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Alvaneu 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 ...
,
Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
, Langwies, Lantsch/Lenz,
Molinis Molinis is a former municipality in the district of Plessur in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Molinis, Calfreisen, Castiel, Langwies, Lüen, Peist and St. Peter-Pagig merged into the ...
,
Peist Peist is a former municipality in the district of Plessur in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Peist, Calfreisen, Castiel, Langwies, Lüen, Molinis and St. Peter-Pagig merged into the mun ...
, Schmitten, Tschiertschen,
Vaz/Obervaz Vaz/Obervaz is a municipality in the Albula Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. The municipality of Vaz/Obervaz includes the following villages: Lain, Muldain, Zorten, Lenzerheide, and Valbella, as well as the hamlets of Nivaigl ...
, Wiesen , twintowns = Fukumitsu (Japan) Arosa is a town and a municipality in the
Plessur Region The Plessur Region is one of the eleven administrative districts in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It had an area of and a population of (as of ).. It was created on 1 January 2017 as part of a reorganization of the Canton. Municip ...
in the
canton of Graubünden The Grisons () or Graubünden,Names include: *german: (Kanton) Graubünden ; * Romansh: ** rm, label= Sursilvan, (Cantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Vallader, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Puter, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Surmiran, (Ca ...
in Switzerland. It is both a summer and a winter tourist resort. On 1 January 2013, the former municipalities of
Calfreisen Calfreisen ( rm, ) is a former municipality in the district of Plessur in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Calfreisen, Castiel, Langwies, Lüen, Molinis, Peist and St. Peter-Pagig m ...
, Castiel, Langwies,
Lüen Lüen is a former municipality in the district of Plessur in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Lüen, Calfreisen, Castiel, Langwies, Molinis, Peist and St. Peter-Pagig merged into the ...
,
Molinis Molinis is a former municipality in the district of Plessur in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Molinis, Calfreisen, Castiel, Langwies, Lüen, Peist and St. Peter-Pagig merged into the ...
,
Peist Peist is a former municipality in the district of Plessur in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Peist, Calfreisen, Castiel, Langwies, Lüen, Molinis and St. Peter-Pagig merged into the mun ...
and St. Peter-Pagig merged into the municipality of Arosa.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 9 February 2013
At the end of 2013 the Arosa ski resort was linked with
Lenzerheide Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. The vi ...
by cable-car, creating the new ski resort of
Arosa Lenzerheide Arosa Lenzerheide is a ski area located in Arosa, Lenzerheide, Valbella, Parpan and Churwalden, Graubünden/Switzerland. It originated 2013/14 by connecting the existing ski areas of Arosa and Lenzerheide. With a total of 225 kilometers (140 ...
; since that change, transport passes have been valid in both resorts. The official language of Arosa is (the Swiss variety of Standard)
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic
Swiss German Swiss German ( Standard German: , gsw, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spellin ...
dialect. The resort is known throughout Switzerland for its famous ice hockey team, the
EHC Arosa EHC Arosa is a Swiss ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hock ...
which used to be one of the most successful teams in the country.


History

Arosa is first mentioned about 1330 as ''Araus''. In 1383 it was mentioned as ''Orossen'' and in 1428 it was first mentioned as ''Arosa''. The first known settlements are from the 13th century. After 1300 Arosa German-speaking
Walser The Walser people are the speakers of the Walser German dialects, a variety of Highest Alemannic. They inhabit the region of the Alps of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as the fringes of Italy and Austria. The Walser people are named ...
settlers came from Davos and replaced the original Romansh-speaking inhabitants. During the following centuries, the village had a subsistence alpine pasture economy. Until 1851 it was politically a part of the Davos municipality. Arosa was established as a health resort by a German doctor in 1883, and the first sanatorium was opened in 1888. From 1900 on it gradually developed as a winter resort. In 1938 the first ski lifts were built, and in 1956 the Weisshorn cable car was opened and further rope and chair lifts followed. In 1851 Arosa separated from the municipality of
Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 23 September 2009
Skiing in Switzerland received a big boost from Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
, author of the Sherlock Holmes series. Conan Doyle, an avid sportsman, was wintering in
Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
. For entertainment, he ordered some skiing "boards" from Norway and hiked up the mountain with two local guides. They then skied down into Arosa, ending their journey with a luncheon at a local inn, the Seehof, the first hotel in Arosa. Conan Doyle wrote of his pioneering Davos/Arosa ski adventure in a British magazine, ''The Strand'', in 1894, and the story attracted British skiers to Switzerland. Erwin Schrödinger was vacationing in Arosa at Christmas 1925 when he made his breakthrough discovery of wave mechanics. In 1933,
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
stayed in Arosa during the first week of his Swiss exile. The 1939 film '' Over the Moon'' (shot 1937-9) has brief Technicolor exterior shots of the train station and ski resort areas. On 20 February 1940, Germany's Hassall met with British J. Lonsdale Bryant in Arosa, to make a plan to overthrow the ruling German Nazi Adolf Hitler. The Cinema Museum in London holds film of the resort from 1959,


