Scuol () 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 Engiadina Bassa/Val Müstair Region in the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

canton of

Grisons The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; *Romansh language, Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...

. The official language in Scuol is Romansh. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of

Ardez Ardez () is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Inn District, Switzerland, Inn in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland. The village is located in the Lower Engadin valley. On ...

, Guarda,

Tarasp Tarasp is a former municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Inn District, Switzerland, Inn in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. Its eleven settlements are situated within the Lower Engadin ...

, Ftan and Sent merged into Scuol.

Name

The official name has undergone several changes in the 20th century: * Until 1943, the official name of the municipality was ''Schuls''. * In 1943, it was changed to ''Bad Scuol/Schuls''. * In 1970 ''Schuls'' was dropped as an official name, leaving only ''Bad Scuol''. * In 1999 ''Bad'' was dropped, leaving today's name, ''Scuol.''

History

Scuol is first mentioned in 1095 as ''Schulles''. At the end of the 11th and in the 12th century, the lords of

owned extensive estates in Scuol. In 1095/1096 their family founded a Marian monastery in Scuol and endowed it richly. In 1150 the monastery was moved to

Marienberg Marienberg is a town in Germany. It was the district capital of the Mittlerer Erzgebirgskreis (Central Ore Mountains district) in the southern part of Saxony, and since August 2008 it has been part of the new district of Erzgebirgskreis. As of ...

in the Vinschgau valley. In 1178

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a Papal election, ...

confirmed all of the monastery's possessions in Scuol, including the church. The village was destroyed in 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 ...

of 1499; in 1516 Bernardo da Poschiavo built a new church. Circa 1533 Scuol became

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

. In 1621/1622 the village was devastated by Austrian troops; in 1652 it bought its freedom from Austria. From circa 1860 onwards, the healing springs of Scuol were used on a larger scale and the time of spa tourism began. During the following decades, the bath house and numerous hotels were built between the two old parts of the village. The opening of the Bever–Scuol line of the

Rhaetian Railway The Rhaetian Railway (; ; ), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the RhB operates all the railway lines of the Cantons of Switzerland, ...

in 1913 stimulated further growth. Waldhaus Vulpera 1907

With the advent of winter sports in the middle of the 20th century, the second era of tourism in Scuol began. After the

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate suppo ...

to Motta Naluns (1956), numerous

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers. They are the primary on-hill tran ...

s and

surface lift A surface lift is a type of cable transport for mountain sports in which skiers, snowboarders, or mountain bikers remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher ...

s were constructed. The spa tradition was revived in 1993 with the opening of the ''Bogn Engiadina'' ("Engadine bath"), including the first Roman-Irish bath in Switzerland. The

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style Grand Hotel Waldhaus Vulpera in Scuol-Tarasp with

Sgraffito (; ) is an artistic or decorative technique of scratching through a coating on a hard surface to reveal parts of another underlying coating which is in a contrasting colour. It is produced on walls by applying layers of plaster tinted in con ...

-Elements was opened on 8 June 1897. It was one of the first addresses in the

Swiss Alps The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physica ...

and a major

Belle Époque The Belle Époque () or La Belle Époque () was a period of French and European history that began after the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era of the Fr ...

monument in Europe.

Geography

After the 2015 merger Scuol had an area of . Before the merger Scuol had an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of . Of this area, about 26.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 25.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and 46.1% is unproductive land. Over the past two decades (1979/85-2004/09) the amount of land that is settled has increased by and the agricultural land has decreased by .Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Regional portraits
accessed 2 May 2016 The whole southern face towards Piz Champatsch on is being used as a skiing area called "Motta Naluns", named after a place north of Scuol. The resort has 80 kilometers of slopes and 12 lifts (aerial cableway/ chair lifts / drag lifts). Before 2017 it was the municipality is the capital of the Inn district and was located in the Suot Tasna sub-district, after 2017 it was part of the Engiadina Bassa/Val Müstair Region. It is a well known

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

and vacation spot and is the business center of the Unterengadin valley. It is the largest village on the left side of the Inn river. It consists of the village of Scuol with the section Pradella and the old mining village of S-charl. Until 1970 Scuol was known as Scuol/Schuls.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 23 September 2009 The God da Tamangur ("the forest back there") is the highest continuous stone pine ( pinus cembra) forest in Europe, right at the furthest end of the Val S-charl, south of Scuol. The forest nature reserve covers an area of about at up to in elevation. Due to the altitude and weather, the trees grow very slowly and may live up to 700 years.

