Davos


Davos is an Alpine town, and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of . Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range at above sea level.
The former Alpine resort village consists of two parts: Davos Dorf to the northeast towards Klosters and further down through the Prättigau to Landquart, and Davos Platz to the southwest, which opens into the valley of the river Landwasser and eventually leads to Filisur.
During summer season the Flüela Pass leads south-east into the Lower Engadine.
Davos plays host to the World Economic Forum, an annual meeting of global political and business elites, and has one of Switzerland's biggest ski resorts. At the end of every year it serves as the site of the annual Spengler Cup ice-hockey tournament, hosted by the HC Davos local hockey team.

History

The current settlement of the Davos area began in the High Middle Ages with the immigration of Rhaeto-Romans. The village of Davos is first mentioned in 1213 as Tavaus. From about 1280 the barons of Vaz allowed German-speaking Walser colonists to settle, and conceded them extensive self-administration rights, causing Davos to become the largest Walser settlement area in eastern Switzerland. Natives still speak a dialect that is atypical for Graubünden, showing similarities with German idioms of western parts of Switzerland, especially the Upper Valais.
In 1436, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions was founded in Davos.
team in Davos, 1910
From the middle of the 19th century, Davos modeled on Sokołowsko became a popular destination for the sick and ailing because the microclimate in the high valley was deemed excellent by doctors and recommended for lung disease patients. Robert Louis Stevenson, who suffered from tuberculosis, wintered in Davos in 1880 upon the recommendation of his Edinburgh physician Dr. George Balfour. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote an article about skiing in Davos in 1899. A sanatorium in Davos is also the inspiration for the Berghof Sanitorium in Thomas Mann's novel Der Zauberberg. Between 1936 and 1938, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, then at the end of his life and living in Davos since 1917, depicted Davos and the Junkerboden. His painting has a both Romantic and pantheistic atmosphere and simplified formal structure.
During the natural ice era of winter sports, Davos and the Davos Eisstadion were a mecca for speed skating. Many international championships were held here, and many world records were set, beginning with Peder Østlund who set four records in 1898. The only European Bandy Championship was held in the town in 1913. Subsequently, Davos became a ski resort, especially frequented by tourists from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. After peaking in the 1970s and 1980s, the city settled down as a leading but less high-profile tourist attraction.

Geography

Topography

Davos has an area of. Of this area, about 35.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 22.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.3% is settled and 40.5% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of or about 1.2% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of over the 1985 amount. Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by and is now about 0.22% of the total area. Of the agricultural land, is fields and grasslands and consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1985 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by. Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by. Rivers and lakes cover in the municipality.
Until 2017 the municipality was located in the Davos subdistrict of the Prättigau/Davos district, after 2017 it was part of the Prättigau/Davos Region. It is in the Landwasser Valley. In terms of area, it was the largest municipality in Switzerland until the formation of the municipality of Glarus Süd in 2010, and is the largest in the canton of Graubünden.
It consists of the village of Davos, with its two parts Davos Dorf and Davos Platz, and the villages Frauenkirch, Davos Glari, Davos Wiesen, Davos Monstein, and Davos Clavadel, and the hamlets of Laret, Wolfgang, Obem See, Meierhof, Stilli, Bünda, and Spina in the main valley. In the side valleys there are additional hamlets including Tschuggen, Dörfji, In den Büelen, Hof, Teufi, Gadmen, Am Rin, Dürrboden, Sertig Dörfli, Oberalp, Inneralp.
Davos lies in a high valley, the connection to Klosters needing the Wolfgang Pass of only some 70 metres ascent from Davos Dorf. This tiny pass results in a flow direction of the river not corresponding to the main traffic routes of road and Rhätische Bahn to the northeast but flowing in a southwesterly direction. Three long side valleys reach out to the south from the main valley.

Climate

Davos has a subarctic climate with an average of 124.7 days of precipitation per year and on average receives of precipitation.
The wettest month is August during which time Davos receives an average of of precipitation. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 13.5 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is June, with an average of 13.6, but with only of precipitation. The driest month of the year is April with an average of of precipitation over 9.6 days, of which in 8.5 days are snowfall.

Politics

Subdivisions

The municipality of Davos is divided into five Fraktionsgemeinden : Davos Dorf, Davos Platz, Davos Frauenkirch, Davos Glaris, Davos Monstein, and Davos Wiesen.

Government

The Small Country Council constitutes the executive government of the municipality of Davos and operates as a collegiate authority. It is composed of five councilors, each presiding over a department comprising several bureaus. The president of the executive department acts as president of the municipality. In the mandate period 2017–2020 the Small Country Council is presided by Landammann Tarzisius Caviezel. Departmental tasks, coordination measures and implementation of laws decreed by the Grand Country Council are carried by the Small Country Council. The regular election of the municipal councils by any inhabitant valid to vote is held every four years. Any resident of the municipality of Davos allowed to vote and being registered can be elected as a member of the Small Country Council for a maximal period of twelve years. The delegates are selected by means of a system of Majorz. The President is elected as such as well by a public election while the heads of the other departments are assigned by the collegiate. They usually meet once a week.
, Davos's Small Country Council is made up of two members of FDP, one BDP, one SP, and one SVP. The last regular elections were held on 5 June 2016.
Country Councilor
PartyHead of Department ofElected since
Tarzisius Caviezel FDPPresident's Office 2012
Stefan Waiser SPCivil Engineering and Public Facilities 2012
Simi Valär FDPStructural Engineering and Environmental Protection 2012
Valérie Favre Accola SVPEducation and Energy 2016
Herbert Mani BDPHealth and Security 2013

Parliament

The Grand Country Council holds legislative power. It is made up of 17 members, with elections held every four years. The Grand Country Council decrees regulations and by-laws that are executed by the Small Country Council and the administration. The delegates are selected by means of a system of Majorz.
The sessions of the Grand Country Council are public. They usually meet ten times a year. Members of the Grand Country Council are not politicians by profession, and they are paid a fee based on their attendance. Any resident of Davos allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the Grand Country Council for a maximal period of twelve years.
The last regular election of the Grand Country Council was held on 5 June 2016 for the mandate period from January 2017 to December 2020. Currently the Grand Country Council consist of 7 The Liberals, 4 Swiss People's Party, 2 members of the Social Democratic Party, and one each of the Conservative Democratic Party, Christian Democratic People's Party, Evangelical People's Party, and one independent.

Federal elections

National Council

In the 2015 federal election the most popular party was the SVP with 30.0% of the votes. The next five parties were the FDP, the BDP, the SP, the glp, and CVP. In the federal election, a total of 3,231 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 46.7%.

International relations

Sister and twin towns

None. Former relations have been cancelled since February 2010 by the council due to thorough austerity measures.

Demographics

Population

Davos has a population of. , 27.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. In 2015 7.3% of the population was born in Germany and 6.9% of the population was born in Portugal. Over the last four years the population has changed at a rate of -0.27%. The birth rate in the municipality, in 2014, was 9.1, while the death rate was 8.2 per thousand residents.
Most of the population speaks German, with Serbo-Croatian being second most common and Italian being third.
, children and teenagers make up 17.3% of the population, while adults are 64.5% and seniors make up 18.2%. In 2015 there were 5,099 single residents, 4,666 people who were married or in a civil partnership, 550 widows or widowers and 794 divorced residents.
In 2014 there were 5,441 private households in Davos with an average household size of 2.03 persons. Of the 2,133 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 30.7% were single family homes and 39.1% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 25.9% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 8.3% were built between 1991 and 2000. In 2013 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 23.46. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 0.71%.

Historic population

The historic population is given in the following chart:

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PlotArea = top:20 left:40 bottom:20 right:35
AlignBars = justify
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Period = from:0 till:14000
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bar:1850 from:start till:1680 text:"1,680"
bar:1860 from:start till:1705 text:"1,705"
bar:1870 from:start till:2002 text:"2,002"
bar:1880 from:start till:2865 text:"2,865"
bar:1888 from:start till:3891 text:"3,891"
bar:1900 from:start till:8089 text:"8,089"
bar:1910 from:start till:9905 text:"9,905"
bar:1920 from:start till:9727 text:"9,727"
bar:1930 from:start till:11164 text:"11,164"
bar:1941 from:start till:9259 text:"9,259"
bar:1950 from:start till:10433 text:"10,433"
bar:1960 from:start till:9588 text:"9,588"
bar:1970 from:start till:10238 text:"10,238"
bar:1980 from:start till:10468 text:"10,468"
bar:1990 from:start till:10957 text:"10,957"
bar:2000 from:start till:11417 text:"11,417"
bar:2010 from:start till:11237 text:"11,237"
bar:2014 from:start till:11136 text:"11,136"
bar:2015 from:start till:12624 text:"12,624"

