Escholzmatt

Geschichte

Escholzmatt is a former municipality in the district of Entlebuch in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. Escholzmatt was the Canton's second largest municipality in terms of area. It is part of the UNESCO Entlebuch Biosphere Reserve since 2001. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Escholzmatt and Marbach merged to form the new municipality of Escholzmatt-Marbach.HistoryEscholzmatt is first mentioned in 1160 as Askolvismatte. In 1240 it was mentioned as Askoltispach and Asholtismate, in 1275 it was mentioned as Aeschelsmat.GeographyEscholzmatt had an area of 61.3km2. Of this area, 50% is used for agricultural purposes, while 44.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.7%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains)., 44.24% of the total land area was forested. Of the agricultural land, 49.67% is used for farming or pastures, while 0.26% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the settled areas, 1.4% is covered with buildings, 0.13% is industrial, 0.15% is classed as special developments, 0.07% is parks or greenbelts and 1.38% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.63% is unproductive flowing water (rivers) and 2.07% is other unproductive land.The former municipality is located on the watershed between the Grosse and Kleine Emme rivers. The lowest elevtation in the municipality is 753m while the highest is 2090m on the Schrattenfluh by Hengst. It consists of the village of Escholzmatt and the hamlets of Lehn, Feldmoos, Wiggen, and Dürrenbach.