Monthey (; ) is the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of the district of

Monthey Monthey (; ) is the capital of the district of Monthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History The castle in the town center was built in 950 on a hill, the first houses of Monthey surrounded it. Monthey is first mentioned in 1215 ...

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 ...

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 ...

History

The castle in the town center was built in 950 on a hill, the first houses of Monthey surrounded it. Monthey is first mentioned in 1215 as ''Montez''. At the 13th century, the counts of Savoy owned the village and its area. In 1352, the count Amédée VI gave more freedom to the inhabitants. During the first part of the 14th century, there were several industries including silk production and grinding mills.

Geography

Monthey has an area, , of . Of this area, or 27.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 45.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 19.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 6.7% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 8.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.6% of the area Out of the forested land, 40.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.6% is used for growing crops and 4.8% is pastures and 16.2% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.5% is in lakes and 1.0% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 5.1% is unproductive vegetation and 1.6% is too rocky for vegetation. The municipality is the capital of the Monthey District. This urban center of the Chablais region is located on an alluvial fan of the Vieze on the left bank of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

, at the entrance to Val d'Illiez and the Pas de Morgins which leads to Val d'Abondance. It consists of the town of Monthey, the villages of Outrevièze and Choëx and

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

s in

Collombey-Muraz Collombey-Muraz is a municipality in the district of Monthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to t ...

. Monthey is located on the west side of the

valley, south to the

Leman Lake Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () of the lake belongs to Switzerl ...

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 ''Or, issuant from coupeaux Vert an Oak tree proper leaved and fructed of the second.''

Demographics

Monthey has a population () of . , 29.0% 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 17.5%. It has changed at a rate of 16.2% due to migration and at a rate of 3.4% due to births and deaths.
accessed 19-September-2011 Most of the population () speaks

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), ...

(11,856 or 85.1%) as their first language,

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 ...

is the second most common (520 or 3.7%) and Portuguese is the third (430 or 3.1%). There are 295 people who speak

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 ...

and 7 people who speak Romansh. , the population was 49.0% male and 51.0% female. The population was made up of 5,515 Swiss men (33.6% of the population) and 2,539 (15.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 6,171 Swiss women (37.5%) and 2,212 (13.5%) non-Swiss women.Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 4,611 or about 33.1% were born in Monthey and lived there in 2000. There were 2,769 or 19.9% who were born in the same canton, while 2,508 or 18.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,586 or 25.7% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.6%. , there were 5,724 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,463 married individuals, 836 widows or widowers and 910 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 5,949 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 2,161 households that consist of only one person and 340 households with five or more people. , a total of 5,697 apartments (80.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,058 apartments (14.9%) were seasonally occupied and 339 apartments (4.8%) 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 3.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.24%.

Sport and culture

In winter 2005, Monthey was chosen to be the host of the EYOF (

European Youth Olympic Festival The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth (14 to 18 years old) athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the fi ...

). Monthey is home to the

BBC Monthey BBC Monthey-Chablais is a Swiss professional basketball team based in Monthey. The team currently plays in the Swiss Ligue Nationale de Basketball. The team has won the Swiss championships three times, in 1996, 2005 and 2017. In July 2018, the clu ...

, 1996 and 2005 Champion of the

Swiss Basketball League The Swiss Basketball League, also known as SB League or SBL, is the top-tier professional club basketball league in Switzerland. It is organized by Swiss Basketball. The winners of the SBL are crowned Swiss national basketball champions. Curren ...

. The team plays its home games at the ''Reposieux''.

FC Monthey FC Monthey is an association football club from Monthey, Switzerland. The club currently play in the 1. Liga Classic, the fourth tier of Swiss football. History FC Monthey has played one season in the Swiss premier division Swiss Super League, S ...

is the town's football club, founded in 1910. Every winter Monthey hosts a very well known Carnaval in the entire region. In 2018 the Carnaval was called "Carnaval Bestial" in French. It occurred from 8 to 13 February 2018.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 26.33% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (23.4%), the SVP (21.95%) and the SP (18.09%). In the federal election, a total of 4,267 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 47.5%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 3,342 votes were cast, of which 261 or about 7.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 37.0%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 4,131 votes were cast, of which 413 or about 10.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 46.8%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

Monthey is important to Swiss industry, with the former

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

company

Ciba-Geigy Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by revenue in 2024. Novartis manufactures the drugs ...

(now

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...

Syngenta Syngenta Global AG is a global agricultural technology company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. It primarily covers crop protection and seeds for farmers. Syngenta is part of the Syngenta Group, entirely owned by Sinochem, a Chinese state ...

and Cimo) and the

metallurgical Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

company

Giovanola Giovanola Frères SA was a prominent steel manufacturing company based in Monthey, Switzerland. It was known for building electrical power stations, water storage tanks, pipelines, boilers, highway bridges, submarines, ski lifts and many other st ...

, there is an oil refinery in Collombey-Muraz, near Monthey. The city is close to the famous winter sports region, the

Portes du Soleil Les Portes du Soleil (, literally "The Doors of the Sun") is a major skisports destination in the Alps, encompassing twelve resorts between Mont Blanc in France and Lake Geneva in Switzerland. With more than 650 km of marked pistes (claime ...

. This city is also home to

Bolliger & Mabillard Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by engineers Walter Bolliger and Cl ...

, world-famous

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

designers. , Monthey had an unemployment rate of 6.7%. , there were 37 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 25 businesses involved in this sector. 3,420 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 146 businesses in this sector. 5,453 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 616 businesses in this sector. There were 6,788 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.8% 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 7,689. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 19, of which 15 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 3,330 of which 2,062 or (61.9%) were in manufacturing and 696 (20.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 4,340. In the tertiary sector; 1,087 or 25.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 125 or 2.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 287 or 6.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 69 or 1.6% were in the information industry, 156 or 3.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 405 or 9.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 203 or 4.7% were in education and 1,504 or 34.7% were in health care. , there were 5,264 workers who commuted into the municipality and 2,700 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.9 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 3.7% of the workforce coming into Monthey are coming from outside Switzerland.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 7.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 61.7% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 9,790 or 70.3% 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 1,381 or 9.9% 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 163 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.17% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 335 individuals (or about 2.40% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 8 individuals (or about 0.06% of the population) who were

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and 744 (or about 5.34% 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 28 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 ...

, 10 individuals who were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and 15 individuals who belonged to another church. 888 (or about 6.37% 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 725 individuals (or about 5.20% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Monthey about 4,644 or (33.3%) of the population have completed 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 ...

, and 1,361 or (9.8%) 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 1,361 who completed tertiary schooling, 53.6% were Swiss men, 28.7% were Swiss women, 11.1% were non-Swiss men and 6.6% were non-Swiss women. , there were 256 students in Monthey who came from another municipality, while 389 residents attended schools outside the municipality. Monthey is home to the ''Médiathèque de Monthey'' library. The library has () 41,818 books or other media, and loaned out 95,847 items in the same year. It was open a total of 265 days with average of 20 hours per week during that year. The Stained Glass Arts and Fine Arts College is located in Monthey.

Notable people

Eidé Norena Karoline "Kaja" Eide Hansen, known professionally as Eidé Norena (April 26, 1884 – November 13, 1968) was a Norwegian soprano. Born in Horten, Norena studied in Oslo, Weimar, London, and Paris; her teachers included Ellen Gulbranson and Raim ...

(1884 – 1968 in Monthey) a Norwegian soprano *

Pierre Mariétan Pierre Mariétan (23 September 1935 – 23 March 2025) was a Swiss composer. Biography Born in Monthey, Mariétan studied first at the Geneva Conservatory in 1955–60 with Marescotti and later with, amongst others, Pierre Boulez, Bernd Alois Z ...

(born 1935 in Monthey) a Swiss composer of serialist, electronic and radiophonic music *

Philippe Pottier Philippe Pottier (9 July 1938 – 22 September 1985) was a Swiss footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American fo ...

(1938 in Monthey – 1985) a Swiss footballer * Jean-Luc Benoziglio (1941 in Monthey – 2013) a Swiss writer and publishing editor *

Pierre-Yves Borgeaud Pierre-Yves Borgeaud, born in Monthey, Switzerland, is a film director and videographer. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Arts from the University of Lausanne in 1990, with a thesis exploring the influence of jazz on French writers such as Paul M ...

(born 1963 in Monthey) a Swiss film director *

André Simonazzi André Simonazzi (17 November 1968 – 10 May 2024) was a Swiss journalist born in Monthey. He held the office of Vice-Chancellor and spokesman for the Swiss Federal Council, from April 2009 until his death in 2024. Life and career Simonazzi w ...

(born 1968 in Monthey – 2024), a Swiss politician *

Emmanuel Vaudan Emmanuel Vaudan (born 21 December 1971) from Monthey is a Swiss ski mountaineer and long-distance runner. Selected results Ski mountaineering * 2001: ** 3rd, Swiss Cup, scratch (and 2nd seniors) * 2002: ** 2nd, ''Trophée de la Tête de Balme ...

(born 1971) from Monthey, a Swiss ski mountaineer and long-distance runner *

Andréa Zimmermann Andréa Ursina Zimmermann (born 18 August 1976) from Monthey is a female Switzerland, Swiss ski mountaineer and mountain runner. Zimmermann was born in Biel/Bienne. She competed first in the 2000 Trophée du Muveran race and has been member of th ...

(born 1976) from Monthey, a Swiss ski mountaineer and mountain runner * Steve Morabito (born 1983 in Monthey) a Swiss professional road bicycle racer * Demir Peco (born 1996 in Monthey) a Bosnian professional footballer *

Ralph Boschung Ralph Boschung (; born 23 September 1997) is a retired Swiss people, Swiss racing driver who most recently competed in the 2023 Formula 2 Championship, 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship for Campos Racing. He is a race winner in the 2016 GP3 Series ...

(born 1997 in Monthey) a Swiss racing driver * Berkan Kutlu (born 1998 in Monthey) a Turkish professional footballer *

Kyshawn George Kyshawn Shanty Alonzo George (born 12 December 2003) is a Swiss-Canadian professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Miami Hurricanes men's basketball ...

(born 2003) a Swiss Canadian basketball player

Gallery

Monthey-Place-Centrale-1.jpg, Place Centrale Monthey-Place-Centrale-2.jpg, Place Centrale et l'église Monthey-Gare-Ville.jpg, AOMC Station Monthey-Gare-SBB.jpg, CFF Station Monthey-Theatre.jpg, Theater of Crochetan Monthey-Hotel-de-Ville.jpg, Hotel de Ville