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St. Moritz

St. Moritz (also German: Sankt Moritz, Romansh: San Murezzan , Italian: San Maurizio,[a] French: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about 1,800 metres (5,910 ft) above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.

St. Moritz
St. Moritz on an evening in February 2009, with the lake frozen
Location of St. Moritz
St. Moritz
St. Moritz
Coordinates: 46°29′50″N 9°50′16″E / 46.49722°N 9.83778°E / 46.49722; 9.83778Coordinates: 46°29′50″N 9°50′16″E / 46.49722°N 9.83778°E / 46.49722; 9.83778
CountrySwitzerland
CantonGrisons
DistrictMaloja
Area
 • Total28.69 km2 (11.08 sq mi)
Elevation
(Traunter Plazzas)
1,822 m (5,978 ft)
Population
 (2018-12-31)[2]
 • Total4,928
 • Density170/km2 (440/sq mi)
DemonymGerman: St. Moritzer(in)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (Central European Time)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (Central European Summer Time)
Postal code(s)
6969
SFOS number3787
LocalitiesSt. Moritz-Dorf, St. Moritz-Bad, Suvretta, Champfèr (eastern part)
Surrounded byBever, Celerina/Schlarigna, Samedan, Silvaplana
Websitewww.gemeinde-stmoritz.ch
SFSO statistics

St. Moritz lies on the southern slopes of the Albula Alps below the Piz Nair (3,056 m or 10,026 ft) overlooking the flat and wide glaciated valley of the Upper Engadine and eponymous lake: Lake St. Moritz. It hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948.

History

 
St. Moritz with Kulm Hotel c. 1870. Etching by Heinrich Müller

Votive offerings, swords, and needles from the Bronze Age found at the base of the springs in St. Moritz indicate that the Celts had already discovered them. St. Moritz is first mentioned around 1137–39 as ad sanctum Mauricium.[3] The village was named after Saint Maurice, an early Christian saint from southern Egypt said to have been martyred in 3rd century Roman Switzerland while serving as leader of the Theban Legion.

Pilgrims traveled to Saint Mauritius, often to the church of the springs, where they drank from the blessed, bubbling waters of the Mauritius springs in the hopes of being healed. In 1519, the Medici pope Leo X promised full absolution to anyone making a pilgrimage to the church of the springs. In the 16th century, the first scientific treatises about the St. Moritz mineral springs were written. In 1535, Paracelsus, the great practitioner of natural remedies, spent some time in St. Moritz.

 
St. Moritz in January 1931

Although it received some visitors during the summer, the origins of the winter resort only date back 159 years ago to September 1864, when St. Moritz hotel pioneer Caspar Badrutt made a wager with four British summer guests: they should return in winter and, if the village was not to their liking, then he would reimburse their travel costs. If they were to find St. Moritz attractive in winter, then he would invite them to stay as his guests for as long as they wished.[4] This marked not only the start of winter tourism in St. Moritz but also the start of winter tourism in the whole of the Alps. The first tourist office in Switzerland was established the same year in the village. St. Moritz developed rapidly in the late nineteenth century; the first electric light in Switzerland was installed in 1878 at the Kulm Hotel, and the first curling tournament on the continent was held in 1880.[4] The first European Ice-Skating Championships were held at St. Moritz in 1882 and first golf tournament in the Alps held in 1889. The first bob run and bob race was held in 1890. By 1896, St. Moritz became the first village in the Alps to install electric trams and opened the Palace Hotel.[4] A horse race was held on snow in 1906, and on the frozen lake the following year. The first ski school in Switzerland was established in St. Moritz in 1929.[4]

St. Moritz hosted the 1928 Winter Olympics—the stadium still stands today—and again in 1948. It has hosted over 20 FIBT World Championships, four FIS Alpine World Ski Championships (1934/1974/2003/2017) and over 40 Engadin Skimarathons since 1969. It has also hosted many other events since, including some unlikely ones on the frozen lake in the 1970s and 1980s such as a golf tournament, (1979), a snow polo tournament (every year in January starting in 1985) and Cricket on Ice (1989).[4] St. Moritz has also been the venue for many Sailing and Windsurfing World Championships.

Since the early 1980s St. Moritz is also promoted and known as Top of the World. The expression was registered as a trademark by the tourist office in 1987.

Geography

 
St. Moritz from above

St. Moritz had an area (as of the 2004/09 survey) of 28.69 km2 (11.08 sq mi).[5] Of this area, about 26.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 20.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.0% is settled (buildings or roads) and 44.8% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of 160 ha (400 acres) or about 5.6% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of 23 ha (57 acres) over the 1985 amount. Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by 3 ha (7.4 acres) and is now about 1.15% of the total area. Of the agricultural land 149 ha (370 acres) is fields and grasslands, and 643 ha (1,590 acres) consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1985 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by 37 ha (91 acres). Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by 33 ha (82 acres). Rivers and lakes cover 91 ha (220 acres) in the municipality.[6][7]

The highest summit in the Eastern Alps is Piz Bernina at 4,048.6 m (13,283 ft), located 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of the village.

Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Oberengadin sub-district of the Maloja district, after 2017 it was part of the Maloja Region. It consists of the settlements of St. Moritz-Dorf (elev. 1,830 m (6,005 ft)), Bad (1,775 m (5,825 ft)), Champfèr (1,825 m (5,990 ft)), and the village section of Suvretta.

Sport

 
Cartier Polo World Cup 2008

St. Moritz has been a resort for winter sport vacations since the 19th century. Students from Oxford and Cambridge went there to play each other; the predecessor of the recurring Ice Hockey Varsity Match was a bandy match played in St. Moritz in 1885. St. Moritz was the host city for the Winter Olympic Games in 1928 and 1948, one of three cities to host twice, along with Innsbruck, Austria, and Lake Placid in the United States. It also hosted the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 1934, 1974, 2003, and 2017.

Additionally, St. Moritz has hosted the FIBT World Championships (bobsleigh and skeleton racing) a record 21 times. Since 1985, it has hosted Snow Polo St. Moritz, a tournament featuring many of the world's finest team and played on a specially marked field on the frozen lake.[8]

St. Moritz is extremely popular in the summer months as an altitude training base for distance athletes, particularly cyclists, runners, and race walkers. Its popularity extends to the altitude, weather, world class athletics track, and availability of paths and trails in the area.

In 1904, the oldest and world's last remaining natural bob run was opened. The 1.72 km (1.07 mi) ice channel – also known as the world's biggest "ice sculpture" – is built every winter from the ground up with only snow and water. The bob run hosted numerous world championships and was used in both Olympic Winter Games. In the early 1930s, some members of the bob club started taking guests along for taxi rides; today they run with slightly modified racing bobs.

For the 1928 games, the cross-country skiing and the cross-country skiing part of the Nordic combined events took place around the hills of St. Moritz.[9] Twenty years later, once again the cross-country skiing, the cross-country skiing part of the Nordic combined, and the ice hockey events took place in St. Moritz.[10]

In addition to the above sports, St. Moritz is also well known as a destination for sailing. It is the host venue for the annual St. Moritz Match Race held on lake St. Moritz. The St. Moritz Match Race event is part of the prestigious World Match Racing Tour which covers three continents. The identical supplied (BLU-26) boats are raced two at a time in an on the water dogfight which tests the sailors and skippers to the limits of their physical abilities. Points accrued count towards the World Match Racing Tour and a place in the final event, with the overall winner taking the title ISAF World Match Racing Tour Champion.

 
Sailing on Lake St. Moritz

Tourism

 
The Badrutt's Palace Hotel is considered the birthplace of winter sports[11]

Thanks to its favorable location, St. Moritz enjoys over 300 days of sunshine a year. Every winter it hosts the "White Turf" horse race on the frozen Lake St. Moritz attended by the international upper class. Prominent property owners in St. Moritz included Sonja Ziemann, Gunter Sachs, Herbert von Karajan, Lakshmi Mittal, Ivan Glasenberg, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Ingvar Kamprad, Helmut Horten, Giovanni Agnelli, Aristoteles Onassis and Stavros Niarchos.

Popular pastimes include skiing, snowboarding, and hiking, and nearby there is also the world-famous Cresta Run toboggan course.

The year-round population is 5,600, with some 3,000 seasonal employees supporting hotels and rental units with a total of 13,000 beds. The Kulm Hotel St. Moritz is a large luxury hotel in St. Moritz.

Main sights

 
Plazza da Scoula
and St. Moritz library

Climate

St. Moritz has a subarctic climate (Köppen: Dfc) due to its particularly high elevation near to the tree line. It has cool summers coupled with cold nights and very cold, snowy winters with highs around freezing and 254 cm (100 in) of average annual snowfall. The average temperature, about 2°C (36°F; measured in the nearby town of Samedan), is extremely low compared to that of the Swiss Plateau. It is also significantly lower to that of La Brévine, traditionally considered the coldest inhabited place in Switzerland.

Climate data for Samedan (Reference period 1991−2020)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) −1.3
(29.7)
0.5
(32.9)
4.0
(39.2)
7.9
(46.2)
12.9
(55.2)
17.0
(62.6)
19.3
(66.7)
18.8
(65.8)
14.6
(58.3)
10.5
(50.9)
4.1
(39.4)
−0.7
(30.7)
9.0
(48.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) −8.4
(16.9)
−7.1
(19.2)
−2.4
(27.7)
1.9
(35.4)
6.7
(44.1)
10.5
(50.9)
12.3
(54.1)
11.8
(53.2)
7.9
(46.2)
3.6
(38.5)
−2.1
(28.2)
−7.0
(19.4)
2.3
(36.1)
Average low °C (°F) −15.8
(3.6)
−15.6
(3.9)
−9.6
(14.7)
−4.3
(24.3)
0.1
(32.2)
3.2
(37.8)
4.7
(40.5)
4.7
(40.5)
1.3
(34.3)
−2.6
(27.3)
−7.8
(18.0)
−13.4
(7.9)
−4.6
(23.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 29
(1.1)
19
(0.7)
24
(0.9)
37
(1.5)
67
(2.6)
91
(3.6)
87
(3.4)
100
(3.9)
73
(2.9)
77
(3.0)
70
(2.8)
37
(1.5)
710
(28.0)
Average snowfall cm (inches) 51
(20)
42
(17)
30
(12)
21
(8.3)
4
(1.6)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
2
(0.8)
12
(4.7)
40
(16)
52
(20)
254
(100)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 5.2 4.2 4.3 6.0 9.2 11.0 10.6 11.0 8.0 8.1 7.9 6.1 91.6
Average snowy days (≥ 1.0 cm) 8.8 8.0 6.9 5.1 1.1 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.5 2.6 6.7 9.5 49.5
Average relative humidity (%) 78 73 70 69 70 71 71 75 76 77 79 80 74
Mean monthly sunshine hours 120 121 147 150 164 186 199 181 155 138 103 102 1,767
Percent possible sunshine 59 58 56 51 48 52 58 57 58 57 51 52 55
Source: MeteoSwiss[13]

