Mels
Encyclopedia
Mels is a municipality
in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Sarganserland in the Seeztal
, canton
of St. Gallen, Switzerland
.
The municipality is located in the Sarganserland Wahlkreis. In terms of area, it is the largest municipality in the canton and covers the Weisstannen
valley and a part of the Seez valley. Northwest of town is Castels hill and west of the Nidberg is Castels fortress. It consists of the village of Mels, the settlements of Heiligkreuz bei Mels, Plons, Ragnatsch, the hamlets
of Butz, St. Martin, Mädris and Tils, the alpine settlement of Vermol as well as the Walser
villages of Schwendi and Weisstannen.
Chapfensee
is a reservoir
located in the municipality.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Azure two Keys Or in saltire.
, 228 are from Italy
, 563 are from ex-Yugoslavia
, 21 are from Austria
, 90 are from Turkey
, and 144 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.4%. Most of the population speaks German (90.8%), with Albanian being second most common ( 2.5%) and Italian being third ( 2.2%). Of the Swiss national languages , 7,114 speak German
, 10 people speak French
, 169 people speak Italian
, and 32 people speak Romansh.
The age distribution, , in Mels is; 1,073 children or 13.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,137 teenagers or 14.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,038 people or 13.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,300 people or 16.6% are between 30 and 39, 1,028 people or 13.1% are between 40 and 49, and 889 people or 11.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 641 people or 8.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 415 people or 5.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 262 people or 3.3% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 54 people or 0.7% who are between 90 and 99.
there were 737 persons (or 9.4% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 1,445 (or 18.4%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 4,926 (or 62.9%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 344 (or 4.4%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 60 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 50 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 31 who lived household made up of unrelated persons,and 244 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
In the 2007 federal election
the most popular party was the SVP
which received 43.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
(26.5%), the FDP
(10.4%) and the SP
(10.2%).
In Mels about 65.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
). Out of the total population in Mels, , the highest education level completed by 1,853 people (23.6% of the population) was Primary, while 2,780 (35.5%) have completed their secondary education, 586 (7.5%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 355 (4.5%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question.
The historical population is given in the following table:
The A3
national motorway ends at Mels; the portion north toward St. Margrethen
and the portion east toward Landquart
, Chur
, San Bernardino
and ultimately Bellinzona
are all part of the A13
national motorway.
) and the early medieval church of St. Peter und Paul, are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance
.
. Of the rest of the population, there are 7 individuals (or about 0.09% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic
faith, there are 144 individuals (or about 1.84% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 49 individuals (or about 0.63% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There is 1 individual who is Jewish
, and 417 (or about 5.32% of the population) who are Islam
ic. There are 65 individuals (or about 0.83% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 228 (or about 2.91% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 212 individuals (or about 2.71% of the population) did not answer the question.
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Sarganserland in the Seeztal
Seeztal
The Seeztal is a valley of the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, extending to the east of Lake Walen for some 10 km, formed by the river Seez. The valley appears to be a left branch off the Rhine valley at Sargans, but there is a divide at Mels...
, canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
History
Mels is first mentioned in 765 as Maile though this comes from a later copy of the original document. In 1018 it was mentioned as Meilis.Geography
Mels has an area, , of 139.2 km² (53.7 sq mi). Of this area, 42.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (25.5%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).The municipality is located in the Sarganserland Wahlkreis. In terms of area, it is the largest municipality in the canton and covers the Weisstannen
Weisstannen
Weisstannen is a village located in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. It lies in the municipality of Mels, south-west of Sargans.Weisstannen is located at 1,004 metres above sea level on the Seez River in the Weisstannen valley . It lies at the foot of the Pizol.- External links :*...
valley and a part of the Seez valley. Northwest of town is Castels hill and west of the Nidberg is Castels fortress. It consists of the village of Mels, the settlements of Heiligkreuz bei Mels, Plons, Ragnatsch, the hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Butz, St. Martin, Mädris and Tils, the alpine settlement of Vermol as well as the Walser
Walser
The Walser are German-speaking people who live in the Alps of Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein and Austria. The Walser people are named after the Wallis , the uppermost Rhône River valley...
villages of Schwendi and Weisstannen.
Chapfensee
Chapfensee
Chapfensee is a lake at Mels, Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. The area around the lake is a nature preserve.The reservoir was built in 1946/1947 and used to generate power at the plant Plons.-External links:* *...
is a reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
located in the municipality.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
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 the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Azure two Keys Or in saltire.
Demographics
Mels has a population (as of ) of . , about 14.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, , 30 are from GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, 228 are from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, 563 are from ex-Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
, 21 are from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, 90 are from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, and 144 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.4%. Most of the population speaks German (90.8%), with Albanian being second most common ( 2.5%) and Italian being third ( 2.2%). Of the Swiss national languages , 7,114 speak German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, 10 people speak French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, 169 people speak Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and 32 people speak Romansh.