Demographics

Scuol has a population (as of ) of . , 23.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.4%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 12 October 2009 , the gender distribution of the population was 48.5% male and 51.5% female.Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009 The age distribution, , in Scuol is; 220 children or 10.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 106 teenagers or 5.0% are 10 to 14, and 139 teenagers or 6.6% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 248 people or 11.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 334 people or 15.7% are 30 to 39, 306 people or 14.4% are 40 to 49, and 278 people or 13.1% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 201 people or 9.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 154 people or 7.3% are 70 to 79, there are 115 people or 5.4% who are 80 to 89, and there are 21 people or 1.0% who are 90 to 99.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009 In 2013 there were 1,073 private households in Scuol. Of the 694 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 41.6% were single family homes and 36.6% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 36.5% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 11.4% were built between 1991 and 2000.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Thema 09 – Bau- und Wohnungswesen
accessed 5 May 2016 In 2012 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 20.57. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.48%.

Historic Population

The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1100 height:500 PlotArea = height:350 left:100 bottom:90 right:100 Legend = columns:3 left:220 top:70 columnwidth:160 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:4600 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:800 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:160 start:0 Colors= id:SC value:yellowgreen legend:Scuol id:AR value:green legend:Ardez id:GU value:blue legend:Guarda id:TA value:red legend:Tarasp id:FT value:yellow legend:Ftan id:SE value:orange legend:Sent PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:30 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from: 0 till:912 text:"912" color:SC bar:1860 from: 0 till:945 text:"945" color:SC bar:1870 from: 0 till:894 text:"894" color:SC bar:1880 from: 0 till:894 text:"894" color:SC bar:1888 from: 0 till:947 text:"947" color:SC bar:1900 from: 0 till:1117 text:"1117" color:SC bar:1910 from: 0 till:1333 text:"1333" color:SC bar:1920 from: 0 till:1347 text:"1347" color:SC bar:1930 from: 0 till:1363 text:"1363" color:SC bar:1941 from: 0 till:1346 text:"1346" color:SC bar:1950 from: 0 till:1384 text:"1384" color:SC bar:1960 from: 0 till:1429 text:"1429" color:SC bar:1970 from: 0 till:1686 text:"1686" color:SC bar:1980 from: 0 till:1744 text:"1744" color:SC bar:1990 from: 0 till:1889 text:"1889" color:SC bar:2000 from: 0 till:2122 text:"2122" color:SC bar:1850 from: 912 till:1498 text:"586" color:AR bar:1860 from: 945 till:1550 text:"605" color:AR bar:1870 from: 894 till:1506 text:"612" color:AR bar:1880 from: 894 till:1528 text:"634" color:AR bar:1888 from: 947 till:1585 text:"638" color:AR bar:1900 from: 1117 till:1729 text:"612" color:AR bar:1910 from: 1333 till:2338 text:"1005" color:AR bar:1920 from: 1347 till:1983 text:"636" color:AR bar:1930 from: 1363 till:1990 text:"627" color:AR bar:1941 from: 1346 till:1876 text:"530" color:AR bar:1950 from: 1384 till:1925 text:"541" color:AR bar:1960 from: 1429 till:1909 text:"480" color:AR