Bendern is a village of

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

, together with the town of Gamprin it forms in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Gamprin Gamprin () is a municipality of Liechtenstein, on the Rhine on the border with the municipality of Sennwald, in Switzerland. It had 1,690 inhabitants in 2019. The municipality contains the village of Bendern and scattered hamlets and the Liechte ...

. It is the third smallest in the country, with an area of 6.19 km² and a total population of 1664 people (as of 2015). The village itself had about 470 residents (as of 2007).

History

The name is of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

origin. The place was first mentioned in 1045 as ''Beneduro''. During the

Swabian War The Swabian War of 1499 ( (spelling depending on dialect), called or ("Swiss War") in Germany and ("War of the Engadin" in Austria) was the last major armed conflict between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg. What had begun ...

, the village was burned down by the Swiss. 1538–1636 Bendern hosted the

Premonstratensians The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in United Kingdom, Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their religious habit, habit), is a religious order of cano ...

of St Luzi Abby in

Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...

, that fled the Reformation. The church hill of Bendern is an important place for the history of the country. On March 16, 1699, the men from Liechtenstein's lowlands pledged allegiance to the

Prince of Liechtenstein The monarchy of Liechtenstein is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of Liechtenstein. The current monarch is Prince Hans-Adam II. The House of Liechtenstein, after which the sove ...

on the church hill, after Lordship of Schellenberg was bought by the Prince of Liechtenstein. The Bendern fountain was created to commemorate this. Over the years, important excavations have taken place. The history of the church can be traced back to Carolingian-Ottonian and Roman times. Older traces of settlement in the form of ceramics go back to prehistoric times. The baroque '' velum quadragesimale'' from the local church house Mariä Himmelfahrt, known as the Benderner Fastentuch in German is nowaday one of the treasures in the

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

in Vaduz, the church possesses a copy.

Geography

The village is located by the river

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and the Eschnerberg, close to Gamprin, and next to the borders of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It is linked with the Swiss village of , a hamlet of Sennwald, with a road bridge originally built in 1868.

Economy

There are about 100 businesses with more or less 2500 jobs in the municipality, additionally the village is home to the Liechtenstein-Institut (LI) with a focus on research focused on the country and until 2017 it was the seat of the International Academy for Philosophy (IAP).

References

External links

* {{Authority control Villages in Liechtenstein Gamprin