Education

In Davos about 74% of the population have completed either nonmandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education.

Economy

Davos is a tourist community and a regional center.
, there were a total of 8,853 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 203 people worked in 80 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 996 workers in 145 separate businesses. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 7,654 jobs in 926 businesses. In 2014 a total of 5,211 employees worked in 908 small companies. There were 17 mid sized businesses with 2,074 employees and 1 large business which employed 369 people. In 2014 a total of 23.5% of the population received social assistance.
In 2015 local hotels had a total of 797,348 overnight stays, of which 46.9% were international visitors.

Religion

From the, 5,321 residents belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church while 3,950 residents are Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 10 individuals who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, 439 individuals who belonged to the Orthodox Church, 274 who belonged to another Christian church, 79 who were Muslim, 56 who belonged to another faith, and eight residents were Jewish. In addition, 832 residents belonged to no faith, were agnostic or atheist, and 448 individuals did not answer the question.

Sports

Davos's ice hockey team, HC Davos, plays in the National League. Their home arena is the Vaillant Arena.
Besides cross-country skiing, offering some of pistes, Davos has the largest natural ice skating field in Europe. Bandy is occasionally played there. An international tournament, starting in 2014, has been organised. The 1913 European Bandy Championships in Davos is so far the only one of its kind.
There are six main ski areas in winter, with a total of of slopes:
All areas offer summer transport as well on to the main peaks from mid May until end of October. The remote side valleys heading towards the Engadine area are worth long hikes towards the passes of Sertig or Scaletta Pass to reach, for example, Piz Kesch, an Ultra prominent peak. To the north there are no valleys but rather a direct one-day ascent to continue across a pass into the "Schanfigg" valley towards the rival resort of Arosa or even to continue to Lenzerheide in a two-day hike.

Culture

Davos is home to seven sites that are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.
These heritage sites include the Town Archives, the Kirchner Museum, the Grosses Jenatschhaus and the Forest Cemetery. Several hotels and spas are also included on the list. The three hotels or former hotels are: Berghotel Schatzalp, the former Grand Hotel Belvédère, and the Zürcher Höhenklinik von R. Gaberel.
Davos hosts annual meetings of the World Economic Forum. The city was featured in an episode of Viva La Bam, when cities around Europe were visited. On 14 March 2003, a festival called Winterjam was held in the city and bands such as Sum 41, Crazy Town, and Guano Apes performed during this event.

Transport

Davos is part of the rail network of the Rhaetian Railway. The RhB has two main stations in Davos: Davos Dorf and the Davos Platz . Further Rhb also calls Davos Wolfgang and Davos Laret towards Klosters, and Davos Frauenkirch, Davos Glaris, Davos Monstein, and Davos Wiesen towards Filisur.
The bottom station Davos Dorf DKB of the funicular Parsennbahn to Weissfluhjoch is in Davos Dorf, the one to Schatzalp, the station Davos Platz Schatzalpbahn in Davos Platz. Also in Davos Platz are the bottom stations of the cable car to the Jakobshorn, the station Davos Platz DKB, but also the one of the chair lift to Usser Isch, namely the Davos Platz .
The bottom station of the lift to Rinerhorn is right next to RhB station Davos Glaris. The one of the Pischa area in the side valley of the Flüela, reachable by bus.
Local buses are operated by Verkehrsbetrieb der Landschaft Davos Gemeinde.

Research

Davos has several research institutes: the AO Foundation focusing on trauma and disorders of the musculoskeletal system, the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research, the World Radiation Center and the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.

Notable people

; The Arts
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; Science & Medicine
; TB patients
; Sport