bar:1970 from: 1686 till:2177 text:"491" color:AR bar:1980 from: 1744 till:2127 text:"383" color:AR bar:1990 from: 1889 till:2282 text:"393" color:AR bar:2000 from: 2122 till:2523 text:"401" color:AR bar:1850 from: 1498 till:1778 text:"280" color:GU bar:1860 from: 1550 till:1811 text:"261" color:GU bar:1870 from: 1506 till:1775 text:"269" color:GU bar:1880 from: 1528 till:1794 text:"266" color:GU bar:1888 from: 1585 till:1847 text:"262" color:GU bar:1900 from: 1729 till:1974 text:"245" color:GU bar:1910 from: 2338 till:2714 text:"376" color:GU bar:1920 from: 1983 till:2202 text:"219" color:GU bar:1930 from: 1990 till:2251 text:"261" color:GU bar:1941 from: 1876 till:2115 text:"239" color:GU bar:1950 from: 1925 till:2118 text:"193" color:GU bar:1960 from: 1909 till:2072 text:"163" color:GU bar:1970 from: 2177 till:2323 text:"146" color:GU bar:1980 from: 2127 till:2261 text:"134" color:GU bar:1990 from: 2282 till:2447 text:"165" color:GU bar:2000 from: 2523 till:2667 text:"144" color:GU bar:1850 from: 1778 till:2135 text:"357" color:TA bar:1860 from: 1811 till:2206 text:"395" color:TA bar:1870 from: 1775 till:2100 text:"325" color:TA bar:1880 from: 1794 till:2141 text:"347" color:TA bar:1888 from: 1847 till:2169 text:"322" color:TA bar:1900 from: 1974 till:2252 text:"278" color:TA bar:1910 from: 2714 till:3015 text:"301" color:TA bar:1920 from: 2202 till:2516 text:"314" color:TA bar:1930 from: 2251 till:2577 text:"326" color:TA bar:1941 from: 2115 till:2425 text:"310" color:TA bar:1950 from: 2118 till:2425 text:"307" color:TA bar:1960 from: 2072 till:2468 text:"396" color:TA bar:1970 from: 2323 till:2665 text:"342" color:TA bar:1980 from: 2261 till:2554 text:"293" color:TA bar:1990 from: 2447 till:2688 text:"241" color:TA bar:2000 from: 2667 till:2995 text:"328" color:TA bar:1850 from: 2135 till:2641 text:"506" color:FT bar:1860 from: 2206 till:2784 text:"578" color:FT bar:1870 from: 2100 till:2612 text:"512" color:FT bar:1880 from: 2141 till:2662 text:"521" color:FT bar:1888 from: 2169 till:2603 text:"434" color:FT bar:1900 from: 2252 till:2655 text:"403" color:FT bar:1910 from: 3015 till:3595 text:"580" color:FT bar:1920 from: 2516 till:3116 text:"600" color:FT bar:1930 from: 2577 till:3111 text:"534" color:FT bar:1941 from: 2425 till:2913 text:"488" color:FT bar:1950 from: 2425 till:2929 text:"504" color:FT bar:1960 from: 2468 till:2934 text:"466" color:FT bar:1970 from: 2665 till:3090 text:"425" color:FT bar:1980 from: 2554 till:2989 text:"435" color:FT bar:1990 from: 2688 till:3141 text:"453" color:FT bar:2000 from: 2995 till:3511 text:"516" color:FT bar:1850 from: 2641 till:3582 text:"941" color:SE bar:1860 from: 2784 till:3933 text:"1149" color:SE bar:1870 from: 2612 till:3542 text:"930" color:SE bar:1880 from: 2662 till:3766 text:"1104" color:SE bar:1888 from: 2603 till:3616 text:"1013" color:SE bar:1900 from: 2655 till:3621 text:"966" color:SE bar:1910 from: 3595 till:4571 text:"976" color:SE bar:1920 from: 3116 till:3954 text:"838" color:SE bar:1930 from: 3111 till:3893 text:"782" color:SE bar:1941 from: 2913 till:3762 text:"849" color:SE bar:1950 from: 2929 till:3739 text:"810" color:SE bar:1960 from: 2934 till:3672 text:"738" color:SE bar:1970 from: 3090 till:3794 text:"704" color:SE bar:1980 from: 2989 till:3685 text:"696" color:SE bar:1990 from: 3141 till:3911 text:"770" color:SE bar:2000 from: 3511 till:4376 text:"865" color:SE

Languages

Half of the population () speaks Romansh (49.4%), with German being second most common (39.2%) and Italian being third ( 3.9%). Scuol is host to a branch of the Lia Rumantscha.

