Muri, Aargau

Municipality in Switzerland

Muri, formerly known as Muri (Freiamt), is a municipality in southeastern Swiss Canton Aargau and is the capital of same district. The present municipality of Muri was created in 1816 from the merging of the four municipalities Langdorf, Egg, Hasli and Wey.

The community consists of three districts. Immediately west of the monastery lies the community of Wey, slightly more than a kilometer south of the district Langdorf (formerly known as Dorfmuri). East of the railway line, at a distance of half a kilometer of the village is Egg. There are also several hamlets: Hasli is located one kilometer north of the monastery, Vili one kilometer in a northwesterly direction, and Langenmatt one kilometer to the west. Türmelen, a hamlet, which lies directly on the eastern boundary of the municipality, is now merged with Egg. There are also numerous isolated farms scattered throughout the area. Muri is located in the upper end of the Bünztal at the foot of Lindenberg, Covering all districts, with one exception lie in a plane at an altitude from In the west the slope rises evenly, where Langenmatt lies at an altitude of Toward the south, the terrain is undulating and is divided by two river valleys. The Sörikerbach flows through Wey, and the Rüeribach by Langdorf and Egg. Muri has an area, as of 2009, of Of this area, or 58.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 20.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 20.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.6% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 11.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.4%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.3%. Out of the forested land, 19.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 39.5% is used for growing crops and 16.1% is pastures, while 2.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. The entire hamlet of Hasli is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

The dominant landmark of Muri is Muri Abbey. This is a nearly 1000 year old Benedictine. Its centerpiece is an in Baroque constructed, octagonal central building (Octagon) from the 17th Century. The central building is enclosed by one from the 11th Century Romance Church. Even elements of the Gothic Architectural style are represented. The church is rich with Frescoes and carvings. In the Cloister with the valuable Glass painting cycle of the 16th Century is the Habsburg crypt. It contains the hearts of the last rulers of the Austrian Monarchy Emperor Charles I and Empress Zita of Bourbon Parma and the hearts of other members of the Habsburg family. The bodies of the couple's sons Randolph and Felix are buried here. The monastery museum houses valuable treasures of the monastery. There is also a permanent exhibition of the painter Caspar Wolf. The monastery church owns five organs.

The parish church of St. Goar is from the period around 1030th to about 1335 and parts have survived from this period, however, only the foundations of the church tower remain. In 1583, the tower was rebuilt. From 1640 to 1644, it was rebuilt in the baroque style from scratch. In 1677 the choir altar was taken away, and was replaced 1837/38. The last major renovation took place 1987/88. North of the parish is the parish house which was built in 1747. Halfway between the parish and monastery church is the courthouse. It was built in 1660 and was initially commissioned by the monastery as a guesthouse. Today it is used by the district court.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Wall Argent embattled or "In red double breasted, black Grooved white wall with three towers." In 1930, they adopted the arms of the former monastery, which the abbot John Feierabend imposed in 1508. The wall was first three rows, but since 1972 it has only two rows. The District crest, however, remained unchanged.

Muri has a population of as of 2009, 20.8% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 11%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (86.4%), with Albanian being second most common ( 4.2%) and Italian being third (2.7%). Serbo Croatian was fourth with 2.2%, and fifth at 1.1% was Portuguese. The age distribution, as of 2008, in Muri is; 788 children or 11.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 853 teenagers or 12.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 946 people or 14.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 909 people or 13.4% are between 30 and 39, 1,085 people or 16.0% are between 40 and 49, and 849 people or 12.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 698 people or 10.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 413 people or 6.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 213 people or 3.1% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 24 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older. as of 2000, there were 279 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 1,218 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 871 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. There were a total of 13 empty apartments for a 0.5% vacancy rate.

From the 2000 census, 4,172 or 63.7% were Roman Catholic, while 1,088 or 16.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 8 individuals (or about 0.12% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic faith. In the same census, 6.9% of the population was Muslim and 1.0% belonged to other faiths.

The Congregational assembly of electors exercises the legislative power. The executive body is the five member Municipal. His term of office is four years and he is elected by the people with a majority vote. He leads and represents the community. In addition, he implements the decisions of the municipal assembly and the tasks that were assigned to him by the canton and the Confederation. Mayor of the term 2006 2009 is Joseph Etterlin (CVP). Muri is the seat of the District Court and the Peace of the district Muri.

as of 2007, Muri had an unemployment rate of 2.22%. as of 2005, there were 176 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 47 businesses involved in this sector. 1,645 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 92 businesses in this sector. 2,209 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 271 businesses in this sector. Of the working population, 10.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 49.6% used a private car. The main manufacturing sectors are metal processing, chemicals, plastics processing, production of fruit juices, and the manufacture of appliances, precision instruments and electronic devices. Muri houses the District Hospital for the Freiamt. This regional hospital is for the whole region of Freiamt jurisdiction and covers a catchment area from more than 100,000 inhabitants.

In Muri about 67.9% of the population (between age 25 64) have completed either non mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the school age population (in the 2008/2009 school year), there are 518 students attending primary school, there are 303 students attending secondary school, there are 349 students attending tertiary or university level schooling, and there are 14 students who are seeking a job after school in the municipality. There are five educational centers in Muri (Bachmatten, Badweiher, the monastery, and Rösslimattstrasse). Some classes of Primary school are housed in a wing of the monastery. The closest School District (High School) is located in Wohlen.