Geography

The municipality of Arosa has an area of . Of this, 42% is used for agriculture, and 15.2% is forested. 3.1% is settled (buildings and roads) and the remainder (39.7%) includes the rivers, glaciers and mountains which attract tourists which constitute the primary industry. Before 2017, the municipality was in the Schanfigg sub-district of the Plessur district, after that date it was part of the Plessur Region. Located on the south-east slope of the
Weisshorn The Weisshorn ( German, lit. ''white peak/mountain'') is a major peak of Switzerland and the Alps, culminating at above sea level. It is part of the Pennine Alps and is located between the valleys of Anniviers and Zermatt in the canton of Val ...
chain, the town of Arosa is at the top of the Schanfigg valley at the foot of the
Aroser Weisshorn The Aroser Weisshorn is a mountain of the Plessur Alps, overlooking Arosa in the canton of Graubünden. A two-stage cable car links the top of the mountain with the town and resort of Arosa — the base station is near to Arosa railway stati ...
(). Adjoining are the areas of Innerarosa, Dorf-Obersee, Untersee and Maran-Prätschli at an elevation of . The two lakes in the centre of Arosa are the Obersee (upper lake) and Untersee. The town's railway station is at the end of a
branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An indust ...
from
Chur , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Churwalden, Tschiertschen-Praden, Domat/Ems, Felsberg, Malix, Trimmis, Untervaz, Pfäfers , twintowns = Bad Homburg (Germany), Cabourg (France), Mayrhofen (Austria), Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxembour ...
.


Tourism

Arosa has a well-known and safe skiing area and boasts over of slopes. The main industry is tourism: there are 4287 guest beds. Arosa has an unemployment rate of 1.32%. , there were only 4 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 2 businesses involved in this sector. 308 people are employed in the
secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construc ...
and there are 30 businesses in this sector. 1,202 people are employed in the
tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
, with 185 businesses in this sector.


Demographics

Arosa has a year-round population (as of ) of . , 22.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased by 9.8%, but fluctuates seasonally from about 4600 in January to about 2500 in May. Most of the population () speak German (79.8%), with Portuguese being second most common language (7.3%) and Italian third (4.1%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 27-Oct-2009
, there were 51.1% males and 48.9% females.Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009
The age distribution, , in Arosa is: 7.0% between 0 and 9 years old; 3.2% are 10 to 14; 4.5% are 15 to 19. 26.2% are between 20 and 29 years old. 18.0% are 30 to 39, 14.5% are 40 to 49, 11.6% are 50 to 59. 7.0% are between 60 and 69 years old, 4.9% are 70 to 79, 2.3% are 80 to 89, and 0.6% are 90 to 99.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009
In the
2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...
the most popular party was the SVP which received 45% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (24.7%), the SP (17%) and the CVP (12%). In Arosa about 70.3% of the population between age 25-64 have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a '' Fachhochschule''). From the , 1,140 or 41.1% are Roman Catholic, while 1,150 or 41.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. 109 individuals (or about 3.9% of the population) belong to the Orthodox Church, and 17 individuals (about 0.6% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. The remainder belong to other religions or did not specify a religion. The historical population is given in the following table:


Heritage sites of national significance

The archeological site of ''Carschlingg'' near Castiel, a prehistoric, late-
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
and Early Middle Ages settlement, and the
Langwieser Viaduct The Langwieser Viaduct (or Langwies Viaduct; german: Langwieser Viadukt) is a single track reinforced concrete railway bridge spanning the Plessur River and the Sapünerbach, near Langwies, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It was desig ...
for the
Rhätische Bahn The Rhaetian Railway (german: Rhätische Bahn; it, Ferrovia retica; rm, Viafier retica), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the RhB ...
are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The hamlets of Medergen, Sapün and Strassberg are all part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.