Economy

, there were a total of 2,240 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 39 people worked in 13 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 394 workers in 33 separate businesses. Finally, 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 ...

provided 1,807 jobs in 265 businesses. In 2013 a total of 20.6% of the population received social assistance.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the BDP with 43.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (20.1%), the SP (15.1%) and the FDP (10.3%). In the federal election, a total of 666 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 46.0%.

Crime

In 2014 the crime rate, of the over 200 crimes listed in the

Swiss Criminal Code The Swiss Criminal Code (SR/RS 311, , , , ) is a portion of the third part (SR/RS 3) of the Swiss law, internal Swiss law ("Private law - Administration of civil justice - Enforcement") that regulates the criminal code in Switzerland. The orig ...

(running from murder, robbery and assault to accepting bribes and election fraud), in Scuol was 41.3 per thousand residents. This rate is only 63.9% of the average rate in the entire country. During the same period, the rate of drug crimes was 8.5 per thousand residents and the rate of violations of immigration, visa and work permit laws was 0.9 per thousand.

Education

In Scuol about 69.7% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education 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 ...

'').

Transportation

The municipality has four railway stations: , , , and . All four are located on the Bever–Scuol-Tarasp line with regular service to and .

Hospital

There is one small regional hospital, called ''Ospidal Engiadina Bassa'' (Romansh: Hospital of the Lower Engadin). The hospital celebrated its 100th anniversary on 21 June 2008. It is one of the country's smallest hospitals, offering basic services such as departments of

surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

cardiology Cardiology () is the study of the heart. Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery di ...

dermatology Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the Human skin, skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A List of dermatologists, ...

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

gynecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the Female reproductive system, female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obste ...

, a 24-hour

Emergency Department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...

, and a 2-bed

intensive care Intensive care medicine, usually called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes p ...

unit. Understandably for a mountain resort with a major ski region,

orthopedic Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

procedures are very common.

Heritage sites of national significance

The ''Baselgia refurmada'', the ''Chasa Wieland Nr. 29'' and the ''Kurhaus Bad Tarasp'' (spa Bad Tarasp) in Scuol, the '' Chasté'' (a prehistoric site, a medieval fortress and a church) and the ''Doppelwohnhaus'' (Double-house) in Ardez, Tarasp Castle and the ''Trinkhalle'' (drinking hall) in Tarasp are all listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance
21 November 2008 version, accessed 12 October 2009 The ''Chastè'' site includes settlements from the late

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 ...

(Melauner culture) into the early

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

( Fritzens-Sanzeno culture) as well as some finds from the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. The Chasa Wieland Nr.29 in Scuol village was built around a three-story medieval stone tower. It was likely built by one of a few Graubünden noble families. The tower may have been damaged when Scuol was destroyed in 1499 during the

, but if so it was quickly repaired. During the Bündner Wirren, in 1622, Scuol and the tower were burned. Soon thereafter a farmhouse was built over the ruins, incorporating the thick walls. Some of the doorways are from the tower, while new windows had to be broken into the walls. The date 1753 was carved into the

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

. The walls still show the Pietra Rasa construction, where the mortar that holds the rough stones together is also used as a plaster to them. After plastering with mortar, lines are incised into the mortar to give the appearance of regular bricks or stones.

Climate

Due to its geographical positioning, being located in the depth of a valley, Scuol features a warm-summer humid continental climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: "''Dfb''") with moderate summers and chilly winters, which is usually accompanied with occasional snowfall. Despite seeing an average low of −8º in its coldest month, the winters here are not as cold as the towns upstream (such as

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

). The town sees an average of 94.5 days of rain per year and on average receives of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

. The wettest month is August during which time Scuol receives an average of of precipitation. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 11.8 days. The driest month of the year is February with an average of of precipitation over 4.9 days.

Notable people

* Felix Calonder, Swiss politician * Tonia Maria Zindel, Swiss actress

References

External links

Scuol municipality website
(in Romansh and German) * {{Authority control Municipalities of Graubünden Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland Spa towns in Switzerland Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden Populated places on the Inn (river)