Alvaneu (Romansh: Alvagni) is a former municipality in the district of Albula in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Alvaschein, Mon, Stierva, Tiefencastel, Alvaneu, Brienz/Brinzauls and Surava merged to form the new municipality of Albula/Alvra.^[1]

Quick Facts Country, Canton ...

Alvaneu
Former municipality
Coat of arms
Location of Alvaneu
Alvaneu Show map of Switzerland Alvaneu Show map of Canton of Graubünden
Coordinates: 46°41′N 9°39′E
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Graubünden
District	Albula
Government
• Mayor	Thomas Kollegger
Area
• Total	35.68 km2 (13.78 sq mi)
Elevation	1,181 m (3,875 ft)
Population  (2006)
• Total	419
• Density	12/km2 (30/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (Central European Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (Central European Summer Time)
Postal code(s)	7492
SFOS number	3511
ISO 3166 code	CH-GR
Surrounded by	Arosa, Brienz/Brinzauls, Filisur, Lantsch/Lenz, Schmitten, Surava, Tiefencastel
Website	www.albula-alvra.ch SFSO statistics

Close

On 20 March 2007 Peter Martin Wettler, a media expert and resident of Zurich was appointed Prince of Belfort by the village's authorities.^[2]

Alvaneu is first mentioned in 1244 as Aluenude. In 1530 it was mentioned as Allweneü.^[3]

Before the merger, Alvaneu had a total area of 35.7 km² (13.8 sq mi).^[4] Of this area, 27% is used for agricultural purposes, while 32.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (38.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).^[4]

The former municipality is located in the Belfort sub-district of the Albula district. It is located on a terrace above the Albula river. It consists of the village of Alvaneu (Alvaneu-Dorf) and Alvaneu-Bad on the valley floor. The municipality also includes the settlement of Aclas d'Alvagni as well as the alpine settlements of Creusch and Ramoz.

Alvaneu had a population (as of 2013) of 403.^[4] As of 2007^[update], 7.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -6.2%.^[4]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 42% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (25.1%), the SPS (22.8%) and the FDP (7.9%).^[4]

In Alvaneu about 69.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).^[4]

Alvaneu has an unemployment rate of 0.27%. As of 2005^[update], there were 43 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 37 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 4 businesses in this sector. 124 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 23 businesses in this sector.^[4]

The historical population is given in the following table:^[3][5]

The traditional language of the population until the middle of the 19th century was Romansh. However, in 1880, only 80.1% of the inhabitants spoke Romansch as their native language. This erosion continued (1910: 68.06%, 1941: 56.0%, 1970: 47.03%). 1960 was the last census that counted a Romansch-speaking majority.

Although 31% still speak some Romansch, German is now the only official language for municipality business.

Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (76.4%), with Rhaeto-Romance being second most common (16.9%) and Italian being third ( 3.5%).^[4]