Grächen is a

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

Visp Visp (; ; ) is the capital of the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Geography Visp lies in the Rhône valley, at the confluence of the Vispa and the Rhône, west of Brig-Glis. Visp has an area, , of . Of this a ...

in the canton of

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

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 ...

. The village is situated at an altitude of on a terrace above St. Niklaus in the

Mattertal The Matter Valley (German: Mattertal, or sometimes ''Nikolaital'') is located in southwestern Switzerland, south of the Rhone valley in the canton of Valais. The village of Zermatt is the most important settlement of the valley, which is surroun ...

, north of the

Mischabel The Dom is a mountain of the Pennine Alps, located between Randa and Saas-Fee in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. With a height of , it is the seventh highest summit in the Alps, overall. Based on prominence, it can be regarded as the thir ...

range (and Dom).

History

Settlements in the area of Grächen probably date back to

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

times. It certainly was a hunting ground for early

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 ...

alpine people (celts List of Celts). Around 750 (CE), the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

started to settle in the upper (German-speaking) part of what is now the canton of Valais. Grächen is first mentioned in 1210 as ''de Grachan''. In 1250 it was mentioned as ''de Granges''. Grächen developed into a community of farmers in servitude and paying tribute to various feudal lords, until they finally reached their independence as a community (from the

Bishop of Sion The Diocese of Sion (, , ) is a Latin Catholic ecclesiastical territory in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is the oldest bishopric in the country and one of the oldest north of the Alps. The history of the Bishops of Sion, of the Abbey of ...

) in the 19th century.

Thomas Platter Thomas Platter the Elder (; ; 10 February 1499, in Grächen, Valais – 26 January 1582, in Basel) was a Swiss humanist scholar and teacher. He was an early follower of the Protestant Reformation. Biography Thomas Platter (the Elder) grew up in p ...

, a famous citizen of 16th century Grächen, published his autobiography describing a life from humble beginnings as a goatherd to a fulfilled existence as lord of a manor, master of herbal lore, publisher and school director. His son

Felix Platter Felix Platter (also Plater ; ; Latinized: Platerus; 28 October 1536 – 28 July 1614) was a Swiss physician, botanist, and diarist. He is known for his research in several areas of medicine, including ophthalmology and psychiatry. Biography Fel ...

became a famous medical doctor and anatomist.

Geography

Grächen has an area, , of . Of this area, 13.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 53.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 5.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 27.5% is unproductive land. The municipality is located in the Visp district, on a terrace below the Ried Glacier. The glacier extends about from Ried to Bärgji and is about . The territory of the municipality encompasses the summits of the

Seetalhorn The Seetalhorn is a mountain of the Swiss Pennine Alps, overlooking Grächen in the canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, S ...

and Distelhorn.

Climate

Grächen features a warm summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Dfb) according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

with abundant snowfall during winter and mild summers. Precipitation is spread out evenly throughout the year, as is common in this climate type.

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, issuant from base three Cliffs Or from which are rising as many Pine trees Vert trunked and rooted proper.''

Demographics

Grächen has a population () of . , 6.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of -1.7%. It has changed at a rate of 1.6% due to migration and at a rate of 0.9% due to births and deaths.
accessed 3 October 2011 Most of the population () speaks German (1,229 or 98.0%) as their first language, Dutch is the second most common (11 or 0.9%) and French is the third (4 or 0.3%). There is 1 person who speaks Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh. , the population was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. The population was made up of 603 Swiss men (44.2% of the population) and 58 (4.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 650 Swiss women (47.6%) and 54 (4.0%) non-Swiss women.Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 888 or about 70.8% were born in Grächen and lived there in 2000. There were 214 or 17.1% who were born in the same canton, while 96 or 7.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 42 or 3.3% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.6%. , there were 521 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 624 married individuals, 69 widows or widowers and 40 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 477 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 118 households that consist of only one person and 43 households with five or more people. , a total of 456 apartments (31.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 890 apartments (62.3%) were seasonally occupied and 83 apartments (5.8%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 35.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.17%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:960 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1300 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:300 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:60 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:338 text:"338" bar:1860 from:start till:369 text:"369" bar:1870 from:start till:391 text:"391" bar:1880 from:start till:355 text:"355" bar:1888 from:start till:350 text:"350" bar:1900 from:start till:389 text:"389" bar:1910 from:start till:438 text:"438" bar:1920 from:start till:494 text:"494" bar:1930 from:start till:605 text:"605" bar:1941 from:start till:680 text:"680" bar:1950 from:start till:665 text:"665" bar:1960 from:start till:848 text:"848" bar:1970 from:start till:1063 text:"1,063" bar:1980 from:start till:1128 text:"1,128" bar:1990 from:start till:1169 text:"1,169" bar:2000 from:start till:1254 text:"1,254"

