Fisibach is a village and

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' ...

in the district of

Zurzach Zurzach () is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the sou ...

in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...

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 ...

History

While some scattered items from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

were discovered in Fisibach, the first evidence of a settlement is a

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

watchtower A watchtower or guardtower (also spelt watch tower, guard tower) is a type of military/paramilitary or policiary tower used for guarding an area. Sometimes fortified, and armed with heavy weaponry, especially historically, the structures are ...

along the

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 ...

River. The modern village of Fisibach is first mentioned in 1050 as ''Fusibach''. The owners of Waldhausen Castle in the hamlet of Waldhausen, granted

St. Blaise's Abbey Saint Blaise Abbey () was a Benedictine monastery in the village of St. Blasien in the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History 9th–12th centuries The early history of the abbey is obscure. Its predecessor in the 9th century is ...

extensive landholdings around their castle in 1113. However, by the 15th century, the castle was abandoned. On a rock in the Rhine was the Schwarzwasserstelz Castle. This castle, after 1363, was in the possession of the

Bishop of Constance The Prince-Bishopric of Constance () was a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from the mid-12th century until its secularisation in 1802–1803. In his dual capacity as prince and as bishop, the prince-bishop also admini ...

, and from 1589 to 1831 in the hands of the Tschudi family of

Glarus Glarus (; ; ; ; ) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality of Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.low court rights over Fisibach, while the ''

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

'' of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

held those rights in Waldhausen and Hägelen. The residents of Fisibach were part of the

Hohentengen Hohentengen is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen (district), Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. References

Sigmaringen (district) {{Sigmaringen-geo-stub ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

until 1842, when they became part of the Kaiserstuhl parish. A village chapel was built in the 17th century. Agriculture dominated the economy until the mid-20th century.

Geography

2010-05-21 16-35-55 Switzerland Zurich Kaiserstuhl

Fisibach has an area, , of . Of this area, or 43.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 45.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 8.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.2% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.4% of the area Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 29.9% is used for growing crops and 12.8% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The village is located in the Zurzach district, at the end of the Fisibach valley. It lies in the northeastern part of Aargau and is neighbored with the Canton of Zürich. The neighboring municipalities are Bachs and

Weiach Weiach is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Dielsdorf (district), Dielsdorf in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History Weiach is first mentioned in 1271. It has belon ...

. The place prior to modern times was Visibachs and differed from Obervisibachs (now Bachs in the Canton of Zurich). It consists of the ''haufendorf'' village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Fisibach and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Burenmüli, Hägelen and Waldhausen.

Coat of arms

The

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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Azure three Wagtails statant Azure beaked and membered Gules on a Bar Or.''

Demographics

Fisibach has a population () of , 15.2% of the population are foreign nationals.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bereich 01 -Bevölkerung
accessed 20 January 2010 Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 6.3%. Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(91.7%), with

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

being second most common ( 1.9%) and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

being third ( 1.7%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 17-June-2010 The age distribution, , in Fisibach is; 39 children or 10.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 38 teenagers or 10.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 45 people or 12.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 46 people or 12.7% are between 30 and 39, 73 people or 20.1% are between 40 and 49, and 56 people or 15.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 33 people or 9.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 21 people or 5.8% are between 70 and 79, there are 11 people or 3.0% who are between 80 and 89, and there is 1 person who is 90 or older.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bevölkerungsdaten für den Kanton Aargau und die Gemeinden (Archiv)
accessed 20 January 2010 the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 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 as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 45.1% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...

or a

rent-to-own Rent-to-own, also known as rental purchase or rent-to-buy, is a type of legally documented transaction under which tangible property, such as furniture, consumer electronics, motor vehicles, home appliances, engagement rings, and real property, ...

agreement). , there were 19 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 63 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 60 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 144 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. there were 69 single family homes (or 41.1% of the total) out of a total of 168 homes and apartments.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau
accessed 20 January 2010 There were a total of 7 empty apartments for a 4.2% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 46.23% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (18.49%), the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

(14.86%) and the SP (12%). In the federal election, a total of 116 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 44.3%. The historical population is given in the following table:

Heritage sites of national significance

The ''Bleiche'', a part of the Roman Rhine fortifications, is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Economy

, Fisibach had an unemployment rate of 2.09%. , there were 30 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 41 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 constructi ...

and there are 7 businesses in this sector. 78 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 ...

, with 12 businesses in this sector. there were 206 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 146 or about 70.9% of the residents worked outside Fisibach while 31 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 91 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau-Bereich 11 Verkehr und Nachrichtenwesen
accessed 21 January 2010 Of the working population, 10.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 50% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 165 or 45.7% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 140 or 38.8% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau - Aargauer Zahlen 2009
accessed 20 January 2010

Education

In Fisibach about 74.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Of the school age population (), there are 62 students attending

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in the municipality. The municipality has a kindergarten and a primary school. The children of the hamlet of Waldhausen attend school in

Bachs Bachs is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Dielsdorf (district), Dielsdorf in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History Bachs is first mentioned in 1100 as ''Fusebach'' ...

in the

Canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

References

*Bucher, H; Oertli-Cajacob, C: ''Fisibach – ein Dorf und seine Geschichte'' (''Fisibach - A Village and its History''), Fisibach, 1995

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of Aargau Cultural property of national significance in Aargau