Liestal (, <small>Standard</small> ), formerly spelled Liesthal, is the capital of Liestal District and the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland, south of Basel.

Liestal is an industrial town with a cobbled-street Old Town.

The official language of Liestal is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

History

The name Liestal was first mentioned in 1225,

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.6% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 12.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.7%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.6% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.8%. Out of the forested land, 57.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 6.7% is used for growing crops and 8.0% is pastures, while 1.8% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 0.3% is in rivers and streams.

Demographics

Liestal has a population () of . , 23.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 7.7%.

Most of the population () speaks German (10,759 or 83.2%), with Italian being second most common (660 or 5.1%) and Serbo-Croatian being third (276 or 2.1%). There are 122 people who speak French and 12 people who speak Romansh.

, there were 5,441 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 5,993 married individuals, 751 widows or widowers and 745 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 5,450 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household.

there were 5,876 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 1,710. There were 268 single room apartments and 1,538 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 5,316 apartments (90.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 379 apartments (6.4%) were seasonally occupied and 181 apartments (3.1%) were empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.21%.

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Heritage sites of national significance

thumb|The cantonal museum of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft in the heart of the old town of Liestal

The Depot of Archeology of Basel-land, the Frenkenbrücke (bridge), the Munzach which was a Roman farmhouse, the Roman aqueduct and the Cantonal Archive of Basel-Landschaft are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old town of Liestal is listed in the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 25.95% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (25.05%), the FDP (18.83%) and the Green Party (17.23%). In the federal election, a total of 4,243 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 49.8%.

Economy

thumb|Secondary sector: casting plant Erzberg in Liestal

, Liestal had an unemployment rate of 2.75%. , there were 160 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 26 businesses involved in this sector. 2,324 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 145 businesses in this sector. 10,189 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 824 businesses in this sector.

, there were 10,031 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,911 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.6 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 5.3% of the workforce coming into Liestal are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.2% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 25.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 35.7% used a private car.

Crime

In 2014 the crime rate, of the over 200 crimes listed in the Swiss Criminal Code (running from murder, robbery and assault to accepting bribes and election fraud), in Liestal was 73.2 per thousand residents, slightly higher than the national average (64.6 per thousand). During the same period, the rate of drug crimes was 6.1 per thousand residents. This rate is 103.3% greater than the rate in the district, additionally it is 125.9% greater than the rate in the canton, however, due to lower rates in the district and canton it is still only 61.6% of the national rate. The rate of violations of immigration, visa and work permit laws was 1.7 per thousand residents. This rate is 88.9% greater than the rate in the canton but is only 34.7% of the rate for the entire country.

Customs

thumb|right|Chienbäse

On the Sunday night after Mardi Gras, Chienbäse is celebrated with a spectacular parade and bonfires, from which the celebration takes its name. The tradition goes back at least to the 16th century. Other towns in the neighborhood also celebrate in a similar manner.

Other local festivals are the following:

  • Santichlaus-Ylüüte
  • Banntag

Transport

Liestal railway station is on the Swiss Federal Railway's Hauenstein main line, which connects Basel and Olten. It is served by five trains per hour to Basel, four trains per hour to Olten, and hourly trains to Bern, Lucerne and Zürich. Several trains a day operate through to Frankfurt and Berlin. The station is also the junction for, and terminus of, the Waldenburg narrow gauge railway, which operates a quarter-hourly train service to Waldenburg.

The nearest airport is EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, located north west of Liestal.

The municipality is also located on the A3 motorway, between Basel and Zürich.

Notable residents

140px|thumb|upright|Abel Seyler

140px|thumb|Carl Spitteler, 1919

  • Johann Bernhard Merian (1723 in Liestal – 1807), a Swiss philosopher active in the Prussian Academy of Sciences
  • Abel Seyler (1730 in Liestal – 1800), a Swiss-born theatre director and former merchant banker
  • Carl Spitteler (1845 in Liestal – 1924), a Swiss poet, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919
  • Karl Wilhelm Ritter (1847 in Liestal – 1906), civil engineer, professor of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
  • Wilhelm Eduard Brodtbeck (1873 in Liestal – 1957), architect
  • Matthias Gelzer (1886 in Liestal – 1974), a Swiss-German classical historian, studied the Roman Republic
  • Bohuslav Martinů (1890 - 1959 in Liestal), Czech composer of modern classical music
  • Martin Schadt (born 1938), a Swiss physicist and inventor
  • Enrico Marini (born 1969), an Italian comics artist
  • Davide Cali (born 1972 in Liestal), an Italian writer of picture books and graphic novels

; Sport

  • Rico Freiermuth (born 1958 in Liestal), a Swiss bobsledder, bronze medallist at the 1984 Winter Olympics
  • Adrian Knup (born 1968 in Liestal), is a Swiss retired football striker, 273 club caps and 49 for Switzerland
  • David Degen (born 1983 in Liestal), a former Swiss footballer, 269 club caps and 17 for Switzerland
  • Philipp Degen (born 1983 in Liestal), a retired Swiss footballer, 238 club caps and 32 for Switzerland
  • Fabian Leimlehner (born 1987 in Liestal), an Austrian male artistic gymnast, participated at the 2012 Summer Olympics
  • Jeffrey Schmidt (born 1994 in Liestal), a Swiss racing driver
  • Yanik Frick (born 1998 in Liestal), a Liechtensteiner footballer

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Liestal is twinned with:

{| class="wikitable"

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  • Onex, Switzerland

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  • Sacramento, California, United States

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  • Waldkirch, Germany

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See also

  • Waldenburgerbahn
  • Nanosurf

References

  • Official website of Liestal