Montreux - WikiHQ

Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut district in the canton of Vaud, having a population of nearly 27,000 with about 85,000 in the Vevey-Montreux agglomeration as of 2019.

Located in the centre of a region named the Vaud or Swiss Riviera (), Montreux has been an important tourist destination since the 19th century due to its mild climate. The region includes numerous Belle Époque palaces and hotels near the shores of Lake Geneva. Montreux railway station is a stop on the Simplon Railway and is a mountain railway hub.

History

thumb|left|Lake Geneva from Montreux

The earliest settlement was a Late Bronze Age village at Baugy. Montreux lies on the north east shore of Lake Geneva at the fork in the Roman road from Italy over the Simplon Pass, where the roads to the Roman capital of Aventicum and the road into Gaul through Besançon separated. This made it an important settlement in the Roman era. A Roman villa from the 2nd-4th centuries and a 6th–7th century cemetery have been discovered. which subsequently developed as , (1215),

Of the built up area, housing and buildings make up 11.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.4%. Out of the forested land, 46.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.5% is used for growing crops and 9.9% is pastures, while 1.2% is used for orchards or vine crops and 13.7% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality stretches from Lake Geneva to the foothills of the Swiss Alps (Rochers-de-Naye). It includes the former municipalities of Montreux-Les Planches (until 1952 Les Planches) and Montreux-Le Châtelard (until 1952 Le Châtelard). It was formed in 1962 with the merger of the two former municipalities.

Climate

The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for Montreux's climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).

Demographics

thumb|upright|High rise in Montreux

thumb|upright|Apartment building in Montreux

Montreux has a population () of . , 44.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 14.7%. It has changed at a rate of 22.3% due to migration and at a rate of -0.8% due to births and deaths.

Most of the population () speaks French (16,695 or 74.4%) as their first language, with German being second most common (1,398 or 6.2%) and Italian being third (897 or 4.0%). There are 9 people who speak Romansh.

, there were 9,380 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 9,758 married individuals, 1,631 widows or widowers and 1,685 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 9,823 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2 persons per household.

, a total of 9,553 apartments (70.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 3,043 apartments (22.5%) were seasonally occupied and 916 apartments (6.8%) were empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.55%.

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Heritage sites of national significance

The Swiss heritage site of national significance in Montreux includes: The Audiorama (also known as the Swiss National Audiovisual Museum), Crêtes Castle, Châtelard Castle, the Train Station, the Hôtel Montreux Palace, the Caux Palace Hotel, the Île and Villa Salagnon, the Marché couvert, the Grand-Hôtel/the Hôtel des Alpes (which served as the recording studio for Deep Purple's Machine Head album), and the Villa Karma.

The entire urban village of Territet / Veytaux as well as the Caux, Montreux and Villas Dubochet areas are all part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

File:Chateauchatelard.jpg|Châtelard Castle

File:Fairmont Le Montreux-Palace.jpg|Hôtel Montreux Palace

File:Montreux, Marché couvert, vue d'ensemble.jpg|Marché couvert

File:Territethoteldesalpes.jpg|The Grand Hôtel de Territet, formerly Hôtel des Alpes

</gallery>

Twin towns

Montreux is twinned with the towns of

Menton, France
Wiesbaden, Germany
Chiba, Japan

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 22.11% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (21.97%), the FDP (16.06%) and the Green Party (13.49%). In the federal election, a total of 4,473 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 39.7%.

Economy

, Montreux had an unemployment rate of 6.9%. , there were 70 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 27 businesses involved in this sector. 1,165 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 174 businesses in this sector. 9,290 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 999 businesses in this sector.

, there were 4,949 workers who commuted into the municipality and 4,964 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 2.3% of the workforce coming into Montreux are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.0% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 22.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 50.9% used a private car. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 817 children of which 456 children (55.8%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 1,056 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 931 students in those schools. There were also 119 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.

, there were 490 students in Montreux who came from another municipality, while 790 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Private schools

The Riviera School or École Riviera, an international school, is in Montreux.

Other local schools include Surval Montreux (an international all girls boarding school) and St George's School in Switzerland (British International School, in Clarens).

Institut Monte Rosa, an international co-educational boarding school, is in Territet.

Private hospitality schools in the area include Swiss Hotel Management School (in Caux), HIM Business School (Montreux), and Glion Institute of Higher Education (Glion).

Transportation

thumb|right|The Montreux station building in 2012|alt=Wide three-story building

Montreux has three railway stations on the Simplon line, , , and . The latter is also the western terminus of the Montreux–Glion–Rochers-de-Naye and Montreux–Lenk im Simmental lines, both of which climb into the hills away from Lake Geneva and have several dozen stations within Montreux.

Culture

Montreux was a haven for Catherine Barkley and Lt. Frederic Henry in Ernest Hemingway's classic novel A Farewell to Arms.

Montreux hosts several festivals:

The Septembre musical de Montreux, founded in 1946 and held every year since then.
Freddie Celebration Days — Montreux Celebration is organising this major and entirely free event in Montreux around September 5, the birthday of Freddie Mercury, late singer of the band Queen.
The Montreux Jazz Festival, held annually in July since 1967. It is held at the Montreux Convention Centre, built in 1973, and has become a global phenomenon.
The Golden Rose Festival, annually in spring (1961–2003), which awarded the Golden Rose of Montreux, an international award for television.
The Golden Award of Montreux, annually in April, is traditionally, since 1989, the first international advertising and multimedia Competition in Europe – starting the global season for awarding creative excellence.

Montreux has a walking trail along the lake, stretching from Villeneuve to Vevey. The main square of the town, Place du Marché, features a statue of Freddie Mercury facing Lake Geneva. Some of the numerous small cities around Montreux include La Tour-de-Peilz, and Villeneuve. The Château of Chillon has views over Lake of Geneva and can be accessed via bus, train, walk or boat.

Deep Purple traveled to Montreux in December 1971 to record Machine Head. The band's song "Smoke on the Water" tells of the events of December 1971, when a Frank Zappa fan with a flare gun set the Montreux Casino on fire, destroying the casino where they had originally planned to record the album. Thanks to Claude Nobs, who eventually arranged alternate locations, the Grand Hôtel de Territet was where almost the entirety of the album was created and recorded, except for "Smoke on the Water" which had already been partly recorded at the "Le Petit Palais", formerly called "Le Pavilion". Deep Purple again returned in 1973 to record Burn. The Montreux Casino was reopened in 1975, and later a monument commemorating Deep Purple and their song "Smoke on the Water" was built along the lake shore, with the band's name, the song title, and the riff in musical notes. However, the only other memorial dedicated to the band's song that can be found nowadays in Montreux, is a small plaque placed outside the back entrance of the former Grand Hôtel de Territet.

The Dubliners's song "Montreux Monto" on their album Live at Montreux was recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1976.

thumb|250px|View of Montreux town from [[Montreux railway station]]

Montreux is the home of Mountain Studios, the recording studio used by several artists. "Bonzo's Montreux" by Led Zeppelin is named after the city where the drums session of John Bonham was recorded in 1976. In 1978, the band Queen bought the studio. It was then sold to Queen producer David Richards. In 2002, the Mountain Studios was converted into a bar as part of a complete renovation of the studio. David Richards has left Montreux to settle down somewhere else. Queen also appeared in 1984 and in 1986 at the Golden Rose Festival and Queen guitarist Brian May appeared in 2001 at the Jazz Festival. Montreux was also the subject of the 1995 Queen single "A Winter's Tale" on the album Made in Heaven, one of Freddie's last songs before his death on 24 November 1991. The album cover features the statue of Mercury beside the lake.

In 1990, the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage was awarded to Montreux.

The Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports was founded in Montreux in 1924. Montreux HC, the oldest roller hockey club in Switzerland (founded in 1911) is based in Montreux.

The symphonic metal band Ad Infinitum was founded in Montreux.

Notable residents

140px|thumb|upright|Freddie Mercury statue

140px|thumb|Dame Joan Sutherland, 1975

thumb|140px|Pyotr Iliych Tchaikovsky

Claude Abravanel (1924–2012), a pianist and composer of classical music
Ian Anderson (born 1947), Scottish musician, frontman of Jethro Tull
Jim Beach (born 1942), the manager of the British rock band Queen
Alain Bernheim (born 1931), former musician now Masonic researcher
David Bowie (1947–2016), British musician
Sergei Aleksandrovich Buturlin (1872–1938), Russian ornithologist
Noël Coward (1899–1973), English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer
A. J. Cronin (1896–1981), Scottish novelist and physician
Laurent Dufaux (born 1969), Swiss cyclist
Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948), wife of American author F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jens Peter Jacobsen (1847-1885), Danish author
Douglas Jardine (1900–1958), cricketer, 22 Test matches for England, captain 15 times.
Patrick Juvet (1950–2021), a model turned singer-songwriter
Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980), an Austrian poet, playwright and expressionistic artist
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867–1951), Finnish statesman
Georg Baron von Manteuffel-Szoege (1889–1962) a German politician
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991), British musician, lead singer of Queen
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977), a Russian-born novelist, poet, translator and entomologist
Claude Nobs (1939–2013), Swiss founder of Montreux Jazz Festival
Clément Novalak (born 2000), French-Swiss racing driver
Luc Plamondon (born 1942), French-Canadian lyricist
Bezalel Rakow (1927–2003) an orthodox rabbi of Gateshead’s Jewish community
Uri Rosenthal (born 1945), Dutch politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs 2010–2012
Dame Joan Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE (1926–2010), Australian opera singer
Horst Tappe (1938–2005), German photographer of creative artists, writers and philosophers
Pyotr Iliych Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), Russian composer
Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz (1851–1924), Governor General of Dutch East Indies
Jean Villard (1895–1982), a chansonnier, poet, comedian, actor and cabaretist.
Rick Wakeman (born 1949), English keyboardist (Yes)
Franz Weber (1927-2019), an environmentalist and animal welfare activist
Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg (1884–1966), a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, posek, and rosh yeshiva
Weltin Wolfinger (1926–2010), a Liechtenstein bobsledder, competed in the 1956 Winter Olympics
Ardeshir Zahedi (1928–2021), former Iranian foreign minister and son-in-law of Shah of Iran
Fazlollah Zahedi (1892–1963), former Iranian Prime Minister of Iran

Gallery

Freddie Mercury Statue - Montreux.jpg|Freddie Mercury statue at sunset in Montreux.

LakeGenevaMontreux.jpg|Southwest view over the Lake Geneva from Montreux.

Joseph Mallord William Turner 013.jpg|Lake Geneva as seen from Montreux, Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1810

Montreux 1 um 1900.jpg|Montreux 1900

Montreux 2 um 1900.jpg|Another angle of Montreux 1900