Сен-Морис: История и современность швейцарского города в Вале

Place in Valais, Switzerland

Saint Maurice is a city in the Swiss canton of Valais and the capital of the district of Saint Maurice. On 1 January 2013, the former municipality of Mex merged into the municipality of Saint Maurice. Saint Maurice is the site of the Ancient Roman outpost of Agaunum and the 6th century Abbey of Saint Maurice d'Agaune. The city is located at the entrance of a pass leading to the upper part of the Rhône valley. As such, it has a strategic importance, and defence work were built from the 15th century to control this access. The Fortress Saint Maurice was constructed in the surrounding mountainsides from 1880 through 1995.

Saint Maurice is first mentioned in 200 as Acaun[ensis] [quadragesimae] Gal[liarum]. In respect to Saint Maurice, the name was changed from Acaunum to Saint Maurice in 1003. In the 13th century the town was surrounded by walls. Count Amadeus V of Savoy confirmed the city charter in 1317, at which time the town had a population of between 1,400 and 1,800. In 1475 the Lower Valais was ruled by the Seven Zenden as an associate member (Zugewandter Ort) of the Swiss Confederation. From 1475 until 1798, Saint Maurice was the capital of the Saint Maurice province. In the following year, 1476, Bern began construction of a castle in the narrow Rhone valley at Saint Maurice. It was completed in 1646 with the expansion of the residential buildings. However, in 1693 a devastating fire in the town, destroyed the warehouse of the castle and much of the gunpowder that was stored there. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 11.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 13.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.4% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.3%. Out of the forested land, 38.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.1% is used for growing crops and 10.5% is pastures, while 2.8% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 1.1% is too rocky for vegetation.

Saint Maurice has a population of as of 2008, 26.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 14.5%. It has changed at a rate of 13.5% due to migration and at a rate of 1.6% due to births and deaths. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (3,097 or 86.1%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (123 or 3.4%) and Albanian is the third (112 or 3.1%). There are 87 people who speak German. Of the population in the municipality, 1,146 or about 31.9% were born in Saint Maurice and lived there in 2000. There were 921 or 25.6% who were born in the same canton, while 690 or 19.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 722 or 20.1% were born outside of Switzerland. as of 2000, there were 1,376 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. as of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 new units per 1000 residents.

Abbey of St. Maurice, Agaunum, Saint Maurice Castle with the Cantonal Military Museum, Maison de la Pierre and the Bridge over the Rhône (shared with Bex, Vaud) are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire Saint Maurice castle and city area are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 40.24% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (19.88%), the SP (17.36%) and the SVP (13.6%). In the federal election, a total of 1,429 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 60.3%.

as of 2010, Saint Maurice had an unemployment rate of 6.5%. as of 2008, there were 16 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector. 257 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 39 businesses in this sector. 1,522 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 151 businesses in this sector. In 2000, there were 1,031 workers who commuted into the municipality and 824 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.3 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 10.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 59.9% used a private car.

The municipality has a railway station, , on the Saint Gingolph–Saint Maurice and Simplon lines. It has regular service to , , , and .