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 75.92% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (13.04%), the SP (5.52%) and the FDP (4.26%). In the federal election, a total of 527 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 50.8%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 591 votes were cast, of which 44 or about 7.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 57.8%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 523 votes were cast, of which 32 or about 6.1% were invalid. The voter participation was 50.9%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

, Grächen had an unemployment rate of 2.6%. , there were 49 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 29 businesses involved in this sector. 61 people were 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 were 12 businesses in this sector. 356 people were 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 81 businesses in this sector. There were 592 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.9% of the workforce. the total number of

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often use ...

jobs was 379. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 13, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 59 of which or (0.0%) were in manufacturing and 56 (94.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 307. In the tertiary sector; 69 or 22.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 51 or 16.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 124 or 40.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 8 or 2.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 3 or 1.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 8 or 2.6% were in education and 8 or 2.6% were in health care. , there were 78 workers who commuted into the municipality and 222 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 14.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 39% used a private car.

Tourism

In the 20th century, Grächen changed from a farming community to a popular tourist destination. In 1937, 7000 visitors spent the night there, today, some 500,000 visitors do. Grächen is situated on the Monte Rosa tour hiking trail and provides for a natural stop between

Saas-Fee Saas-Fee () is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The village is situated on a high mountain plateau at 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), surrounded ...

and

Europahütte The Europa Hut (German language, German: ''Europahütte'') is a mountain hut located in the Mattertal above Randa, Switzerland, Randa in the Mischabel range at 2,265 m, owned by the Swiss Alpine Club. It lies on the Grächen-Zermatt high trail, ca ...

. It is also a base for many hiking and mountaineering trips. Grächen has a ski resort with around of ridable slopes with 11 total

ski lifts A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/ Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. Types * Aerial ...

– the resort features a restaurant and offers lessons in both skiing and snowboarding. It is situated between the elevations of 1619 and 2864 metres. Its opening season spans from mid-December to early April. In 2011, a plan to renovate and enlarge the ski area was launched. Grächen also attracts many people due to its proximity to

Zermatt Zermatt (, ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the German language, German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is cl ...

and to

, two major ski resorts.

Sport

Grächen hosts the 2019

UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships The UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships is the world championship event for marathon mountain bike races. Inaugurated by the Union Cycliste Internationale in 2003, the event is held annually in single classes for men and women. The 20 ...

on 22 September 2019.

Religion

From the , 1,166 or 93.0% 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 46 or 3.7% 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 ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 5 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.40% of the population), and there were 13 individuals (or about 1.04% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 4 (or about 0.32% of the population) who were

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic. There were 2 individuals who were

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. 11 (or about 0.88% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 13 individuals (or about 1.04% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Grächen about 488 or (38.9%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 69 or (5.5%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

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 69 who completed tertiary schooling, 73.9% were Swiss men, 17.4% were Swiss women. During the 2010–11 school year there were a total of 104 students in the Grächen school system. The

education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

. During that school year, there was one kindergarten class (KG1 or KG2) and 18 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of

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 Grächen there were a total of 5 classes and 104 students in the primary school. The

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower and upper secondary students from Grächen attend their school in a neighboring municipality.Obligatorische Schulzeit
accessed 24 August 2011 , there were 43 students from Grächen who attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

*http://www.matterhornvalley.ch/e/—Tourist information. *http://www.gemeinde-graechen.ch—The website of the

. *https://web.archive.org/web/20101116013319/http://www.wetter-graechen.ch/ -- ¨Weather information. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grachen Municipalities of Valais Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland