Schaffhausen

Sister cities

• Singen
• Sindelfingen
• Dobrich

History

Schweizersbild, now located in a residential area, is a rock shelter, which during the Paleolithic period was the site of a habitation. Several artifacts were unearthed during archeological excavations, which are on display at the Museum zu Allerheiligen, among others. Schaffhausen was a city state in the Middle Ages, documented to have struck its own coins from 1045. About 1050 the counts of Nellenburg founded the Benedictine monastery of All Saints, which became the centre of the town. Perhaps as early as 1190, certainly in 1208, it was an imperial free city, while the first seal dates from 1253. The powers of the abbot were gradually limited and in 1277 the Emperor Rudolf I gave the town a charter of liberties. In 1330 the emperor Louis of Bavaria pledged it to the Habsburgs. In the early 15th century, Habsburg power over the city waned. In 1349 and 1401 (Schaffhausen Massacre), two pogroms occurred in the city. By 1411 the guilds ruled the city. Then, in 1415 the Habsburg Duke Frederick IV of Austria sided with the Antipope John XXIII at the Council of Constance, and was banned by the Emperor Sigismund. As a result of the ban and Frederick's need of money, Schaffhausen was able to buy its independence from the Habsburgs in 1418. The city allied with six of the Swiss confederates in 1454 and allied with a further two (Uri and Unterwalden) in 1479. Schaffhausen became a full member of the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1501. The Reformation was adopted, initially, in 1524 and completely in 1529. The town was heavily damaged during the Thirty Years' War by the passage of Swedish (Protestant) and Bavarian (Roman Catholic) troops and the very important bridge was burnt down. It was not until the early 19th century that the arrested industrial development of the town…

Geography

The town of Schaffhausen stands on the right bank of the river Rhine. It has an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of . Of this area, about 20.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 53.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 24.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and 1.6% is unproductive land. Over the past two decades (1979/85-2004/09) the amount of land that is settled has increased by and the agricultural land has decreased by . In 1947 it merged with the former municipality of Buchthalen. Its area expanded again in 1964 when Herblingen was absorbed and for a third time in 2009 when Hemmental joined the municipality. Schaffhausen shares an international border with the German village of Büsingen am Hochrhein, an enclave entirely surrounded by Switzerland. Schaffhausen has an average of 122.5 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives of precipitation. The wettest month is July during which time Schaffhausen receives an average of of rain. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 11.3 days. The driest month of the year is February with an average of of precipitation over 8.4 days.