Demographics

Population

St. Moritz has a population (as of 31 December 2020) of 4,945.[14] As of 2008, 38.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.[15] Over the 10 years up to 2009 the population decreased at a rate of 4.9%.[16]

As of 2000, the gender distribution of the population was 45.4% male and 54.6% female.[17] The age distribution, as of 2000, in St. Moritz is; 423 children or 7.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 502 teenagers or 9.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 960 people or 17.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,055 people or 18.9% are between 30 and 39, 864 people or 15.5% are between 40 and 49, and 820 people or 14.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 532 people or 9.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 289 people or 5.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 121 people or 2.2% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 23 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.[15]

In 2014 there were 2,822 private households in St. Moritz with an average household size of 1.84 persons. Of the 884 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 29.1% were single family homes and 40.8% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 19.9% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 8.6% were built between 1991 and 2000.[18] In 2013 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 9.32. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2015, was 3.18%.[7]

Historic Population[3][17]
year population
1803 183
1850 228
1900 1,603
1910 3,197
1950 2,558
1960 3,751
1970 5,699
1980 5,900
1990 5,426
2000 5,589
Population by nationality (Census 2000)
Nationality Number
Without dual-citizens
Number
Including dual-citizens
Switzerland 3,079 3,527
Italy 897 1,162
Portugal 435 445
Germany 202 232
Serbia-Montenegro 106 108
Austria 74 104
France 56 73
Croatia 62 63
Spain 33 41
United Kingdom 30 41
Netherlands 17 29
Bosnia-Herzegovina 27 28

Politics

In the 2015 federal election the most popular party was the FDP with 31.0% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (27.0%), the BDP (15.1%) and the CVP (11.0%). In the federal election, a total of 1,428 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 54.1%.[19]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 34.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (24.5%), the SP (22.4%), and the CVP (17%).[16]

Education

In St. Moritz about 65.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).[16]

Employment

St. Moritz is a regional economic centre and a tourist community.[20] As of  2014, there were a total of 7,590 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 24 people worked in 7 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 1,039 workers in 74 separate businesses. A minority (17.0%) of the secondary sector employees worked in very small businesses. There were 22 small businesses with a total of 533 employees and 3 mid sized businesses with a total of 329 employees. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 6,527 jobs in 768 businesses. In 2014 a total of 3,820 employees worked in 752 small companies (less than 50 employees). There were 14 mid sized businesses with 1,928 employees and 2 large businesses which employed 779 people (for an average size of 389.5).[21] The Badrutt's Palace Hotel (Five Star) has a staff of 520 persons and is the biggest employer in St. Moritz.

In 2014 a total of 9.3% of the population received social assistance.[7]

In the second quarter of 2016 an average of 1,062 workers commuted from outside Switzerland to work in the municipality, representing a minority of the employees.[22]

In 2015 local hotels had a total of 599,734 overnight stays, of which 69.2% were international visitors.[23] In the same year there was one movie theater in the municipality with 267 seats.[24]

Languages

Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (58.8%), with Italian being second most common (21.8%), and Portuguese being third (6.6%).[16] Originally, the entire population spoke the Upper-Engadin Romansh dialect of Puter. Due to increasing trade with the outside world, Romansh usage began to decline. In 1880, only 50.2% spoke Romansh as a first language. Romansh lost ground to both German and Italian. In 1900, 31% of the population spoke Italian as a first language, and in 1910, it was about the same. In the following years, the percentage of Romansh and Italian speakers both decreased against German speakers. In 1941, only 20% spoke Romansh, and in 1970 it was 8%. In 2000, only 4.7% of the population spoke Romansh.[25]

Languages in St. Moritz GR
Languages Census 1980 Census 1990 Census 2000
Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
German 3,092 52.41% 3,186 58.72% 3,286 58.79%
Italian 1,608 27.25% 1,157 21.32% 1,220 21.83%
Romansh 569 9.64% 338 6.23% 264 4.72%
Population 5,900 100% 5,426 100% 5,589 100%

Transportation

 
St. Moritz is a regional hub for trains and buses

St. Moritz is the highest town in the country with a railway station. St. Moritz railway station is situated in the centre of the town, near the lakeshore and at the bottom of Via Serlas. It is operated by the Rhaetian Railway, and is the terminus for Albula and Bernina railway lines. The Glacier Express and Bernina Express trains stop at St. Moritz.

Near the railway station is an important Swiss PostBus stop.

The St. Moritz–Corviglia funicular links St. Moritz with the Corviglia summit and ski area.

In popular culture

 
Norman Foster's Chesa Futura in St. Moritz

Notable people

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Outdated; usually replaced by the German name.

References

  1. ^ a b "Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeinden nach 4 Hauptbereichen". Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Ständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Staatsangehörigkeitskategorie Geschlecht und Gemeinde; Provisorische Jahresergebnisse; 2018". Federal Statistical Office. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b St. Moritz in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  4. ^ a b c d e . www.stmoritz.ch. Archived from the original on 27 December 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  5. ^ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
  6. ^ "Arealstatistik Land Use - Gemeinden nach 10 Klassen". www.landuse-stat.admin.ch. Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 24 November 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  7. ^ a b c Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Regional portraits accessed 27 October 2016
  8. ^ "The Cradle of Snow Polo". Snow Polo World Cup. from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  9. ^ 1928 Winter Olympics official report. Part 2. pp. 8-10. (in French)
  10. ^ 1948 Winter Olympics official report. pp. 6, 21, 23. (in French and German)
  11. ^ The Thrill of Winter Sports in the Alpine Resort of St. Moritz
  12. ^ Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance 2009-05-01 at the Wayback Machine 21.11.2008 version, (in German) accessed 20-Oct-2009
  13. ^ "Climate Normals Samedan (Reference period 1991−2020)" (PDF). Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, MeteoSwiss. 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Ständige und nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen, Geburtsort und Staatsangehörigkeit". bfs.admin.ch (in German). Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  15. ^ a b Graubunden Population Statistics 2009-08-27 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 13 February 2010
  16. ^ a b c d Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 20-Oct-2009
  17. ^ a b Graubunden in Numbers 2009-09-24 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 21 September 2009
  18. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Thema 09 - Bau- und Wohnungswesen (in German) accessed 5 May 2016
  19. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Nationalratswahlen 2015: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung nach Gemeinden 2016-08-02 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 18 July 2016
  20. ^ "Die Raumgliederungen der Schweiz 2016" (in German, French, Italian, and English). Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  21. ^ Federal Statistical Office -Arbeitsstätten und Beschäftigte nach Gemeinde, Wirtschaftssektor und Grössenklasse accessed 31 October 2016
  22. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Cross Border Workers accessed 27 October 2016
  23. ^ Federal Statistical Office - Hotellerie: Ankünfte und Logiernächte der geöffneten Betriebe accessed 31 October 2016
  24. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Kinoinfrastruktur nach Gemeinde und Kinotyp 2016-09-26 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 9 August 2016
  25. ^ "Wohnbevölkerung mit Hauptsprache Rätoromanisch, 2000". Statistical Atlas of Switzerland. Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 2000. Retrieved 9 March 2020.

External links

moritz, this, article, about, town, switzerland, other, uses, disambiguation, also, german, sankt, moritz, romansh, murezzan, help, info, italian, maurizio, french, saint, moritz, high, alpine, resort, town, engadine, switzerland, elevation, about, metres, abo. This article is about the town in Switzerland For other uses see St Moritz disambiguation St Moritz also German Sankt Moritz Romansh San Murezzan help info Italian San Maurizio a French Saint Moritz is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland at an elevation of about 1 800 metres 5 910 ft above sea level It is Upper Engadine s major town and a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubunden St MoritzMunicipality in SwitzerlandSt Moritz on an evening in February 2009 with the lake frozenFlagCoat of armsLocation of St MoritzSt MoritzShow map of SwitzerlandSt MoritzShow map of Canton of GrisonsCoordinates 46 29 50 N 9 50 16 E 46 49722 N 9 83778 E 46 49722 9 83778 Coordinates 46 29 50 N 9 50 16 E 46 49722 N 9 83778 E 46 49722 9 83778CountrySwitzerlandCantonGrisonsDistrictMalojaArea 1 Total28 69 km2 11 08 sq mi Elevation Traunter Plazzas 1 822 m 5 978 ft Population 2018 12 31 2 Total4 928 Density170 km2 440 sq mi DemonymGerman St Moritzer in Time zoneUTC 01 00 Central European Time Summer DST UTC 02 00 Central European Summer Time Postal code s 6969SFOS number3787LocalitiesSt Moritz Dorf St Moritz Bad Suvretta Champfer eastern part Surrounded byBever Celerina Schlarigna Samedan SilvaplanaWebsitewww wbr gemeinde stmoritz wbr ch SFSO statisticsSt Moritz lies on the southern slopes of the Albula Alps below the Piz Nair 3 056 m or 10 026 ft overlooking the flat and wide glaciated valley of the Upper Engadine and eponymous lake Lake St Moritz It hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948 Contents 1 History 2 Geography 3 Sport 4 Tourism 5 Main sights 6 Climate 7 Demographics 7 1 Population 7 2 Politics 7 3 Education 7 4 Employment 7 5 Languages 8 Transportation 9 In popular culture 10 Notable people 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 External linksHistory Edit St Moritz with Kulm Hotel c 1870 Etching by Heinrich Muller Votive offerings swords and needles from the Bronze Age found at the base of the springs in St Moritz indicate that the Celts had already discovered them St Moritz is first mentioned around 1137 39 as ad sanctum Mauricium 3 The village was named after Saint Maurice an early Christian saint from southern Egypt said to have been martyred in 3rd century Roman Switzerland while serving as leader of the Theban Legion Pilgrims traveled to Saint Mauritius often to the church of the springs where they drank from the blessed bubbling waters of the Mauritius springs in the hopes of being healed In 1519 the Medici pope Leo X promised full absolution to anyone making a pilgrimage to the church of the springs In the 16th century the first scientific treatises about the St Moritz mineral springs were written In 1535 Paracelsus the great practitioner of natural remedies spent some time in St Moritz St Moritz in January 1931 Although it received some visitors during the summer the origins of the winter resort only date back 159 years ago to September 1864 when St Moritz hotel pioneer Caspar Badrutt made a wager with four British summer guests they should return in winter and if the village was not to their liking then he would reimburse their travel costs If they were to find St Moritz attractive in winter then he would invite them to stay as his guests for as long as they wished 4 This marked not only the start of winter tourism in St Moritz but also the start of winter tourism in the whole of the Alps The first tourist office in Switzerland was established the same year in the village St Moritz developed rapidly in the late nineteenth century the first electric light in Switzerland was installed in 1878 at the Kulm Hotel and the first curling tournament on the continent was held in 1880 4 The first European Ice Skating Championships were held at St Moritz in 1882 and first golf tournament in the Alps held in 1889 The first bob run and bob race was held in 1890 By 1896 St Moritz became the first village in the Alps to install electric trams and opened the Palace Hotel 4 A horse race was held on snow in 1906 and on the frozen lake the following year The first ski school in Switzerland was established in St Moritz in 1929 4 St Moritz hosted the 1928 Winter Olympics the stadium still stands today and again in 1948 It has hosted over 20 FIBT World Championships four FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1934 1974 2003 2017 and over 40 Engadin Skimarathons since 1969 It has also hosted many other events since including some unlikely ones on the frozen lake in the 1970s and 1980s such as a golf tournament 1979 a snow polo tournament every year in January starting in 1985 and Cricket on Ice 1989 4 St Moritz has also been the venue for many Sailing and Windsurfing World Championships Since the early 1980s St Moritz is also promoted and known as Top of the World The expression was registered as a trademark by the tourist office in 1987 Geography Edit St Moritz from above St Moritz had an area as of the 2004 09 survey of 28 69 km2 11 08 sq mi 5 Of this area about 26 3 is used for agricultural purposes while 20 0 is forested Of the rest of the land 9 0 is settled buildings or roads and 44 8 is unproductive land In the 2004 09 survey a total of 160 ha 400 acres or about 5 6 of the total area was covered with buildings an increase of 23 ha 57 acres over the 1985 amount Over the same time period the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by 3 ha 7 4 acres and is now about 1 15 of the total area Of the agricultural land 149 ha 370 acres is fields and grasslands and 643 ha 1 590 acres consists of alpine grazing areas Since 1985 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by 37 ha 91 acres Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by 33 ha 82 acres Rivers and lakes cover 91 ha 220 acres in the municipality 6 7 The highest summit in the Eastern Alps is Piz Bernina at 4 048 6 m 13 283 ft located 15 km 9 3 mi southeast of the village Before 2017 the municipality was located in the Oberengadin sub district of the Maloja district after 2017 it was part of the Maloja Region It consists of the settlements of St Moritz Dorf elev 1 830 m 6 005 ft Bad 1 775 m 5 825 ft Champfer 1 825 m 5 990 ft and the village section of Suvretta Sport Edit Cartier Polo World Cup 2008 St Moritz has been a resort for winter sport vacations since the 19th century Students from Oxford and Cambridge went there to play each other the predecessor of the recurring Ice Hockey Varsity Match was a bandy match played in St Moritz in 1885 St Moritz was the host city for the Winter Olympic Games in 1928 and 1948 one of three cities to host twice along with Innsbruck Austria and Lake Placid in the United States It also hosted the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 1934 1974 2003 and 2017 Additionally St Moritz has hosted the FIBT World Championships bobsleigh and skeleton racing a record 21 times Since 1985 it has hosted Snow Polo St Moritz a tournament featuring many of the world s finest team and played on a specially marked field on the frozen lake 8 St Moritz is extremely popular in the summer months as an altitude training base for distance athletes particularly cyclists runners and race walkers Its popularity extends to the altitude weather world class athletics track and availability of paths and trails in the area In 1904 the oldest and world s last remaining natural bob run was opened The 1 72 km 1 07 mi ice channel also known as the world s biggest ice sculpture is built every winter from the ground up with only snow and water The bob run hosted numerous world championships and was used in both Olympic Winter Games In the early 1930s some members of the bob club started taking guests along for taxi rides today they run with slightly modified racing bobs For the 1928 games the cross country skiing and the cross country skiing part of the Nordic combined events took place around the hills of St Moritz 9 Twenty years later once again the cross country skiing the cross country skiing part of the Nordic combined and the ice hockey events took place in St Moritz 10 In addition to the above sports St Moritz is also well known as a destination for sailing It is the host venue for the annual St Moritz Match Race held on lake St Moritz The St Moritz Match Race event is part of the prestigious World Match Racing Tour which covers three continents The identical supplied BLU 26 boats are raced two at a time in an on the water dogfight which tests the sailors and skippers to the limits of their physical abilities Points accrued count towards the World Match Racing Tour and a place in the final event with the overall winner taking the title ISAF World Match Racing Tour Champion Sailing on Lake St MoritzTourism Edit The Badrutt s Palace Hotel is considered the birthplace of winter sports 11 Thanks to its favorable location St Moritz enjoys over 300 days of sunshine a year Every winter it hosts the White Turf horse race on the frozen Lake St Moritz attended by the international upper class Prominent property owners in St Moritz included Sonja Ziemann Gunter Sachs Herbert von Karajan Lakshmi Mittal Ivan Glasenberg Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Ingvar Kamprad Helmut Horten Giovanni Agnelli Aristoteles Onassis and Stavros Niarchos Popular pastimes include skiing snowboarding and hiking and nearby there is also the world famous Cresta Run toboggan course The year round population is 5 600 with some 3 000 seasonal employees supporting hotels and rental units with a total of 13 000 beds The Kulm Hotel St Moritz is a large luxury hotel in St Moritz Main sights Edit Plazza da Scoulaand St Moritz library The Segantini Museum dedicated to Giovanni Segantini a painter that lived the last five years of his life in Engadine The Segantini Museum is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance 12 The bobsled run a very rare all natural venue typically open by mid December Viewing the glacier landscape there are a number of notable vistas Much can be seen by descending from Diavolezza to the Morteratsch Glacier The 3 300 m 10 800 ft Piz Corvatsch with its ice cave and its lengthy 8 km 5 mi piste down to St Moritz Bad Climate EditSt Moritz has a subarctic climate Koppen Dfc due to its particularly high elevation near to the tree line It has cool summers coupled with cold nights and very cold snowy winters with highs around freezing and 254 cm 100 in of average annual snowfall The average temperature about 2 C 36 F measured in the nearby town of Samedan is extremely low compared to that of the Swiss Plateau It is also significantly lower to that of La Brevine traditionally considered the coldest inhabited place in Switzerland Climate data for Samedan Reference period 1991 2020 Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearAverage high C F 1 3 29 7 0 5 32 9 4 0 39 2 7 9 46 2 12 9 55 2 17 0 62 6 19 3 66 7 18 8 65 8 14 6 58 3 10 5 50 9 4 1 39 4 0 7 30 7 9 0 48 2 Daily mean C F 8 4 16 9 7 1 19 2 2 4 27 7 1 9 35 4 6 7 44 1 10 5 50 9 12 3 54 1 11 8 53 2 7 9 46 2 3 6 38 5 2 1 28 2 7 0 19 4 2 3 36 1 Average low C F 15 8 3 6 15 6 3 9 9 6 14 7 4 3 24 3 0 1 32 2 3 2 37 8 4 7 40 5 4 7 40 5 1 3 34 3 2 6 27 3 7 8 18 0 13 4 7 9 4 6 23 7 Average precipitation mm inches 29 1 1 19 0 7 24 0 9 37 1 5 67 2 6 91 3 6 87 3 4 100 3 9 73 2 9 77 3 0 70 2 8 37 1 5 710 28 0 Average snowfall cm inches 51 20 42 17 30 12 21 8 3 4 1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 8 12 4 7 40 16 52 20 254 100 Average precipitation days 1 0 mm 5 2 4 2 4 3 6 0 9 2 11 0 10 6 11 0 8 0 8 1 7 9 6 1 91 6Average snowy days 1 0 cm 8 8 8 0 6 9 5 1 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 5 2 6 6 7 9 5 49 5Average relative humidity 78 73 70 69 70 71 71 75 76 77 79 80 74Mean monthly sunshine hours 120 121 147 150 164 186 199 181 155 138 103 102 1 767Percent possible sunshine 59 58 56 51 48 52 58 57 58 57 51 52 55Source MeteoSwiss 13 Demographics EditPopulation Edit St Moritz has a population as of 31 December 2020 of 4 945 14 As of 2008 update 38 0 of the population was made up of foreign nationals 15 Over the 10 years up to 2009 the population decreased at a rate of 4 9 16 As of 2000 update the gender distribution of the population was 45 4 male and 54 6 female 17 The age distribution as of 2000 update in St Moritz is 423 children or 7 6 of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 502 teenagers or 9 0 are between 10 and 19 Of the adult population 960 people or 17 2 of the population are between 20 and 29 years old 1 055 people or 18 9 are between 30 and 39 864 people or 15 5 are between 40 and 49 and 820 people or 14 7 are between 50 and 59 The senior population distribution is 532 people or 9 5 of the population are between 60 and 69 years old 289 people or 5 2 are between 70 and 79 there are 121 people or 2 2 who are between 80 and 89 and there are 23 people or 0 4 who are 90 and older 15 In 2014 there were 2 822 private households in St Moritz with an average household size of 1 84 persons Of the 884 inhabited buildings in the municipality in 2000 about 29 1 were single family homes and 40 8 were multiple family buildings Additionally about 19 9 of the buildings were built before 1919 while 8 6 were built between 1991 and 2000 18 In 2013 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 9 32 The vacancy rate for the municipality in 2015 update was 3 18 7 Historic Population 3 17 year population1803 1831850 2281900 1 6031910 3 1971950 2 5581960 3 7511970 5 6991980 5 9001990 5 4262000 5 589Population by nationality Census 2000 Nationality Number Without dual citizens Number Including dual citizensSwitzerland 3 079 3 527Italy 897 1 162Portugal 435 445Germany 202 232Serbia Montenegro 106 108Austria 74 104France 56 73Croatia 62 63Spain 33 41United Kingdom 30 41Netherlands 17 29Bosnia Herzegovina 27 28Politics Edit In the 2015 federal election the most popular party was the FDP with 31 0 of the vote The next three most popular parties were the SVP 27 0 the BDP 15 1 and the CVP 11 0 In the federal election a total of 1 428 votes were cast and the voter turnout was 54 1 19 In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 34 9 of the vote The next three most popular parties were the FDP 24 5 the SP 22 4 and the CVP 17 16 Education Edit In St Moritz about 65 8 of the population between age 25 64 have completed either non mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education either university or a Fachhochschule 16 Employment Edit St Moritz is a regional economic centre and a tourist community 20 As of 2014 update there were a total of 7 590 people employed in the municipality Of these a total of 24 people worked in 7 businesses in the primary economic sector The secondary sector employed 1 039 workers in 74 separate businesses A minority 17 0 of the secondary sector employees worked in very small businesses There were 22 small businesses with a total of 533 employees and 3 mid sized businesses with a total of 329 employees Finally the tertiary sector provided 6 527 jobs in 768 businesses In 2014 a total of 3 820 employees worked in 752 small companies less than 50 employees There were 14 mid sized businesses with 1 928 employees and 2 large businesses which employed 779 people for an average size of 389 5 21 The Badrutt s Palace Hotel Five Star has a staff of 520 persons and is the biggest employer in St Moritz In 2014 a total of 9 3 of the population received social assistance 7 In the second quarter of 2016 an average of 1 062 workers commuted from outside Switzerland to work in the municipality representing a minority of the employees 22 In 2015 local hotels had a total of 599 734 overnight stays of which 69 2 were international visitors 23 In the same year there was one movie theater in the municipality with 267 seats 24 Languages Edit Most of the population as of 2000 update speaks German 58 8 with Italian being second most common 21 8 and Portuguese being third 6 6 16 Originally the entire population spoke the Upper Engadin Romansh dialect of Puter Due to increasing trade with the outside world Romansh usage began to decline In 1880 only 50 2 spoke Romansh as a first language Romansh lost ground to both German and Italian In 1900 31 of the population spoke Italian as a first language and in 1910 it was about the same In the following years the percentage of Romansh and Italian speakers both decreased against German speakers In 1941 only 20 spoke Romansh and in 1970 it was 8 In 2000 only 4 7 of the population spoke Romansh 25 Languages in St Moritz GRLanguages Census 1980 Census 1990 Census 2000Number Percent Number Percent Number PercentGerman 3 092 52 41 3 186 58 72 3 286 58 79 Italian 1 608 27 25 1 157 21 32 1 220 21 83 Romansh 569 9 64 338 6 23 264 4 72 Population 5 900 100 5 426 100 5 589 100 Transportation Edit St Moritz is a regional hub for trains and buses St Moritz is the highest town in the country with a railway station St Moritz railway station is situated in the centre of the town near the lakeshore and at the bottom of Via Serlas It is operated by the Rhaetian Railway and is the terminus for Albula and Bernina railway lines The Glacier Express and Bernina Express trains stop at St Moritz Near the railway station is an important Swiss PostBus stop The St Moritz Corviglia funicular links St Moritz with the Corviglia summit and ski area In popular culture Edit Norman Foster s Chesa Futura in St Moritz Featured in the opening scenes of The Man Who Knew Too Much a 1934 thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock Mentioned in James Bond films Goldfinger of 1964 and For Your Eyes Only in 1981 Ski scenes from James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and A View to a Kill were filmed at St Moritz although attributed