Madulain (Grisons)

Geschichte

Madulain is a municipality in the Maloja Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.HistoryMadulain is first mentioned around 1137-39 as Madulene.Guardaval Castle was built near the village of Madulain in the 13th century to administer the estates of the Bishop of Chur in the Upper Engadine. In 1409 the Bishop had to pledge the castle to the League of God's House to pay off some of his debts. Under the League, the castle was no longer an administrative center and was abandoned, falling into ruin.GeographyMadulain has an area, of. Of this area, about 30.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 14.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.6% is settled and 52.2% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of 13ha or about 0.8% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of 6ha over the 1985 amount. Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by 14ha and is now about 0.98% of the total area. Of the agricultural land, 74ha is fields and grasslands and 473ha consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1985 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by 45ha. Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by 9ha. Rivers and lakes cover 23ha in the municipality.Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Oberengadin sub-district of the Maloja district, after 2017 it was part of the Maloja Region. It is the smallest of the eleven municipalities in the district. It is located in the upper Engadin valley between La Punt-Chamues-ch and Zuoz about 15 minutes from St. Moritz on the Inn River. It consists of the Haufendorf village of Madulain on the Inn at an elevation of 1684m. Until 1943 Madulain was known as Madulein.