Künten 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

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 ...

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 ...

. It lies on the

Reuss River The Reuss (; ) is a river in Switzerland. With a length of and a drainage basin of , it is the fourth largest List of rivers of Switzerland, river in Switzerland (after the Rhine, Aare and Rhône). The upper Reuss forms the main valley of the ca ...

and includes the previously independent community of Sulz, which merged with Künten in 1973.

History

Various finds point to an early settlement. Coins, shards, bronze and iron tools from a

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

settlement from the early 2nd century were discovered near Künten, while archaeologists discovered a

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

near Sulz. Chünten and Sulzo were first mentioned in documents around 1160 in the Acta Murensia, which identified the villages as the property of

Muri Abbey Muri Abbey () was a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It flourished for over eight centuries at Muri, in the Canton of Aargau, near Zürich, Switzerland. While the monastery is currently established as Muri-Gries in South ...

. The place name Künten comes from the

late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...

(praedium) Quintinacum and means "estate belonging to Quintinus". The current form of the name came about through a sound shift via the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

Chüntinacha. In the Middle Ages, the municipality was under the rule of the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

, who also exercised blood jurisdiction. Most of the

lower jurisdiction Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...

was in the hands of the Hermetschwil Abbey. From 1392, a farm in Künten belonged to the in

. In 1415, the Confederates conquered Aargau. Both villages were now part of the Amt Rohrdorf in the

county of Baden The County of Baden (German: ''Grafschaft Baden'') was a condominium of the Old Swiss Confederacy and is now part of the Swiss canton of Aargau. The county was established in 1415 after the Swiss conquest of the Aargau and was ruled as a shared ...

, a common lordship. After the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

was introduced in 1529, the inhabitants had to return to the Catholic denomination after the Second Kappel War of 1531. In March 1798, the

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), ...

invaded Switzerland and proclaimed the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

. Künten and Sulz initially belonged to the short-lived

Canton of Baden The Canton of Baden () was a canton of the Helvetic Republic (a Napoleonic-era precursor of modern-day Switzerland). Its capital was the town of Baden. Formation The canton was created in 1798 from the merger of the County of Baden with the F ...

, and from 1803 to the Canton of Aargau. Both villages formed a joint municipality, but were also two separate local communities with a certain degree of autonomy. This structure remained in place until 1973, when the Ortsbürgergemeinden were dissolved and merged with the Einwohnergemeinde. On June 10, 1866, a major fire in Künten destroyed 14 thatched houses. Künten remained dominated by

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

until well into the 20th century. With the opening of the nearby highway, the population began to increase significantly and has more than doubled since then. To accommodate the growing population, the Heiligkreuz church was built in 1964-1965 to replace a smaller previous church. It was built according to plans by architect Walter Moser and contains works of art by Max Rüedi and Alfred Huber.

Geography

Künten has an area, , of . Of this area, 56.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 26.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 12.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (4.1%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The municipality is located in the Baden district. It consists of the village of Künten on the Bremgarten-

Fislisbach Fislisbach is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Baden (district, Aargau), Baden in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History Fislisbach is first mentioned in 1184 as ''Vicelisbach''. Geog ...

road and the village of Sulz along the

Reuss Reuss may refer to: *Reuss (surname) * Reuss (river) in Switzerland * Imperial County of Reuss or Reuß, several former states or countries in present-day Germany, and the People's State of Reuss * Principality of Reuss-Greiz and Principality of R ...

river valley.

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 ''Per pale Argent a Latin Cross pattee couped and Gules a Bend Wavy Argent.''

Demographics

Künten has a population (as of ) of . , 13.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bereich 01 -Bevölkerung
accessed 20 January 2010 Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 5.7%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.1%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.5%) and Turkish being third ( 0.9%).
accessed 8 February 2010 The age distribution, , in Künten is; 169 children or 10.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 210 teenagers or 13.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 207 people or 12.8% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 210 people or 13.0% are between 30 and 39, 309 people or 19.1% are between 40 and 49, and 222 people or 13.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 167 people or 10.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 81 people or 5.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 36 people or 2.2% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 4 people or 0.2% who are 90 and older.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bevölkerungsdaten für den Kanton Aargau und die Gemeinden (Archiv)
accessed 20 January 2010 , there were 34 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 199 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 294 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. The average number of people per household was 2.71 individuals. there were 316 single family homes (or 48.8% of the total) out of a total of 648 homes and apartments.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau
accessed 20 January 2010 In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 44.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (20.6%), the FDP (10.7%) and the SP (10.5%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Künten about 78.6% 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 123 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 ...

, there are 55 students attending

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 ...

in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following table:

Heritage sites of national significance

The mill at Mühlegasse 2 is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Economy

, Künten had an unemployment rate of 1.33%. , there were 48 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 17 businesses involved in this sector. 155 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 14 businesses in this sector. 120 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 37 businesses in this sector. there was a total of 825 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 649 or about 78.7% of the residents worked outside Künten while 131 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 307 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

Religion

From the , 891 or 60.0% are

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 346 or 23.3% 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 are 4 individuals (or about 0.27% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic faith.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau – Aargauer Zahlen 2009
accessed 20 January 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kunten Municipalities of Aargau Cultural property of national significance in Aargau