Sarnen

Geschichte

Sarnen is the capital of the canton of Obwalden situated on the shores of Lake Sarnen (Sarner See), Switzerland. It has a population of just over 10,000 and is surrounded by countryside and mountains. Sarnen is located 20 km south of Lucerne.The official language of Sarnen is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.HistoryStone Age and Bronze Age finds show that the Sarnen valley was inhabited from the earliest times. Over the years Sarnen developed into an important trading center.GeographySarnen is situated at an altitude of 473m on the shore of the Lake Sarner . Lake Sarner covers approximately an area of 7.5km2. The town is surrounded by mountain chains and a protected bog can be found nearby. The most well-known mountain close to Sarnen is Mount Pilatus with an elevation of 2132m.Sarnen has an area, of. Of this area, about 39.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 50.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.0% is settled and 4.3% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of 260ha or about 3.6% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of 78ha over the 1980/81 amount. Of the agricultural land, 46ha is used for orchards and vineyards, 1554ha is fields and grasslands and 1665ha consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1980/81 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by 172ha. Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by 27ha. Rivers and lakes cover 111ha in the municipality.