Climate

Arosa experiences a subarctic climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: Dfc) similar to that of Valdez,
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
, with short, cool summers, and long cold, but not severely cold winters. Precipitation is abundant year round, and so is snowfall, with annual totals averaging 285 inches (723 cm). Between 1961 and 1990 Arosa had an average of 147 days of rain per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was August, with an average of of precipitation and an average of 14.5 days with rain. The month with the most days of precipitation was June, with 15.6, but with only of precipitation. The driest month of the year was February with of precipitation over 14.5 days., the weather station elevation is 1840 metres above sea level.


Transportation

The Rhaetian Railway operates frequent train services on the Chur–Arosa railway to
Chur , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Churwalden, Tschiertschen-Praden, Domat/Ems, Felsberg, Malix, Trimmis, Untervaz, Pfäfers , twintowns = Bad Homburg (Germany), Cabourg (France), Mayrhofen (Austria), Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxembour ...
.


Notable people

*
Carl Rüedi Carl Rüedi (April 21 (or 23?), 1848 – June 17, 1901) was a Swiss pulmonologist and at his lifetime one of the best-known physicians in Graubünden. Rüedi rose to fame around the world after having treated the Scottish author Robert Louis Ste ...
(1848 – 1901 in Arosa) a Swiss pulmonologist, treated author
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
* Egbert Coleby Morland FRCS FRCP (1874–1955) an English physician, he practised as a pulmonary specialist in Switzerland 1903–1914, first at Davos and then in Arosa * Lieutenant Alfred Michael Koch MC (born 1894 in Arosa - 1984) a Swiss-born Canadian flying ace credited with ten aerial victories *
Paul ten Bruggencate Paul ten Bruggencate (24 February 1901 – 14 September 1961) was a German astronomer and astrophysicist. Youth and education Ten Bruggencate was born in Arosa, Switzerland, and went to several schools in Switzerland, in the Netherlands and in ...
(1901 in Arosa – 1961) a German astronomer and astrophysicist. * Karl-Heinz Kipp (1924 – 2017 in Arosa) a German billionaire, lived in Arosa and owned the Tschuggen Grand Hotel *
Youri Messen-Jaschin Youri Messen-Jaschin is an artist of Latvian origin, born in Arosa, Switzerland, in 1941. He often combines oils and gouaches. His favourite colors are: strong reds, yellows, greens, and blue. He also works in body painting, exhibiting his works ...
(born 1941 in Arosa) an artist of Latvian origin, he often combines oils and gouaches. ; Sport *
David Zogg David Zogg (18 December 1902 – 26 July 1977) was a Swiss alpine and Nordic combined skier. He was raised in Arosa, Switzerland. At the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz he finished 16th in the Nordic combined event. In 1931, he won the ...
(1902–1977) a Swiss alpine and Nordic combined skier. He was raised in Arosa * Werner Lohrer (1917 in Arosa – 1991) an ice hockey player, bronze medallist at the
1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspiele; french: Ves Jeux olympiques d'hiver; it, V Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, V Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz ...
* Heini Lohrer (1918 in Arosa – 2011) an ice hockey player, bronze medallist at the
1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspiele; french: Ves Jeux olympiques d'hiver; it, V Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, V Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz ...
* Roger Staub (1936 in Arosa – 1974) an alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist at the
1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Val ...
* Werner Geeser (1948 in Arosa – 2011) a Swiss cross-country skier, competed in the
1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...
* Engelhard Pargätzi (born 1959 in Arosa) a retired Swiss alpine skier who competed in the
1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label= Austro-Bavarian), was a ...
* Isabel Waidacher (born 1994 in Arosa) a Swiss ice hockey player, six-time Swiss champion with the ZSC Lions Frauen


See also

* 1304 Arosa


References


External links

*
Tourism informationAlpine PearlsLivecams of Arosa
* {{Authority control Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland Municipalities of Graubünden Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden