Glarus lies on the riverLinth between the foot of theGlärnisch (part of theSchwyzer Alps) to the west and theSchilt (Glarus Alps) to the east. Very few buildings built before the fire of 1861 remain. Wood, textile, and plastics, as well as printing, are the dominant industries. The symbol of the city is the neo-Romanesque city church.
Church of Glarus, built in 1861 after a fire destroyed the old church and much of the town of GlarusThe aisle of the church
Glarus is first mentioned in the early 9th century inLatin asClarona. In 1178 it was first mentioned in German asGlarus.[2]
On 10 February 878, the EmperorCharles the Fat gave his wife Richgard or Richardis the monasteries ofSäckingen, of St. Felix and of Regula inZürich as a royal estate. This land grant included extensive political rights and a large estate. This estate covered land in the Rhine andFrick valleys, the southernHotzenwald, land in Zürich, alongLake Walen and the valley of Glarus. Glarus remained under the Säckingen Abbey until 1395 (intermittently under the overlordship of either theCounts of Lenzburg andKyburg and/orRaetia Curiensis[3]), when the Glarus valley broke away from the abbey and became independent.[4]
It became the capital of the Linth valley in 1419. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the valley began to be industrialized.Huldrych Zwingli a leader of theReformation in Switzerland served in his first,Roman Catholic, ecclesiastical post in Glarus, starting around 1506. He served there for ten years. It was in Glarus, whose soldiers were used as mercenaries in Europe, that Zwingli became involved in politics. The Swiss Confederation was embroiled in various campaigns with its neighbours: the French, the Habsburgs, and the Papal States. Zwingli placed himself solidly on the side of theHoly See. In return,Pope Julius II honoured Zwingli by providing him with an annual pension. He took the role of chaplain in several campaigns in Italy, including theBattle of Novara in 1513. However, the decisive defeat of the Swiss in theBattle of Marignano caused a shift in mood in Glarus in favour of the French rather than the pope. Zwingli, the papal partisan, found himself in a difficult position and he decided to retreat toEinsiedeln in thecanton of Schwyz. While he was not a reformer at Glarus, there he began to develop the ideas that would lead to the break with the Catholic Church inZürich.
In 1528 the Reformation gained a foothold in Glarus, directed by Zwingli in Zürich. Even though he had preached in Glarus for 10 years, the town remained strongly Catholic. However, following theSecond war of Kappel in 1531 both the Catholic and Protestant residents were given the right to worship in town. This led to both religious groups using the town church simultaneously, an arrangement that caused numerous problems. By the 18th century both the groups shared the church but had separate organs. In 1697 there were two financially and theologically independent parishes meeting in the city church.[5]
Following theFrench invasion in 1798, Glarus became the capital of theCanton of Linth in theHelvetic Republic. The administration of the Canton moved into Glarus. However, the new administrators had difficulties in establishing and enforcing any new regulations. In August 1802 the administrators of the new Canton left Glarus forRapperswil due to the difficulties they had faced in Glarus. In 1803, with theAct of Mediation, the Canton of Linth was dissolved and Glarus became the capital of the smaller Canton of Glarus.[6]
In 1859, the railway reached Glarus fromWeesen. The extension toSchwanden andLinthal opened in 1879.[7]
The town created the Emigration Society and sent Judge Niklaus Dürst and blacksmith Fridolin Streif to search for land to settle in North America in 1845. Later that year, 131 colonists from Glarus settledNew Glarus, Wisconsin, a town which still holds onto its Swiss roots and enjoys a strong relationship with Glarus.[8]
On the 10/11 May 1861, the town was devastated by a fire that was fanned by a violentFöhn or south wind, rushing down from the high mountains through the natural funnel formed by the Linth valley. The total loss is estimated at half a million sterling, of which about £100,000 were made up by subscriptions that poured in from every side. About two-thirds of Glarus (593 buildings) were destroyed in the big fire. After this incident, Glarus was rebuilt in block fashion according to construction plans by Bernhard Simon and Johann Caspar Wolff.[9]
In 1864, the first European labor law to protect workers was introduced in Glarus, prohibiting workers from working more than 12 hours a day.[citation needed]
Panorama of the City of GlarusAerial view from 1000 m byWalter Mittelholzer (1923)
The town is located in theGlarner Mittelland on a broad valley floor between theGlärnisch and theLinth.
The municipality Glarus before 2011 had an area of 69.2 km2 (26.7 sq mi). Of this area, 23% was used for agricultural purposes, while 31.4% was forested; of the rest of the land, 2.7% was settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (42.9%) was non-productive (2006 figures).[10]
With the incorporation ofEnnenda,Netstal andRiedern in 2011, the municipality Glarus now has an area of 103.67 km2 (40.03 sq mi).[11] Based on the 2004/09 survey, about 26.3% of the total area is used for agricultural purposes, while 34.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 35.2% is unproductive land. Over the past two decades (1979/85-2004/09) the amount of land that is settled has increased by 42 ha (100 acres) and the agricultural land has decreased by 60 ha (150 acres).[12]
Glarus has a population (as of December 2020[update]) of 12,539.[13] As of 2013[update], 24.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 3 years (2010–2013) the population has changed at a rate of 2.07%. Thebirth rate in the municipality, in 2013, was 9.8 while thedeath rate was 8.4 per thousand residents.[12]
As of 2013[update], children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) are 61.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.3%.[12]
Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (86.0%), with Italian being second most common (4.8%) and Albanian being third (2.6%).[10]
As of 2012[update], there were a total of 8,148 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 175 people worked in 63 businesses in theprimary economic sector. Thesecondary sector employed 2,479 workers in 200 separate businesses. Finally, thetertiary sector provided 5,494 jobs in 923 businesses. In 2013 a total of 2.% of the population received social assistance.[12]
In the2015 federal election the most popular party was the BDP with 49.7% of the vote, followed by theSP with 47.7%. The remaining 2.6% went to unaffiliated or minor party candidates. In the federal election, a total of 3,250 votes were cast, and thevoter turnout was 41.1%. The 2015 election saw a large change in the voting when compared to 2011. The percentage of the vote received by the SP increased sharply from 28.9% in 2011 to 47.7% in 2015, while the percentage that the BDP dropped from 57.7% to 49.7%.[14]
In 2014 the crime rate, of the over 200 crimes listed in theSwiss Criminal Code (running from murder, robbery and assault to accepting bribes and election fraud), in Glarus was 48.2 per thousand residents. This rate is only 74.6% of the average rate in the entire country. During the same period, the rate of drug crimes was 10.2 per thousand residents, which is similar to the rate in Glarus Süd, but about twice as high as the rate in Glarus Nord.[15]
In Glarus about 71.3% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatoryupper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or aFachhochschule).[10]
Between 1991 and 2020 Glarus had an average of 142.2 days of rain per year and on average received 1,494 mm (58.8 in) ofprecipitation. The wettest month was July during which time Glarus received an average of 193 mm (7.6 in) of precipitation. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 14.8 days. The months with the most days of precipitation were June to August. The driest month of the year was February with an average of 80 mm (3.1 in) of precipitation over 9.5 days.[19]
Climate data for Glarus, elevation 517 m (1,696 ft), (1991–2020)
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