Chur
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- Chur is also a town in Russia
Chur, a city and former prince-bishopric (German Chur (khoor) [ku:r] (in Graubünden); [xu:r] (elsewhere), Romansh Cuira (KWAY-rah) ['kwera] or (KWOI-rah) ['kwojra], Italian Coira (KOI-rah) ['kojra]), is the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and lies in the northern part of the canton.
History
The city of Chur, the residence of the bishop and capital of the Canton of Graubünden, is over 5,000 years old, rightfully claiming to be the oldest Swiss city. Chur derives its name from Celtic: kora, koria, which means "clan, tribe."It was once a Roman fortified camp, Curia Raetorum in Latin, and became the capital of the Roman province of Rhaetia Prima in 15 BC.
The bishopric still existed in the early 20th century, with jurisdiction over the Cantons of the Grisons, Glarus, Zurich, and the three Forest Cantons, as well as the sovereign principality of Liechtenstein. The gild constitution of the city of Chur lasted from 1465 to 1839, while in 1874 the Burgergemeinde was replaced by an. Einwohnergemeinde. When Graubünden became a canton in 1803, Chur was chosen as its capital.
Ecclesiastical history and prince-bishopric
The diocese comprises the Swiss Cantons of Graubünden (Grisons), Glarus, Zürich, Unterwalden, and Uri, as well as the sovereign Principality of Lichtenstein.A Bishop of Chur is first mentioned in 451/ 452 when its Bishop St. Asimo attended the Synod of Milan (Mansi, IV, 141) , but probably existed a century earlier. The Rt. Rev. John Fidelis Battaglia, consecrated 1 March, 1889, is the ninety-sixth Bishop of Chur. The see was at first suffragan to the archbishop of Milan, but after the treaty of Verdun (843) it became suffragan to Mainz. In consequence of political changes it became, in 1803, immediately subject to the Holy See. According to local traditions, the first Bishop of Chur was St. Lucius, a reputed King of Britain, who is said to have died a martyr at Chur about the year 176, and whose relics are preserved in the cathedral. St. Lucius is venerated as the principal patron of the diocese. (See G. Mayer, "St. Luzi bei Chur", Lindau, 1876.) The country had to pass through very severe struggles for the Christian faith. Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, and the Lombards after him, attempted to introduce Arianism in the sixth and seventh centuries.
The bishop soon acquired great temporal powers, especially after his dominions were made, in 831, dependent on the Empire alone. In the dispute between Emperor Barbarossa and Pope Alexander III, Bishop Egino of Chur sided with the emperor and was rewarded with the dignity of Prince of the Empire in 1170. The bishop was also temporal lord of the city, and in several cases a better warrior than pastor. In 1392 he became head of the League of Gods House (originally formed against him in 1367), one of the three Raetian Leagues, but, in 1526, after the Reformation, lost his temporal powers, having fulfilled his historical mission (see Graubünden).
The struggles of Switzerland for liberty in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and, later, the secret preaching of Zwingli and Calvin, did great harm to the diocese, especially as the Catholic clergy neglected the instruction of the people. The Reformation was publicly proclaimed at Chur in 1524, and the two Catholic churches of St. Martin and St. Regula were given over to the Protestants, who retain possession of them to this day. The bishop fled, and his administrator, Abbot Theodore Schlegel, was publicly beheaded (1 January, 1529). Bishop Thomas Planta, a friend of St. Charles Borromeo, tried, but without success, to suppress Protestantism. He died, probably poisoned, 5 May, 1565. (See Camenisch, "Carlo Borromeo und die Gegenreform im Veltlin", 1901.) Twenty years later St. Charles sent the Capuchins into the endangered region, but Bishop Peter II (de Rascher) refused to admit them. His successor, Bishop John V (Flugi d'Aspermont, 1601-27), a saintly and courageous man, endeavoured to restore the Catholic religion, but was compelled to flee three times (1607, 1612, and 1617), and for several years a bloody war was waged between the Catholics and the Protestants. Finally, the newly erected Congregation of Propaganda commissioned the Capuchins to 'save the Catholic faith' among the people (1621). The first Capuchin superior of the mission was St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, who, on his way from Sewis to Grüsch, a little north of Chur, was slain (24 April, 1622) by peasants whom the sermons of the Protestant preachers had wrought up to a fury. Some relics of this martyr are preserved in the cathedral at Chur. A second mission, that of Misocco and Calanca, in the southern part of the diocese, was entrusted to the Capuchins in 1635. These two missions, Rhætiæ and Mesauci, were made prefectures Apostolic under the care of Italian Capuchins and these prefects resided at the two cities of Obervatz and Cama, both in the Canton of Grisons.
Several holy and extraordinary men have contributed to the splendour of the Diocese of Chur. St. Valentinian (530-48), St. Ursicinus (d. 760), and St. Adalbert (1151-60)
St. Sigisbert flourished about the year 600, St. Pirminus a century later; St. Florian, whom the diocese has chosen as its second patron, lived in the ninth century, the hermit St. Gerold in the tenth. The Capuchin Theodosius Florentini, vicar-general from 1860 till his death (15 February, 1865), was a very distinguished missionary; in 1852 he erected the Hospital of the Cross at Chur; before this he had already laid the foundations of two female religious congregations, one for the instruction of children, the other for the care of the sick. Chur is the birthplace of the painter Angelica Kauffman.
