Browse / Switzerland / Appenzell Ausserrhoden / Herisau
Herisau
Appenzell Ausserrhodentown
Herisau
Total population
15,943
Demographic figures from Swiss Federal Statistical Office. Overview below cites Wikipedia and may reference a different year.
City facts
Facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Overview
Herisau is a municipality and the capital of the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. It is the seat of the canton's government and parliament; the judicial authorities are situated in Trogen.
Read more on WikipediaHistory & geography
History
Herisau was first mentioned in 837 as Herinisauva, and its church is mentioned in 907. In 1084 Herisau was destroyed as part of battles around the monastery in St. Gallen. In 1248 and 1249 the town was destroyed again, this time by the monastery to establish loyalty. In 1401 Herisau joined an alliance with other places in Appenzell as part of the Appenzell Wars. Between 1517 and 1518 Herisau managed to buy itself free from the monastery. The town hall was built in 1601. In 1606 the town was largely destroyed by a fire. In 1648 Schwellbrunn separated and became an independent village. Between 1798 and 1803 Herisau was the capital of the canton Säntis.
Geography
Herisau has an area, , of . Of this area, 56.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 27.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 15.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.6%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is located in the former District of Hinterland. It is located at the crossing point of two major routes through the region, the St. Gallen-Toggenburg road and the Gossau-Appenzell road. In addition to being the capital of the half canton, about one-third of the population of the entire half canton lives in Herisau. It consists of the village of Herisau and scattered hamlets as well as bedroom communities and industrial sections. Before 1648 it controlled about twice the land area as is currently part of the municipality. Until 1648 Schwellbrunn was part of the municipality and until 1720, Waldstatt was part of Herisau.
Excerpted from the corresponding Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA).
Geography
Coordinates & boundaries from the US Census TIGER/Line shapefiles.
Climate
Air quality
Walkability
Amenities nearby
Wildlife & biodiversity
Earthquake history
Photos
Sights & places nearby
Notable people from here
Nearby places in Appenzell Ausserrhoden
Geography & sun
Elevation, sunrise/sunset and daylight from Open-Meteo. Solar climatology from NASA POWER.
Nearby airports
Public attention
Pageview totals from the Wikimedia Pageviews API.
Books about Herisau
Search results from Open Library.
Recent natural events nearby
Ground air-quality sensors
Recently spotted species
Events
Gallery
Official Identifiers
BFS — Swiss Federal Statistical Office
- BFS-Nr
- 3001
- Population (Wikidata)
- 15,943
- Wikidata
- Q63970
Gemeindenummer via Wikidata P771
Sources
- • Wikipedia
- • Wikidata
- • Open-Meteo / sunrise-sunset.org
- • Wikipedia Pageviews API
- • Open Library
- • Wikidata SPARQL (CC0) — population, area, elevation, inception, head of government, Commons image
- • BFS — Swiss Federal Statistical Office — Gemeindenummer via Wikidata P771