St. Moritz
Country Switzerland Canton Graubünden District Maloja 46°30′N 9°50′E / 46.5°N 9.833°E / 46.5; 9.833Coordinates: 46°30′N 9°50′E / 46.5°N 9.833°E / 46.5; 9.833
Population	5,202 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density	181 /km2 (470 /sq mi)
Area	28.69 km2 (11.08 sq mi)[2]
Elevation	1,822 m (5,978 ft)
Postal code	7500
SFOS number	3787
Localities	Champfèr
Surrounded by	Bever, Celerina/Schlarigna, Samedan, Silvaplana
Twin towns	Bariloche (Argentina), Kutchan (Japan), Vail (USA)
Website	www.stmoritz.ch SFSO statistics
St. Moritz
Location of St. Moritz

St. Moritz (German: Sankt Moritz; Italian: San Maurizio; Romansh:  San Murezzan (help·info)) is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The highest summit in the Eastern Alps, the Piz Bernina, lies a few kilometres south of the town.

History[link]

Lake St. Moritz

Votive offerings, swords, and needles from the Bronze Age, were found at the base of the springs in St. Moritz, which indicate that the Celts had already discovered them.

St. Moritz is first mentioned around 1137-39 as ad sanctum Mauricium.^[3] The town was named after Saint Maurice, a Coptic Orthodox, and Roman Catholic saint.

Pilgrims travelled to Saint Mauritius, the church of the springs, where they drank from the blessed, bubbling waters of the Mauritius springs in the hopes of being healed. In 1519, the Medici pope, Leo X, promised full absolution to anyone making a pilgrimage to the church of the springs. In the 16th century, the first scientific treatises about the St. Moritz mineral springs were written. In 1535, Paracelsus, the great practitioner of nature cures, spent some time in St. Moritz.

Baths in St. Moritz, ca. 1881

Although it received some visitors during the summer, the origins of the winter resort only date back to September 1864, when St. Moritz hotel pioneer, Johannes Badrutt, made a wager with four British summer guests: that they should return in winter and if it was not to their liking, he would pay for the cost of their journey from London and back. If they found St. Moritz attractive in winter, he would invite them to stay as his guests for as long as they wished.^[4] This marked not only the start of winter tourism in St. Moritz but the start of winter tourism in the whole of the Alps. The first tourist office in Switzerland was established the same year in the town. St. Moritz developed rapidly in the late nineteenth century and the first electric light in Switzerland was installed in 1878 at the Kulm Hotel and the first curling tournament on the continent held in 1880.^[4] The first European Ice-Skating Championships were held at St. Moritz in 1882 and first golf tournament in the Alps held in 1889. The first bob run and bob race was held in 1890 and by 1896 St. Moritz became the first town in the Alps to install electric trams and opened the Palace Hotel.^[4] In 1906, a horse race was held on snow (1906) and on the frozen lake (1907). The first ski school in Switzerland was established in St. Moritz in 1929.^[4]

St. Moritz in January 1931

In 1928 St. Moritz hosted the 1928 Winter Olympic Games and the stadium still stands today. It later hosted the 1948 Winter Olympic Games. St. Moritz has hosted over 20 FIBT World Championships, three FIS Alpine World Ski Championships (1934/1974/2003) and over 40 Engadin Skimarathons since 1969. It has also hosted many other events since, including some unlikely ones on the frozen lake in the 1970s and 1980s such as a golf tournament, (1979), a polo tournament (every year in February starting in 1985) and cricket (1989).^[4] St. Moritz has also been the venue for many Sailing and Windsurfing World Championships.

Since the early 1980s St. Moritz is also promoted and known as Top of the World. The expression was registered as a trademark by the tourist office in 1987.

Between 9-12 June 2011, St. Moritz was the site of the Bilderberg Group conference, an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are people of influence.

Geography[link]

St. Moritz has an area, as of 2006^[update], of 28.7 square kilometers (11.1 sq mi). Of this area, 28.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 19.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (44.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).^[5]

The municipality is located in the Oberengadin sub-district of the Maloja district. It consists of the settlements of St. Moritz-dorf (elevation 1,830 meters (6,000 ft)), Bad (ele. 1,775 meters (5,823 ft)), and Champfèr (ele. 1,825 meters (5,988 ft)) as well as the village section of Suvretta.

Sport[link]

Cartier Polo World Cup 2008

St. Moritz has been the host city for the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics. It also hosted the 1934, 1974 and 2003 Alpine Skiing World Championships. It is one of three cities that have hosted the Winter Olympic Games twice, the others being Innsbruck, Austria and Lake Placid, New York in the United States. Additionally, it has hosted the FIBT World Championships (bobsleigh and skeleton racing) a record 21 times. Since 1985, St. Moritz has hosted the Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow; an annual high-goal tournament featuring many of the world's finest teams. In its current form, the tournament lasts four days and is played on a specially marked field located on the frozen lake.^[6]

St. Moritz is extremely popular in the summer months as an altitude training base for distance athletes, particularly cyclists, runners, and race walkers. Its popularity extends to the altitude, weather, world class athletics track, and availability of paths and trails in the area.

In 1904 the oldest and worlds last remaining natural bob run was opened. The 1722 meter long ice chanel - also known as the world biggest "ice sculpture" - is built every winter from ground up with only snow and water. The bob run hosted numerous world championships and was used in both olympic wintergames. In the early 30s some members of the bob club, started taking guests for taxi rides along, today with slightly modified racing bobs.

For the 1928 games, the cross-country skiing and the cross-country skiing part of the Nordic combined events took place around the hills of St. Moritz.^[7] Twenty years later, the city again the cross-country skiing, the cross-country skinng part of the Nordic combined, and the ice hockey events took place in St. Moritz.^[8]

In addition to the above sports, St. Moritz is also well known as a destination for sailing. It is the host venue for the annual St. Moritz Match Race held on lake St. Moritz. The St. Moritz Match Race event is part of the prestigious World Match Racing Tour which covers 3 continents. The event draws the world's best sailing teams to St. Moritz in a gladiatorial battle of nerve and skill on the water. The identical supplied (BLU-26) boats are raced two at a time in an on the water dogfight which tests the sailors and skippers to the limits of their physical abilities. Points accrued count towards the World Match Racing Tour and a place in the final event, with the overall winner taking the title ISAF World Match Racing Tour Champion. Match racing is an ideal sport for spectators in St. Moritz. Racing in such close proximity (approx. 15m) to the Lake St. Moritz shoreline provides excellent heart of the action viewing for the audience.

Tourism[link]

World Championships St. Moritz 1948

St. Moritz, due to its favorable location, enjoys over 300 days of sunshine a year. Every winter this alpine village hosts the "White Turf" horse race on the frozen Lake St. Moritz attended by the international Upper class.

Popular pastimes include skiing, snowboarding, and hiking, and nearby there is also the world famous Cresta Run toboggan course.

The year-round population is 5600, with some 3000 seasonal employees supporting hotels and rental units with a total of 13,000 beds.

Main sights[link]

Plazza da Scoula and St. Moritz library

• The Segantini Museum: dedicated to Giovanni Segantini, a painter that lived the last five years of his life in Engadine. The Segantini Museum is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.^[9]
• The bobsled run: a very rare natural bob sleigh typically running by mid December each year
• Viewing the glacier landscape: there are a number of notable vistas. Much can be seen by descending from Diavolezza to the Morteratsch Glacier.
• The 3300 metres high Piz Corvatsch with its ice cave and its eight-kilometer long ski slope down to St.Moritz-Bad.

Climate[link]

St Moritz has an Alpine climate climate with cold, moderately snowy winters and mild, wet summers.

Demographics[link]

Population[link]

St. Moritz has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 5,202.^[1] As of 2008^[update], 38.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.^[11] Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of 4.9%.^[5]

As of 2000^[update], the gender distribution of the population was 45.4% male and 54.6% female.^[12] The age distribution, as of 2000^[update], in St. Moritz is; 423 children or 7.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 502 teenagers or 9.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 960 people or 17.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,055 people or 18.9% are between 30 and 39, 864 people or 15.5% are between 40 and 49, and 820 people or 14.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 532 people or 9.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 289 people or 5.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 121 people or 2.2% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 23 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.^[11]

Politics[link]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 34.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (24.5%), the SP (22.4%), and the CVP (17%).^[5]

Education[link]

In St. Moritz about 65.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).^[5]

Employment[link]

St. Moritz has an unemployment rate of 1.38%. As of 2005^[update], there were 73 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 10 businesses involved in this sector. 900 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 55 businesses in this sector. 3,501 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 468 businesses in this sector.^[5] The Badrutts Palace Hotel (Five Star) has a staff of 520 persons and is the biggest employer in St.Moritz.

Languages[link]

Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (58.8%), with Italian being second most common (21.8%), and Portuguese being third (6.6%).^[5] Originally, the entire population spoke the Upper-Engadin Romansh dialect of Puter. Due to increasing trade with the outside world, Romansh usage began to decline. In 1880, only 50.2% spoke Romansh as a first language. Romansh lost ground to both German and Italian. In 1900, 31% of the population spoke Italian as a first language, and in 1910, it was about the same. In the following years, the percentage of Romansh and Italian speakers both decreased against German speakers. In 1941, only 20% spoke Romansh, and in 1970 it was 8%. In 2000, only 13% of the population of St. Moritz even understood Romansh.

Transportation[link]

Rhaetian Railway operates trains to St. Moritz (Rhaetian Railway station). The Glacier Express and Bernina Express trains also stop at this station.

