Brugg

Sister cities

• Rottweil

History

Archeological discoveries from the prehistoric era are scant. Two blades and fragments of a stone ax from the early Stone Age as well as a sickle from the Bronze Age are all that have been unearthed. In 58 BC, or shortly thereafter, the Helvetii, who had returned to the Swiss Plateau following the Battle of Bibracte, (re-)founded the settlement of Vindonissa on a hill between the Aare and Reuss on what is today territory of the neighboring community of Windisch. The Romans constructed a military post at Vindonissa around 15 BC, which they expanded into an encampment of a Roman Legion. At this time the first wooden bridge over the Aare was built as part of a Roman road across the Jura mountains to Augusta Raurica (known today as Augst). It was the only position along the Aare between Lake Thun and the Rhine at which the river could be crossed with a single log. Remains of around 350 Roman graves have since been discovered within Brugg, where two large Roman burial grounds were located, and archeologists estimate that a total of 7,000 graves exist. After the invasion of the Alemanni between 259 and 270 AD the Romans converted Vindonissa back into a camp of a Roman Legion, breaking with a 170-year "civilian phase." Around 370 AD the Romans established a fort as part of the Donau-Iller-Rhine-Limes-System in Altenburg. The Romans, though, ultimately withdrew between the years 401 and 406 AD. Settlement of the Alemanni in their stead has been traced to the 7th century. The toponymy is first recorded as Bruggo (Latin) in 1064. In the late 10th century a noble dynasty under Lanzelin, which was possibly related to the Alsatian Etichonids, settled in Altenburg. He expanded the established Roman fort into the Altenburg Castle and made it his seat. Around 1020 Lanzelin's son,…

Geography

The municipality extends for six kilometers (4 mi.) from its southwestern to northeastern boundaries, and is barely wider than one kilometer (2/3 mi.) at its broadest point. The Aare, which flows through the centre of the old town, divides the municipality into two separate, distinct landscapes – the Swiss plateau on the southern bank and the beginnings of the Jura on the northern side. The southwesternmost area of Brugg is primarily a flood plain, known as the Wildischachen, which is located between the Aare and a hill, the Wülpelsberg, upon which the Habsburg castle in the neighboring community of Habsburg was built. Approximately two kilometers (1.25 mi.) further north two separate branches of the Aare come together near the village of Altenburg. In between these two branches, which came into being following the construction of the hydroelectric power station Wildegg-Brugg, is the forested island of Schacheninsel. Following a bend in the river, at which it alters its course from the north to the east, the river enters a 200-meter-long section with a rapids and a (650 ft) gorge. The Aare narrows from its previous width of about to a mere . It is along this gorge that the historic center of Brugg formed near the old bridge, with sections of the old town developing on both banks. Today the southern bank is heavily built up and is composed primarily of residential and industrial buildings, while the northern bank, due to the lack of space at the foot of the Bruggerberg (, is less settled. The Aare broadens again after it exits the gorge and departs the old town, where it flows alongside the Aufeld plain. A majority of the population in this area is concentrated in a small band along the southeastern slope of the Bruggerberg. On the eastern border…

Most-observed species

• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  16,307
• Annual Fleabane

  Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers. · Magnoliopsida
  12,656
• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  10,984
• Common Blue

  Polyommatus icarus (von Rottemburg, 1775) · Insecta
  9,081
• Marbled White

  Melanargia galathea Linnaeus, 1758 · Insecta
  6,948
• bow-winged grasshopper

  Chorthippus biguttulus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  5,640
• Small Heath

  Coenonympha pamphilus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  5,511
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  5,406

Most recent

• M 3.7 — 2026-04-26
  4 km N of Quarten, Switzerland
• M 3.5 — 2024-06-27
  1 km SSW of Todtmoos, Germany
• M 4.2 — 2024-06-04
  2 km NNW of Unteriberg, Switzerland
• M 3.9 — 2022-09-10
  1 km WSW of Zimmersheim, France
• M 4 — 2020-10-25
  5 km ESE of Ennenda, Switzerland
• M 3.1 — 2018-05-04
  2 km W of Schliengen, Germany