Klingnau
Encyclopedia
Klingnau is a municipality
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . 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...

 in the district of Zurzach
Zurzach (district)
Zurzach District is a district in the Swiss Canton of Aargau with the administrative capital of Zurzach. It covers the Studenlands and is located in the northeastern part of the canton. The district capital is Bad Zurzach. The main valleys are the Surb and the Aare. It has a population of ...

 in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Aargau
Aargau
Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...

 in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

History

Klingnau is first mentioned in 1239 as Chlingenowe. Ulrich of Klingen acquired land from the monastery of St. Blaise in 1239 to found the city. He and the abbot reached an agreement over which of the abbey's own peasants could move to the new town. The von Klingen family granted extensive lands around the city to the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...

 between 1251–68. The knights owned so much property that in 1268 they moved their Order House from Leuggern to Klingnau. They were given a separate gate in the city walls. Walther of Klingen sold the city and surroundings to his cousin the Bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....

 of Constance Eberhard von Waldburg in 1269. The new owner then appointed a bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...

 in the town. Klingnau became the seat of a outer district that included Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...

, Siglistorf
Siglistorf
Siglistorf is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-Geography:Siglistorf has an area, , of . Of this area, or 41.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 52.5% is forested...

, Mellstorf, Döttingen
Döttingen
-In Germany:*Döttingen , a subdivision of Braunsbach in the Schwäbisch Hall district, Baden-Württemberg*Döttingen , a subdivision of Herresbach in the Mayen-Koblenz district, Rhineland-Palatinate...

 and Zurzach. In 1314 Klingnau was granted town privileges
Town privileges
Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...

. Every year at midsummer
Midsummer
Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place on a day between June 21 and June 24, and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different...

 the citizens were allowed to elect their lower and upper town council and a municipal court. In 1416 the Knights' order house moved back to Leuggern. Until 1800, an administrator managed the Knights' property. From 1415 until 1798 Klingnau was one of the three external districts of the county of Baden during the reign of the Swiss Confederation
Old Swiss Confederacy
The Old Swiss Confederacy was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland....

.

In the 17th Century some Jewish
History of the Jews in Switzerland
Jews and Judaism have been present in the territory of what is now Switzerland since before the emergence of the medieval Old Swiss Confederacy.In contemporary Switzerland, the official census of the year 2000 reports close to 18,000 adherents of Judaism living in Switzerland . About half of them...

 families occasionally lived in Klingnau, and operated the cattle trade for the town. The last bailiff, Joseph Haefelin, lost his post in 1798. As a replacement for the bailiffs, the citizens choose a five-member council. In March 1803 the council was removed by the municipality and replaced with a single Amtmann
Amtmann
Amtmann can be :*a feudal, administrative and/or gubernatorial title, such as Bezirksamtmann . Amtmann, ammann and amman were a kind of bailiff in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and in Brussels....

.

The growth of the municipal economy was repeatedly interrupted by disasters like the great fire of 1586 in which 84 houses were destroyed, or the plague
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

 of 1611 and 1635. The plague of 1611 killed 226 people, about one third of the population. The typhoid epidemic of 1813–14 killed about 3,000 people in and around the town, especially soldiers of the allies
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...

 against Napoleon, who were passing through. They were buried in a mass grave at the Imperial Cemetery north of the town.

The course of the Aare was correct between 1885–1904 in order to combat the devastating floods. Between 1931–35, the Klingnau power plant was built for Aarewerke AG, by dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

ming the river. The lake (Klingnauer Stausee) has developed into a resting place for migratory birds and became a cantonal sanctuary in 1989.

At the time of city foundation, the area was part of the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of Zurzach. In 1256 Walter of Klingen granted rights to tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...

s in the town to the kilchen ze Clingnow. In 1265 the collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...

 of Zurzach posted a permanent curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

 to Klingnau. In 1360 the parish of Klingnau included the city, the Chapel of Koblenz and the churches in Döttingen and Würenlingen. In this year the Bishop of Constance, Heinrich von Brandis, granted the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 to the monastery Zurzach. In 1864 the selection of the parish priest went to the parish, and about two years later the rights and obligations of the congregation to the church at Zurzach were abolished. The Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 parish church of St. Catherine was built in 1491 and was renovated in 1968–69. The Loreto Chapel on the Achenberg dates from 1660–62 while the Reformed
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

 church was built in 1935.

The construction of the castle, originally the seat of the Klingen family, was started in 1240. Until 1269 a manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

 stood on the grounds. After 1331 the outer walls were added. In the second half of the 14th Century the Bishop of Constance was often a resident in the castle. He ordered further improvements and expansions. In the late 16th Century, the castle, which was the seat of the Governor from Constance, in such bad condition that the Confederates demanded a renovation from the bishop. In 1804 the castle went to the newly formed Canton of Aargau, who auctioned it off in 1817. As a result it has been used by various industries, until the 20th Century when it was taken over by a foundation.

In 1250 the provost of the monastery of St. Blaise moved his headquarters from Döttingen to Klingnau. The baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

 buildings of the Provost's house, the third such structure in the same place, was built by Johann Caspar Bagnato in 1746–53. The building was sold in 1812. It now serves as a school.