According to the "Kirchliches Handlexicon" (Munich, 1906) the diocese had a Catholic population of about 248,887 (non-Catholics, 431,367). There were 358 secular and 226 religious priests in charge of about 201 parishes, besides many chaplaincies and mission- stations. The largest Catholic community is at Zürich (43,655). The 35 Capuchins of the prefectures Apostolic had charge of 79 chapels in 1906. Three Benedictine abbeys —Einsiedeln, Engelberg, and Disentis— are within the diocese and, with the church of St. Nicolaus von der Flue at Sachseln, are places of pilgrimage. There was an ecclesiastical seminary at Chur, besides colleges at Schwyz, Disentis, Einsiedeln, Engelberg, Sarnen, and Stans. There were in the diocese nine orders of men, ten orders of women (Franciscans, Augustinians, Dominicans, Benedictines, and others), and eleven congregations.
Description
Chur is built, at a height of 1949 ft. above the sea-level, on the right bank of the Plessur torrent, just as it issues from the Schanfigg valley, and about a mile above its junction with the Rhine, almost entirely surrounded by the Alps, overshadowed by the Mittenberg (east) and Pizokel (south), hills that guard the entrance to the deep-cut Schanfigg valley.Chur has 33,500 inhabitants; languages spoken include Swiss German, Italian and Romansh. In 1900 of its 11,532 inhabitants, 9288 were German-speaking, 1466 Romansch-speaking, and 677 Italianspeaking; while 7561 were Protestants, 3962 Roman Catholics and one a Jew.
It has a variable altitude in the city area from just 600 metres above sea level to 1,800 metres above sea level, while the Churer Hausberg Brambrüesch (accessible from the Old Town) is situated at 2,174 metres above sea level.
The water of Chur's spring is exported and sold as Passugger mineral water.
Sights
The modern part of the city is to the west, but the old portion, with all the historical buildings, is to the east. Here is the cathedral church of St Luzius (who is the patron of Coire, and is supposed to be a 2nd-century British king Lucius, though really the name has probably arisen from a confusion between Lucius of Cyrene, miswritten curiensis, with the Roman general Lucius Munatius Plancus, who conquered Raetia).
Built between 1178 and 1282, on the site of an older church, it contains many curious medieval antiquities (especially in the sacristy), as well as a picture by Angelica Kaufmann, and the tomb of the great Grisons political leader (d. 1637) Jenatsch. Opposite is the Bishops Palace, and not far off, is the Episcopal Seminary (built on the ruins of a 6th-century monastic foundation). Not far from these ancient monuments is the new Raetian Museum, which contains a great collection of objects relating to Raetia (including the geological collections of the Benedictine monk of Disentis, Placidus a Spescha (1752-1833), who explored the high snowy regions around the sources of the Rhine). One of the hospitals was founded by the famous Capuchin philanthropist, Father Theodosius Florentini (1808-1865), who was long the Romanist cur of Coire, and whose remains were in 1906 transferred from the cathedral here to Ingenbohl (near Schwyz), his chief foundation. The Romano-Gothic cathedral where lie the remains of the Swiss patriot Jürg Jenatsch was begun by Bishop Tello (758-73), has a highly interesting crypt; it contains remarkable paintings by Dürer and Holbein.
Other highlights of Chur are the the Bishop's château (Bischöflicher Hof) and the church of St. Luzius. In this town you may also visit the Giger Bar designed by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger.
The Old Town is also worth a visit. Also worthy of a visit are the Rhaetian Museum, the art gallery, as well as the natural museum.
Transportation
Chur is 74 km by rail from Zurich, and is the meeting-point of the routes from Italy over many Alpine passes (the Lukmanier, the Splugen, the San Bernardino) as well as from the Engadine (Albula, Julier), so that it is the centre of an active trade (particularly in wine from the Valtelline), though it also possesses a few local factories.
Chur Station has the SBB-CFF-FFS lines link with the RhB (Rhaetian railways) lines. While the SBB lines serve most of Switzerland, most of Graubünden's rail traffic is served by Rhaetian state railways.
There is also a bus station on top of the railway station. [Dr Bus Vo Chur] is Chur's urban bus company's name in Swiss German, literally "the bus from Chur" Chur is linked via a solitary motorway -- the A13 motorway.
See also
- Mario Frick - Liechtensteiner football player, born in Chur.
- H. R. Giger - Artist born in Chur.
- Angelika Kaufmann - Artist born in Chur
Sources and References
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia.
- [as Coire]
- A. Eichhorn, Episcopatus Curiensis (St Blasien, 1797)
- W. von Juvalt, Forschungen fiber die Feudalzeit im Curischen Raetien, 2 parts (Zurich, 1871)
- C. Kind, Die Reformation in den Bisthflmern Chur und Como (Coire, 1858)
- Conradin von Moor, Geschichte von Curraelien (2 vols., Coire, 1870-1874)
- P. C. you Planta, Des alte Raetien (Berlin, 1872); Idem, Die Curraetischen Herrschaften in der Feudalzeit (Bern, 188i); Idem, Verfassungsgeschichte der Stadt Cur im Mittelalter (Coire, 1879); Idem, Geschichte von Graubünden (Bern, 1892).
External links
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