Aigle (French for "eagle", ; ) is a historic town and a municipality and the capital of the district of Aigle in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.

The official language of Aigle is Swiss French.

Geography

thumb|left|The region of Aigle with [[Monthey and the Dents du Midi across the Rhône valley]]

Aigle lies at an elevation of about south-southeast of Montreux. It is on the east edge of the Rhône valley, at the foot of the Swiss Alps.

thumb|left|Aerial view (1968)

Aigle has an area, , of . Of this area, or 34.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 25.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.7% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.6% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 5.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.5% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.4%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 21.5% is used for growing crops and 2.4% is pastures, while 10.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.6% is in lakes and 2.1% is in rivers and streams.

Demographics

thumb|Aigle town and castle

thumb|Train station in Aigle

thumb|Train station at Les Diablerets

Aigle has a population () of . , 37.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 15.4%. It has changed at a rate of 14.7% due to migration and at a rate of 1.5% due to births and deaths.

Most of the population () speaks French (6,362 or 80.0%), with Portuguese being second most common (278 or 3.5%) and Albanian being third (275 or 3.5%). There are 235 people who speak German, 264 people who speak Italian and 5 people who speak Romansh.

, there were 3,227 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 3,809 married individuals, 502 widows or widowers and 417 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 3,342 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household.

there were 4,178 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 1,502. There were 324 single room apartments and 585 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 3,286 apartments (78.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 565 apartments (13.5%) were seasonally occupied and 327 apartments (7.8%) were empty.

<timeline>

Colors=

id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9)

id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8)

ImageSize = width:1020 height:210

PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100

AlignBars = justify

DateFormat = x.y

Period = from:0 till:8000

TimeAxis = orientation:vertical

AlignBars = justify

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1600 start:0

ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:320 start:0

PlotData=

color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center

bar:1764 from:start till:1431 text:"1,431"

bar:1850 from:start till:2296 text:"2,296"

bar:1860 from:start till:2582 text:"2,582"

bar:1870 from:start till:3273 text:"3,273"

bar:1880 from:start till:3319 text:"3,319"

bar:1888 from:start till:3540 text:"3,540"

bar:1900 from:start till:3897 text:"3,897"

bar:1910 from:start till:3972 text:"3,972"

bar:1920 from:start till:3840 text:"3,840"

bar:1930 from:start till:3912 text:"3,912"

bar:1941 from:start till:3918 text:"3,918"

bar:1950 from:start till:4271 text:"4,271"

bar:1960 from:start till:4381 text:"4,381"

bar:1970 from:start till:6532 text:"6,532"

bar:1980 from:start till:6233 text:"6,233"

bar:1990 from:start till:7825 text:"7,825"

bar:2000 from:start till:7955 text:"7,955"

</timeline>

Heritage sites of national significance

Aigle Castle and Museum De La Vigne, the Swiss Reformed Church of Saint-Maurice and the De la Dîme House are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire town and castle of Aigle are listed as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

<gallery>

File:Aigle Schloss2.jpg | Aigle Castle

File:Aigle Kirche.jpg | Swiss Reformed Church of Saint-Maurice

</gallery>

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 24.34% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (23.39%), the SP (20.74%) and the Green Party (9.87%). In the federal election, a total of 1,794 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 42.0%.

Economy

, Aigle had an unemployment rate of 8%. , there were 257 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 52 businesses involved in this sector. 1,236 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 99 businesses in this sector. 3,191 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 377 businesses in this sector.

, there were 2,540 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,821 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.4 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 2.8% of the workforce coming into Aigle are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 20.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 50.9% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 2,857 or 35.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 2,853 or 35.9% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 96 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.21% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.06% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 211 individuals (or about 2.65% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were two individuals who were Jewish, and 720 (or about 9.05% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 18 individuals who were Buddhist, 36 individuals who were Hindu and 27 individuals who belonged to another church. 657 (or about 8.26% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 473 individuals (or about 5.95% of the population) did not answer the question. During the school year, the district provided pre-school care for a total of 205 children. There were 96 (46.8%) children who received subsidized pre-school care. There were 568 students in the primary school program, which last four years. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 478 students in those schools. There were also 45 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.