East of the town, on the main road is the only monastery of the Hermits of Saint William
Hermits of Saint William
The Hermits of Saint William was a monastic order founded by Albert, companion and biographer of William of Maleval, and Renaldus, a physician who had settled at Maleval shortly before the saint's death...

 in Switzerland. The monastery was founded in 1269 and was incorporated in 1725 into the monastery of St. Blaise.

The major sources of income for the inhabitants of the city were agriculture, handicrafts and viticulture
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...

. Already in the 13th and 14th Centuries the Klingnauer wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 was sold in large quantities. In 1780 there were about 115 hectares (284.2 acre) of vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

s recorded about 115 hectares of vineyards. The spread of phylloxera
Phylloxera
Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...

 after 1900 led to a sharp decline, from which the wine industry did not recover until after 1930. The first industrial enterprises (raw silk
Raw Silk
Raw Silk was an American dance band, originated in New York. Raw Silk is best known for their garage-boogie song "Do It to the Music". The group is consisted of two Crown Heights Affair members, Ron Dean Miller and Bert Reid, and three female vocalists Jessica Cleaves, Sybil Thomas, Tenita Jordan...

 production, weaving, straw plaiting and veneer factories) emerged around 1840. The construction of the railway line Turgi-Koblenz in 1859 gave the regional economic development further boosts and attracted a shoe factory (Bally Shoe
Bally Shoe
The Bally Shoe company was founded as "Bally & Co" high fashion in 1851 by Carl Franz Bally and his brother Fritz in the basement of their family home in Schönenwerd in the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland.-Business:...

s), a cigar box factory and a baby carriage factory. From the turn of the century until the 1980s, most of the companies in the Swiss wood and furniture industry were in and around Klingnau. In 1975 there were 496 employees in 14 factories of the Swiss wood and furniture industry. By 1985 the number of employees had risen to 648 but there were only 8 factories. While the largest companies remained, between 1960 and 1989 at least 20 medium and small companies went under. During this same time, many of the old wood and metal working companies were replaced with high-tech and engineering companies. In 2000, the industrial sector still accounts for almost half of the jobs in the community.

Geography

Klingnau has an area, , of 6.71 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi). Of this area, 2.55 km² (0.984560504410964 sq mi) or 38.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.33 km² (0.899618029520607 sq mi) or 34.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.29 km² (0.49807178458437 sq mi) or 19.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.5 km² (0.193051079296268 sq mi) or 7.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.05 km² (12.4 acre) or 0.7% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.5% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 9.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.8%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.9%. Out of the forested land, 32.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 23.8% is used for growing crops and 11.2% is pastures, while 3.0% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 5.7% is in lakes and 1.8% is in rivers and streams.

The municipality is located in the Zurzach district, on the right side of the lower Aare valley between the Klingnauer Stausee lake and theAchenberg. The village is located an a rocky outcropping, that used to be an island in the Aare river. The side channel of the river has since then silted up and the town is no longer an island. The island's shape influenced the shape of the old village. It consists of two rows of houses surrounding a lens-shaped church plaza.

Coat of arms

The blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

 of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is Gules a Mitre Sable lined Or between two Mullets of the last.

Demographics

Klingnau has a population of , 25.9% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 7.9%. Most of the population speaks German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

(89.2%), with Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 being second most common ( 3.6%) and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

 being third ( 2.6%).

The age distribution, , in Klingnau is; 245 children or 7.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 354 teenagers or 11.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 463 people or 15.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 360 people or 11.7% are between 30 and 39, 479 people or 15.5% are between 40 and 49, and 446 people or 14.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 375 people or 12.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 238 people or 7.7% are between 70 and 79, there are 112 people or 3.6% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 15 people or 0.5% who are 90 and older.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.54 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.57 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 60.6% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 or a rent-to-own agreement).

, there were 91 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 534 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 468 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 1,125 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. there were 617 single family homes (or 45.3% of the total) out of a total of 1,362 homes and apartments. There were a total of 17 empty apartments for a 1.2% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 7.4 new units per 1000 residents.

In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 35.04% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

 (22.73%), the FDP
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (14.57%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (14.13%). In the federal election, a total of 921 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 48.1%.
The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
around 1400 500–600
1800 1,000
1850 1,300
1900 1,134
1950 1,778
2000 2,710

Heritage sites of national significance

The former Provost's house
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...

 of the St. Blasien Abbey at Propsteistrasse 1 is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...

. The entire village of Klingnau is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.-Sites of national importance:-Types:...

.

Economy

, Klingnau had an unemployment rate of 2.15%. , there were 50 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 406 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 38 businesses in this sector. 420 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 78 businesses in this sector.

there were 1,356 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 1,090 or about 80.4% of the residents worked outside Klingnau while 438 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 704 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 15% used public transportation to get to work, and 54.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 1,552 or 57.3% were Roman Catholic, while 636 or 23.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 5 individuals (or about 0.18% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...

 faith.

Education

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Klingnau about 74.2% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

). Of the school age population , there are 168 students attending primary school, there are 105 students attending secondary school, there are 132 students attending tertiary or university level schooling in the municipality.

Klingnau is home to the Regionalbibliothek Klingnau (Regional Library). The library has 12,422 books or other media, and loaned out 48,062 items in the same year. It was open a total of 300 days with average of 15 hours per week during that year.
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