to other locations in the dialogue Mentioned in the 1969 Peter Sarstedt hit Where Do You Go To My Lovely describing a Euro jet setter who flies to St Moritz Mentioned in the popular 1990 romantic thriller novel Memories of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon as a ski resort where the characters of Catherine Alexander and Kirk Reynolds go for vacation Location of Kars hideout in JoJo s Bizarre Adventure Part 2 Battle Tendency Mentioned in the 2004 film The Prince and Me Shown in an episode of Smallville where Lois Lane s sister is running from the mob Shown in a first season episode of Cheap Seats The Sklar brothers riff an episode of Wide World of Sports from the 1960s which showcased horse racing on a frozen Lake St Moritz Mentioned in the 1990 novel Public Secrets by Nora Roberts as a vacation getaway for character Emma McAvoy Included in the list of ski resorts in the refrain from the Global Deejays remix of the Sound of San Francisco Snow Radio version Kitzbuhel Schladming Ischgl St Anton Zillertal Seiser Alm Kaprun Aspen Semmering St Moritz Cortina St Johann Mount Everest Rocky Mountains Part of the Netflix movie Army of Thieves The place where Maurizio Gucci hides from the Italian police and meets Paola Franchi his future girlfriend 2021 movie House of Gucci 2001 book The House of Gucci A Sensational Story of Murder Madness Glamour and Greed but also real life events Setting of the 2022 video game PentimentNotable people EditStavros Niarchos 1909 1996 Greek magnate lived in St Moritz Bibi Torriani 1911 1988 Swiss ice hockey player and coach IIHF Hall of Fame inductee Lieutenant Colonel Digby Willoughby MC MBE 1934 2007 soldier and sportsman chief executive of the St Moritz Tobogganing Club from 1978 Gunter Traub born 1939 German speed skater lives in St Moritz Gian Franco Kasper 1944 in St Moritz 2021 a Swiss ski official and president of the International Ski Federation FIS from 1998 to 2021 Clifton Wrottesley born 1968 Irish sportsman and British peer lives in St Moritz Thomas Flohr born 1969 1970 Swiss billionaire businessman founder and chairman of VistaJet lives in St MoritzSee also EditHotel St Moritz in New York named after the village Niseko Hokkaido is well known as oriental St Moritz Notes Edit Outdated usually replaced by the German name References Edit a b Arealstatistik Standard Gemeinden nach 4 Hauptbereichen Federal Statistical Office Retrieved 13 January 2019 Standige Wohnbevolkerung nach Staatsangehorigkeitskategorie Geschlecht und Gemeinde Provisorische Jahresergebnisse 2018 Federal Statistical Office 9 April 2019 Retrieved 11 April 2019 a b St Moritz in German French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland a b c d e History www stmoritz ch Archived from the original on 27 December 2010 Retrieved 3 January 2010 Arealstatistik Standard Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen Arealstatistik Land Use Gemeinden nach 10 Klassen www landuse stat admin ch Swiss Federal Statistical Office 24 November 2016 Retrieved 27 December 2016 a b c Swiss Federal Statistical Office Regional portraits accessed 27 October 2016 The Cradle of Snow Polo Snow Polo World Cup Archived from the original on 3 January 2017 Retrieved 3 January 2017 1928 Winter Olympics official report Part 2 pp 8 10 in French 1948 Winter Olympics official report pp 6 21 23 in French and German The Thrill of Winter Sports in the Alpine Resort of St Moritz Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance Archived 2009 05 01 at the Wayback Machine 21 11 2008 version in German accessed 20 Oct 2009 Climate Normals Samedan Reference period 1991 2020 PDF Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss 13 January 2022 Retrieved 13 January 2022 Standige und nichtstandige Wohnbevolkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen Geburtsort und Staatsangehorigkeit bfs admin ch in German Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT TAB 31 December 2020 Retrieved 21 September 2021 a b Graubunden Population Statistics Archived 2009 08 27 at the Wayback Machine in German accessed 13 February 2010 a b c d Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 20 Oct 2009 a b Graubunden in Numbers Archived 2009 09 24 at the Wayback Machine in German accessed 21 September 2009 Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT TAB Thema 09 Bau und Wohnungswesen in German accessed 5 May 2016 Swiss Federal Statistical Office Nationalratswahlen 2015 Starke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung nach Gemeinden Archived 2016 08 02 at the Wayback Machine in German accessed 18 July 2016 Die Raumgliederungen der Schweiz 2016 in German French Italian and English Neuchatel Switzerland Swiss Federal Statistical Office 17 February 2016 Retrieved 14 December 2016 Federal Statistical Office Arbeitsstatten und Beschaftigte nach Gemeinde Wirtschaftssektor und Grossenklasse accessed 31 October 2016 Swiss Federal Statistical Office Cross Border Workers accessed 27 October 2016 Federal Statistical Office Hotellerie Ankunfte und Logiernachte der geoffneten Betriebe accessed 31 October 2016 Swiss Federal Statistical Office Kinoinfrastruktur nach Gemeinde und Kinotyp Archived 2016 09 26 at the Wayback Machine in German accessed 9 August 2016 Wohnbevolkerung mit Hauptsprache Ratoromanisch 2000 Statistical Atlas of Switzerland Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2000 Retrieved 9 March 2020 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Moritz Wikivoyage has a travel guide for St Moritz Official website St Moritz Tourism Silvio Margadant St Moritz in Romansh German French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland 2011 01 21 Coolidge William Augustus Brevoort 1911 St Moritz Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 24 11th ed p 32 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title St Moritz amp oldid 1130094179, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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