Hospental (locally Oschpidall)Abegg, Emil, Die Mundart von Urseren (Beiträge zur Schweizerdeutschen Grammatik. IV.) [The Dialect of Urseren], Frauenfeld, Switzerland: Huber & co., page 54. is a village and a municipality in the middle of the Alpine valley called Urseren in the canton of Uri in Switzerland.
History Hospental is first mentioned in 1285 as Hospenthal. In 1499 it was mentioned under its Latin name as Hospicium, and in 1616 as Spithal.
Geography
The municipality is located in the valley called Urseren at the intersection of the routes over the Furka Pass and the route over the Gotthard Pass. It consists of the linear village of Hospental and the hamlet of Zumdorf.
The Gotthardreuss runs through the village and forms together with the Furkareuss, traversing the village at its north border, the beginning of the Reuss.
Hospental has an area, , of . Of this area, 32.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 9.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (56.6%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). , 0.8% of the total land area was heavily forested, while 8.9% is covered in small trees and shrubbery. Of the agricultural land, 5.3% is used for orchards or vine crops and 27.1% is used for alpine pastures. Of the settled areas, 0.1% is covered with buildings, 0.3% is classed as special developments, and 1.0% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.1% is unproductive standing water (ponds or lakes), 1.1% is unproductive flowing water (rivers), 34.9% is too rocky for vegetation, and 20.5% is other unproductive land.Canton Uri - Ground use statistics accessed 8 September 2009
Demographics Hospental has a population (as of ) of . , 1.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -8.6%. Most of the population () speaks German (97.6%), with Rhaeto-Romance being second most common (1.5%) and Italian being third (0.5%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 09-Sep-2009 the gender distribution of the population was 50.9% male and 49.1% female.Uri Population statistics accessed 8 September 2009
In the 2007 federal election the FDP party received 94.3% of the vote.
In Hospental about 50% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).
Hospental has an unemployment rate of 0.33%. , there were 19 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 4 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 2 businesses in this sector. 30 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 13 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table: year population 1700 34 households 1734 84 households 1799 368 1850 424 1900 290 1950 282 1970 285 1980 242 1990 202 2000 206 2005 220 2007 212 2008 189 2010 177 2014 196
Tower
The tower was built in the later half of the 13th century for the 'von Hospental' family (until 1317), first mentioned in records at the same time, and dominates the village and is a reminder of the importance of the valley Urseren as a central cross of south-north and east-west links on the central Swiss Alps for many centuries. Now without floors, it was originally used as a watch tower, and had external covered platforms at the sides.
Church The Catholic Church of Maria Himmelfahrt was built in 1705–11 by Bartholomaus Schmid. The baroque building has exterior blind arches, like the same architect's parish church in Andermatt.
Haus Müller-Lombardi The most important historic house in the village is the recently restored patrician family home of the Müller family, known locally as the Haus Müller-Lombardi because the last of the family who lived there, Lina Müller (died 1978) was the nineteenth child of Carl Alois Müller and Genovefa Lombardi. She established a Stiftung (Trust) to preserve the land and buildings (like Haus Wesemli) in the Urseren which were not part of the Stiftung established by her brother Adolfo Müller-Ury, the American portrait painter, for the preservation of the Haus Müller itself.
The house which was erected in 1687 for Johann-Caspar Müller, and whose roof is now returned to its original shape, and now reveals its original red exterior and attractively decorated green-painted windows. Inside the house are portraits of Johann Caspar Müller, his son Johann Sebastian Müller and his wife, as well as other portraits of members of this distinguished local family by Lorenz Justin Ritz and Felix Maria Diogg. There are also works by Adolfo Müller-Ury, the American portrait painter, including portraits of Popes Benedict XV and Pius XII.
Ski area
In Hospental there is a mountain called Winterhorn, which has been disused since 2007. The 2-man chairlift and the T-bar which were used remain in place. It was part of the Skiarena Andermatt-Sedrun.
Transport The municipality is served by Hospental railway station and PostBus stops.
References
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