Flüelen

Geschichte

Flüelen is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland.HistoryFlüelen is first mentioned in 1266 as Vluolon.Flüelen formed an important transshipment point on Switzerland's transport system for many centuries, and at least since the opening of the first track across the Gotthard Pass in 1230. The various routes across the pass reached Lake Lucerne at Flüelen, and until the latter half of the 19th century the lake provided the best onward link to the cities of northern Switzerland. In the 13th century the Castle of Rudenz was built in Flüelen as an Imperial customs post to collect customs fees from the Gotthard traffic.In 1906, the Altdorf–Flüelen tramway was constructed to connect the centre of Altdorf with Fluelen railway station. The electric tramway operated until 1951, when it was replaced by a bus service.GeographyFlüelen has an area, of. Of this area, about 23.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 58.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.4% is settled and 11.6% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of 45ha or about 3.6% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of 7ha over the 1981/85 amount. Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by 2ha and is now about 0.56% of the total area. Of the agricultural land 90ha is fields and grasslands and 285ha consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1981/85 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by 16ha. Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by 7ha. Rivers and lakes cover 9ha in the municipality.