, there were 339 students in Aigle who came from another municipality, while 386 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

  • Charles Krafft (1863 in Aigle – 1921), Swiss surgeon who performed the first appendectomy
  • Sébastien Buemi (born 1988 in Aigle), a Swiss professional racing driver
  • Siem de Jong (born 1989 in Aigle), a Dutch professional footballer
  • Luuk de Jong (born 1990 in Aigle), a Dutch professional footballer
  • Ridge Mobulu (born 1991 in Aigle), a Congolese footballer
  • Benjamin Kololli (born 1992 in Aigle), a Kosovar professional footballer
  • Fanny Smith (born 1992 in Aigle), a Swiss freestyle skier, competed at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, when she won bronze
  • Mersim Asllani (born 1999 in Aigle), a Swiss football player of Kosovan descent
  • Gino Mäder (born 1997 in Aigle), a Swiss professional cyclist
  • Kyshawn George (born 2003 in Aigle), a Swiss Canadian basketball player

Twin towns – sister cities

Aigle is twinned with:

{| class="wikitable"

|- valign="top"

|

L'Aigle, France, since 1964

||

Bassersdorf, Switzerland, since 1969

||

Tübingen, Germany, since 1973

|}

Transportation and the Transports Publics du Chablais

thumb|Aigle railway station with trains of AOMC, ASD und AL (from left to right)

Aigle is a stop on the Swiss Federal Railway's (SBB CFF FFS) high speed Simplon line between Italy (Domodossola) north to Lausanne and Geneva. At the Aigle SBB CFF FFS station, connections can be made to three narrow gauge railways, the ASD, AL, and AOMC. The Aigle-Sepey-Diablerets railway's (ASD) route goes east and rises from Aigle to the ski resort of Diablerets. The Aigle-Leysin railway's (AL) route goes east and rises from Aigle to the ski resort and grand vista of Leysin. The Aigle-Ollon-Monthey-Champerey railway's (AOMC) route runs west from Aigle across the Rhone and valley, then climbs to the ski resort of Champery. These railways, plus the Bex–Villars–Bretaye railway (BVB) which runs east from Bex, a village just south of Aigle, are operated by Transports Publics du Chablais with the motto: "Depuis plus de cent ans et contre toute attente, des lignes des TPC reunissent plaine et montagne, Vaud et Valais, ville et campagne, terres catholiques et protestantes." Translated roughly: "For over 100 years and contrary to all expectations, the railways of TPC have joined plain and mountain, town and country, of the Vaud and Valais districts of Switzerland, land of both Catholics and Protestants." The TPC "motto" refers to the religious composition and history of the general region known historically as the Chablais which has known turmoil. In 1846–7, the Valais canton tried to secede from Switzerland with the intention of joining a proposed Catholic confederation of cantons called the Sonderbund, but this was put down by Swiss Federal troops. The ASD, the AL, and the BVB railways operate within the canton of Vaud. The AOMC operates in the Vaud and into the Canton of Valais when it crosses the Rhone to reach Monthey and Champery.

New construction rebuilt Aigle's Place de la Gare in partnership with municipal and canton administration and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS). The project provided new train platforms at the SBB CFF FFS station to accommodate the trains of the AL, ASD and AOMC. Also added was AOMC track alongside SBB CFF FFS track to a new TPC office and workshop at En Châlex. With approximately 3 million passengers using its facilities each year, Aigle is the second most important station in canton Vaud after Lausanne. (Source: Le Bleu Matin, 8.10.2007). There are plans, awaiting approval, for the extension of the Aigle-Leysin line beyond Leysin deep into the Berneuse whereby passengers will be able to travel, without transfers, to a site that provides magnificent views of the Alps, the Jura, and Lake Geneva. This project is an investment which will benefit the entire region and offer a boost to tourism, the region's No. 1 industry. Landslides have required periodic emergency work to stabilise above and below the trackside adjacent soil and rock, much of which is covered in coniferous forest. This has included the erection of 150 meters of mesh barrier to prevent falling rock reaching the tracks and to offer protection to railway workers.

Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification, Aigle has an oceanic climate (Köppen:Cfb). Aigle has an average of 118 days of precipitation per year and on average receives of precipitation. The wettest month is July during which time Aigle receives an average of of precipitation. During this month there are 10.7 days with precipitation. The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 11.8, but with only of precipitation. The driest month of the year is February with an average of of precipitation over 7.8 days.

|source 2 = MeteoSwiss

|date=August 2010

References

  • Official Website of the Commune of Aigle
  • Webcam on the Rue de la Gare
  • Les TPC: Transports Publics du Chablais: Website includes color maps