. In August 1802 the administrators of the new Canton left Glarus for
RapperswilRapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2003, the municipality includes Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen, and Wurmsbach.-Today:In 2003...
due to the difficulties they had faced in Glarus. In 1803, with the
Act of MediationThe Act of Mediation was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte on 19 February, 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Switzerland by French troops in 1798. After the withdrawal of French troops in July 1802,...
, the Canton of Linth was dissolved and Glarus became the capital of the smaller Canton of Glarus.
Glarus now contains but few houses built before 1861, for on the 10/11 May 1861 practically the whole town was destroyed by fire that was fanned by a violent Föhn or south wind, rushing down from the high mountains through the natural funnel formed by the Linth valley. The total loss is estimated at about half a million sterling, of which about £100,000 were made up by subscriptions that poured in from every side. About two thirds of Glarus (593 buildings) were destroyed in the big fire. After this incident, Glarus was rebuilt in block fashion according to construction plans by Bernhard Simon and Johann Caspar Wolff.
In 1864, the first European labor law to protect workers was introduced in Glarus, prohibiting requiring workers to work more than 12 hours a day.
Geography
Glarus has an area, , of . Of this area, 23% is used for agricultural purposes, while 31.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (42.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
The municipality is located in the
Glarner Mittelland on a broad valley floor between the
GlärnischThe Glärnisch is a mountain of the Glarus Alps, Switzerland, consisting of two ridges of either side of the Glärnischfirn glacier: the Ruchen at 2901 m to the west, rising above the Klöntalersee, and the Bächistock at 2914 m to the southwest. The best known peak is the Vrenelisgärtli at 2904 m....
mountain and the
LinthThe Linth is a Swiss river starting above Linthal the mountains of Glarus near the Klausen Pass and flowing from there north through the Glarus valley passing Schwanden, where it is joined by its main tributary Sernft, Ennenda, the town of Glarus, Netstal, and Näfels, from where it is channeled to...
river (the eastern border of the municipality).
Demographics
Glarus has a population of 5,840, of which 23.7% are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.4%. Most of the population speaks German (86.0%), with Italian being second most common ( 4.8%) and Albanian being third ( 2.6%).
In the 2007
federal electionElections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, October 21, 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, or 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the
SPSThe Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is a political party in Switzerland.It was founded on October 21, 1888, and is currently the second largest of the four leading coalition political parties in Switzerland. It is the left-most party with representatives in the Swiss Federal Council...
which received 68.9% of the vote. Most of the rest of the votes went to the
SVPThe Swiss People's Party also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre is a populist, national conservative political party in Switzerland....
with 23% of the vote.
The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Glarus about 71.3% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a
FachhochschuleA Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of university, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland...
).
Glarus has an unemployment rate of 2.01%. , there were 49 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 17 businesses involved in this sector. 552 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 78 businesses in this sector. 3,232 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 410 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:
| year |
population |
Swiss Citizens |
% German Speaking |
% Protestant Protestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
|
% Roman Catholic |
| 1554 |
ca. 1,550 |
|
|
|
|
| 1682 |
ca. 1,200 |
|
|
|
|
| 1777 |
ca. 2,400 |
|
|
|
|
| 1837 |
4,094 |
|
|
|
|
| 1850 |
4,082 |
3,960 |
|
86.0% |
14.0% |
| 1870 |
5,485 |
5,204 |
|
77.7% |
22.6% |
| 1888 |
5,357 |
4,968 |
98.1% |
71.6% |
28.0% |
| 1900 |
4,877 |
4,424 |
97.5% |
74.2% |
25.6% |
| 1910 |
5,123 |
4,471 |
94.8% |
70.8% |
28.7% |
| 1930 |
5,269 |
4,858 |
97.7% |
70.5% |
29.2% |
| 1950 |
5,724 |
5,376 |
96.2% |
68.0% |
31.4% |
| 1970 |
6,189 |
5,215 |
86.9% |
60.5% |
38.9% |
| 1990 |
5,728 |
4,723 |
86.1% |
51.9% |
42.4% |
| 2000 |
5,556 |
4,379 |
86.0% |
45.4% |
37.7% |
Weather
Glarus has an average of 148.2 days of rain per year and on average receives of
precipitationIn meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that is deposited on the Earth's surface. The main forms of precipitation include rain, snow, ice pellets, and graupel...
. The wettest month is August during which time Glarus receives an average of of precipitation. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 14.7 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is June, with an average of 15.1, but with only of precipitation. The driest month of the year is January with an average of of precipitation over 14.7 days.