Davos

Sister cities

• Ueda
• Aspen

History

The current settlement of the Davos area began in the High Middle Ages with the immigration of Rhaeto-Romans. The village of Davos is first mentioned in 1213 as Tavaus. From about 1280 the barons of Vaz allowed German-speaking Walser colonists to settle and conceded them extensive self-administration rights. In 1289 an agreement between the people of Davos and the baron of Vaz included that the Davoser citizens would not have to pay personal taxes, only the Government of Davos had to pay a yearly amount of goods to the baron of Vaz. Davos became the largest Walser settlement area in eastern Switzerland. Natives still speak a dialect that is atypical for Grisons, showing similarities with the German spoken in Raron in Canton Valais. In 1438, Davos received additional rights in an agreement in which the League of the Ten Jurisdictions and the rights received in the older treaty from 1289 were both acknowledged. With this agreement, Davos was exempted from trade taxes in the territory of the Ten Jurisdictions and only obliged to provide men for military services within the territory of eight of the Ten Jurisdictions. As a result, Davos refused to follow the orders of the Austrian Empire.) and recommended for lung disease patients. Robert Louis Stevenson, who suffered from tuberculosis, wintered in Davos in 1880 on the recommendation of his Edinburgh physician George Balfour. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote an article about skiing in Davos in 1899. A sanatorium in Davos is also the inspiration for the Berghof Sanitorium in Thomas Mann's novel Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain). Between 1936 and 1938, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, then at the end of his life and living in Davos since 1917, depicted Davos and the Junkerboden. His painting has a both Romantic and pantheistic atmosphere…

Geography

The main village of Davos lies at the top of the narrow valley of the Landwasser at an altitude of , just below the Wolfgang Pass. Lake Davos is northeast of the village, formerly the source of the Landwasser. The municipality of Davos () has an area (as of the 2004/09 survey) of , including most of the Landwasser valley and its side valleys. Of that area, about 35.0% is used for agricultural purposes, and 22.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and 40.5% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of or about 1.2% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of over the 1985 amount. Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by and is now about 0.22% of the total area. Of the agricultural land, is fields and grasslands and consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1985 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by . Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by . Rivers and lakes cover in the municipality. The Wolfgang Pass divides the waters flowing into the Landquart from the valley of the Landwasser, and has a year-round road and Rhaetian Railway connection. Crossing the pass leads to the village of Klosters and the Prättigau. Three long side valleys reach out to the south from the main valley of the Landwasser, one of which leads to the Flüela Pass and the Engadin beyond. The whole municipality of Davos is divided into six Fraktionsgemeinden: Davos Dorf, Davos Platz, Davos Frauenkirch, Davos Glaris, Davos Monstein and Davos Wiesen. The names of the Fraktionsgemeinden correspond to their largest village within. Smaller populated places in the municipality are the village of Davos Clavadel, the hamlets of Laret, Wolfgang,…