In popular culture[link]

Norman Foster's Chesa Futura in St. Moritz

• St. Moritz is featured in the opening scenes of The Man Who Knew Too Much, a 1934 thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
• St. Moritz was mentioned in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger as a skiing resort. Also mentioned in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
• In the Ian Fleming novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service the villain Blofeld uses Piz Gloria, a mountaintop facility in a resort near St. Moritz, as his base of operations. The real Piz Gloria is in another part of Switzerland.
• St. Moritz is mentioned in the 1969 Peter Sarstedt hit "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)", where the song describes a Euro jet-setter who flies to St. Moritz during the winter.
• St. Moritz is mentioned in the popular comedic play "Private Lives", by Noel Coward.

See also[link]

• Glacier Express
• Bernina Express
• Swiss Alps
• Hotel St. Moritz in New York, named after the city

Gallery[link]

• 

  Badrutt Palace hotel at night.

References[link]

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

External links[link]

• Media related to St. Moritz at Wikimedia Commons
• http://www.stmoritz.ch Official website
• http://www.stmoritz-gemeinde.ch (German) (French) (Italian) (Romansh) Municipality
• St. Moritz in Romansh, German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

v t e Municipalities in the district of Maloja, Switzerland Bever Bregaglia Celerina/Schlarigna Madulain Pontresina La Punt-Chamues-ch Samedan St. Moritz S-chanf Sils im Engadin/Segl Silvaplana Zuoz Graubünden Districts of Canton Graubünden Municipalities of the canton of Graubünden

v t e Olympic venues in cross-country skiing 1924: Stade Olympique de Chamonix 1928: Around the hills of St. Moritz 1932: Lake Placid 1936: Große Olympiaschanze 1948: Around the hills of St. Moritz 1952: Holmenkollen National Arena 1956: Lo Stadio della neve 1960: McKinney Creek Stadium 1964: Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze 1968: Autrans 1972: Makomanai Cross-country site 1976: Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze 1980: Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center 1984: Igman, Veliko Polje 1988: Canmore Nordic Centre 1992: Les Saisies 1994: Birkebeineren Ski Stadium 1998: Snow Harp 2002: Soldier Hollow 2006: Pragelato Plan 2010: Whistler Olympic Park 2014: Sochi Biathlon & Ski Complex

v t e Olympic venues in ice hockey 1920: Palais de Glace d'Anvers 1924: Stade Olympique de Chamonix 1928: St. Moritz Olympic Ice Rink 1932: Olympic Arena (final), Olympic Stadium 1936: Olympia-Kunsteisstadion (final), Riessersee 1948: Kulm, Olympic Stadium (final), Suvretta 1952: Dæhlenenga, Jordal Amfi (final), Kadettangen, Lillestrøm stadion, Marienlyst stadion 1956: Apollonino Stadium, Lo Stadio del ghiaccio 1960: Blyth Arena (final), Squaw Valley Olympic Skating Rink 1964: Messehalle, Olympiahalle 1968: La Patinoire Municipale, Le Stade de Glace 1972: Makomanai Ice Arena (final), Tsukisamu Indoor Skating Rink 1976: Messehalle, Olympiahalle (final) 1980: Olympic Center 1984: Skenderija II Hall, Zetra Ice Hall (final) 1988: Father David Bauer Olympic Arena, Olympic Saddledome (final), Stampede Corral 1992: Méribel Ice Palace 1994: Gjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall, Håkon Hall (final) 1998: Aqua Wing, Big Hat (final) 2002: E Center (final), Peaks Ice Arena 2006: Palasport Olimpico (final), Torino Esposizioni 2010: Canada Hockey Place (final), UBC Thunderbird Arena 2014: Bolshoy Ice Dome (final), Shayba Arena 2018: Union Hockey Centre (final), Youngdong College Gymnasium

v t e Olympic venues in Nordic combined 1924: Le Tremplin Olympique du Mont, Stade Olympique de Chamonix 1928: Around the hills of St. Moritz, Olympiaschanze 1932: Intervales Ski-Hill, Lake Placid 1936: Große Olympiaschanze 1948: Around the hills of St. Moritz, Olympiaschanze 1952: Holmenkollen National Arena 1956: Lo Stadio della neve, Trampolino Italia 1960: McKinney Creek Stadium, Papoose Peak Jumps 1964: Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze 1968: Autrans 1972: Makomanai Cross-country site, Miyanomori Jumping Hill 1976: Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze 1980: Intervales Ski-Hill, Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center 1984: Igman Olympic Jumps; Igman, Veliko Polje 1988: Canada Olympic Park, Canmore Nordic Centre 1992: Tremplin du Praz 1994: Birkebeineren Skistadion, Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena 1998: Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium, Snow Harp 2002: Soldier Hollow, Utah Olympic Park 2006: Stadio del Trampolino, Pragelato Plan 2010: Whistler Olympic Park 2014: Biathlon & Ski Complex, RusSki Gorki Jumping Center