The age distribution, , in Mels is; 1,073 children or 13.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,137 teenagers or 14.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,038 people or 13.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,300 people or 16.6% are between 30 and 39, 1,028 people or 13.1% are between 40 and 49, and 889 people or 11.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 641 people or 8.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 415 people or 5.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 262 people or 3.3% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 54 people or 0.7% who are between 90 and 99.
there were 737 persons (or 9.4% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 1,445 (or 18.4%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 4,926 (or 62.9%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 344 (or 4.4%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 60 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 50 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 31 who lived household made up of unrelated persons,and 244 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
which received 43.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
(26.5%), the FDP
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....
(10.4%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(10.2%).
In Mels about 65.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). Out of the total population in Mels, , the highest education level completed by 1,853 people (23.6% of the population) was Primary, while 2,780 (35.5%) have completed their secondary education, 586 (7.5%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 355 (4.5%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question.
The historical population is given in the following table:
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1800 | 2,433 |
| 1850 | 3,305 |
| 1900 | 4,035 |
| 1950 | 5,837 |
| 2000 | 7,837 |
Transportation
The municipality is located on the A3 motorway.The A3
A3 (Switzerland)
The A3 is a motorway in northeast Switzerland, running diagonally from France toward the southeast border, and passing by Zurich on the way. The total length of the A3 motorway spans roughly , but parts of the road share sections of the A1 and A2 motorways....
national motorway ends at Mels; the portion north toward St. Margrethen
St. Margrethen
St. Margrethen is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.-Geography:...
and the portion east toward Landquart
Landquart
Landquart may be*the river that flows through the Prättigau valley, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, see Landquart River*a district in the Canton of Graubünden, see Landquart...
, Chur
Chur
Chur or Coire is the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and lies in the northern part of the canton.-History:The name "chur" derives perhaps from the Celtic kora or koria, meaning "tribe", or from the Latin curia....
, San Bernardino
San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...
and ultimately Bellinzona
Bellinzona
Bellinzona is the administrative capital of the canton Ticino in Switzerland. The city is famous for its three castles that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000....
are all part of the A13
A13 (Switzerland)
The A13 is a motorway, at times an Autostrasse , which runs from St. Margrethen in northeastern Switzerland through to Ascona in southern Switzerland, crossing the main chain of the Alps in the Grisons area. It is the southern half of European route E43.- Construction :The A13 started life as a...
national motorway.
Heritage sites of national significance
Castels hill (which has been occupied from prehistory until the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
) and the early medieval church of St. Peter und Paul, are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
.
Economy
, Mels had an unemployment rate of 0.82%. , there were 330 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 122 businesses involved in this sector. 722 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 90 businesses in this sector. 1,932 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 240 businesses in this sector. the average unemployment rate was 3.0%. There were 458 businesses in the municipality of which 92 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 249 were involved in the third. there were 1,676 residents who worked in the municipality, while 2,270 residents worked outside Mels and 1,457 people commuted into the municipality for work.Religion
From the , 6,089 or 77.7% are Roman Catholic, while 625 or 8.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there are 7 individuals (or about 0.09% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...
faith, there are 144 individuals (or about 1.84% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 49 individuals (or about 0.63% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There is 1 individual who is Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 417 (or about 5.32% of the population) who are Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. There are 65 individuals (or about 0.83% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 228 (or about 2.91% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 212 individuals (or about 2.71% of the population) did not answer the question.
Notable people
People who were born or live in Mels:- Josef Ackermann (* 1948), Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank
- Paul GuldinPaul GuldinPaul Guldin was a Swiss Jesuit mathematician and astronomer. He discovered the Guldinus theorem to determine the surface and the volume of a solid of revolution. This theorem is also known as Pappus–Guldinus theorem and Pappus's centroid theorem, attributed to Pappus of Alexandria...
(* 1577; † 1643), Swiss Mathematician - Otto PfisterOtto PfisterOtto Pfister is a German football manager, and one of Germany's most successful coaching exports, voted Africa's Manager of the Year in 1992. He has been to four African Cup of Nations competitions with Upper Volta , Zaire, Cameroon and Ghana) and reached the African Cup of Nations final twice,...
(* 1937), German Football coach - Paul Good (* 1942), Philosophist
- Andy EgertAndy EgertAndreas "Andy" Egert is a Swiss blues guitarist, harmonica player and singer.Andy, who started his career around 30 years ago as a street musician, is mainly a live performing artist making around 100 live performances a year....
(* 1961), Swiss Blues Musician - Doris Ackermann (* 1963), Singer and Song Writer
- Andy Prinz (* 1974), Music producer (e.g. for DJ Tatana)