Morges (; , plural, probably ablative, else dative; ) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud and the seat of the district of Morges. It is located on Lake Geneva, west of Lausanne.

History

Morges is first mentioned in 1288 as Morgia. It was known by its German name Morsee though that name is no longer used.

About a hundred meters (yards) further north is the village of Vers-l'Église. The first settlement here dates back to the Neolithic, based on a layer of ceramic objects that date from between 2900 BC and 2700 BC. It remained occupied through the Late Bronze Age.

During the Middle Ages, Morges was a seasonal residence of the court of Savoy and the seat of a bailiff. The city was ruled as a single fief, and the residents were taxed according to their frontage or the width of their property along the street. The city was laid out like many neighboring Zähringer towns. There were two wide longitudinal streets that could be used for markets and fairs. A third, parallel road was added due to the rapid expansion of Morges. A rectangular plaza was created for the weekly market. Due to the shape of the streets and the frontage tax, most of the plots are long and narrow. Most of the houses have courtyards for light and ventilation and some are also equipped with spiral staircases and arbors. The religious institutions and their related educational institutions and parish houses as well as a hospital and the college were in the northern half of the town near the church. Workshops developed in the southern half of the city, around the harbor and the marketplace. There were also the covered markets, the granary, the slaughterhouse and important inns in the southern half. The most significant of the inns was the Auberge de la Croix Blanche at Grande-Rue 70-72 which was given a late Gothic facade around 1550.

During the early modern era, Morges was very prosperous. A number of large civic and private buildings were built during this time. They include Bern's granary (1690–92) at the site of a formerly fortified private residence, the house at Grande-Rue 56 (which was built in 1560 and the arcaded courtyard was added in 1670) and the building at Grande-Rue 94 with its remarkable facade from 1682. A latin school (scola grammatical calis) was operating by the second half of the 15th century. In 1574 the Collège de Couvaloup, which was inspired by the academies of Geneva, Lausanne and Bern, opened in Morges. The new church was built in a French classicism style between 1769–76 and is one of the masterpieces of Reformed architecture in Switzerland. German language church services began in town starting in 1710.

Beginning in the late 18th century the areas outside the city walls were built up. A number of country estates (La Gottaz, La Prairie, La Gracieuse) and new suburbs developed along the arterial roads to Lausanne and Geneva. A small harbor is first mentioned in 1536 and shortly thereafter, regular boat service to Geneva began. In 1664 a simple pier was built out of poles, but it was too small to provide protection for the galleys that were on the lake. The Bernese government therefore decided to build a commercial and military port in Morges and not in Lausanne-Ouchy. The current port was built with two curved breakwaters between 1691–96 and in 1702 the customs house was finished. With the port, Morges became the starting point for several trade routes and became the site of a major transshipment point for goods such as salt, wine and grain.

Morges grew into a regional economic, political and cultural center during the ancien régime. With the cultural development, it became a center for patriots (including Jean-Jacques Cart, Henri Monod and Jules Nicholas Muret) and the Vaudois revolution. After the 1798 French invasion Morges was a district capital.

During the second half of the 19th century, the city enjoyed an upturn in business thanks to the steamship port and the temporary connection from port to the railway (1855–62). In the port, the shipyard was located near the shipping company Compagnie générale de navigation sur le lac Léman (1858–89). The castle, which became the cantonal armory in 1803, was expanded in 1836–39 with some utility buildings and damaged in an explosion in 1871. Starting in 1925, it housed the Vaud Military Museum.

Geography

thumb|Aerial view of Morges

thumb|Aerial view (1964)

Morges has an area, , of . Of this area, or 21.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 4.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 73.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.0% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 40.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 19.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 9.4%. Out of the forested land, 3.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 6.8% is used for growing crops and 2.1% is pastures, while 12.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.5% is in lakes and 0.5% is in rivers and streams.

The municipality is the capital of the district. It is located south-west of Lausanne along a bay in Lake Geneva.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess Argent and Gules, two Bars wavy counterchanged.

It symbolizes the two rivers that bounded the town to the east, the Bief, and to the west the Morges river.

Demographics

thumb|Market in Morges

Morges has a population () of . , 32.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 4.3%. It has changed at a rate of 2.9% due to migration and at a rate of 1.5% due to births and deaths.

Most of the population () speaks French (11,654 or 82.3%), with German being second most common (601 or 4.2%) and Italian being third (566 or 4.0%). There are 2 people who speak Romansh.

, there were 5,695 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,496 married individuals, 940 widows or widowers and 1,023 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 6,628 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household.

there were 7,194 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 2,469. There were 680 single room apartments and 941 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 6,478 apartments (90.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 616 apartments (8.6%) were seasonally occupied and 100 apartments (1.4%) were empty.

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bar:1764 from:start till:2385 text:"2,385"

bar:1850 from:start till:3241 text:"3,241"

bar:1860 from:start till:3627 text:"3,627"

bar:1870 from:start till:3806 text:"3,806"

bar:1880 from:start till:3936 text:"3,936"

bar:1888 from:start till:4052 text:"4,052"

bar:1900 from:start till:4421 text:"4,421"

bar:1910 from:start till:4564 text:"4,564"

bar:1920 from:start till:4672 text:"4,672"

bar:1930 from:start till:5047 text:"5,047"

bar:1941 from:start till:5689 text:"5,689"

bar:1950 from:start till:6456 text:"6,456"

bar:1960 from:start till:8420 text:"8,420"

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Heritage sites of national significance

It is home to the Les Roseaux and Stations de Morges prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements that are part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site. The De La Croix Blanche Inn, the buildings at Grand-Rue 54 and Grand-Rue 94, Morges Castle along with the Military Museum of Vaud, the City Hall, the Bronze Age shore front settlement Les Roseaux/La Grande Cité and the Temple are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old city of Morges is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

<gallery>

File:Morges chateau ag1.jpg |Morges Castle and Military Museum of Vaud

File:Arbalette-p1000556.jpg|Weapons and armor from the Military Museum

File:Mitrailleuse-gatling-p1000746.jpg|A Mitrailleuse gatling gun from the Military Museum

File:Temple de Morges (609089803).jpg |Temple

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Twin Town

Morges is twinned with:

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  • Vertou, France

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Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 27.87% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (19.64%), the FDP (13.56%) and the Green Party (13.05%). In the federal election, a total of 3,649 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 44.1%.

Economy

, Morges had an unemployment rate of 5.5%. , there were 33 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 978 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 95 businesses in this sector. 7,391 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 783 businesses in this sector.

, there were 5,309 workers who commuted into the municipality and 4,531 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.2 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 2.1% of the workforce coming into Morges are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.0% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 25.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 52.1% used a private car. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 631 children of which 203 children (32.2%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 716 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 662 students in those schools. There were also 37 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.

Morges is home to the Musée militaire and the Musée Paderewski. In 2009 the Musée militaire was visited by 17,300 visitors (the average in previous years was 16,619). In 2009 the Musée Paderewski was visited by 200 visitors (the average in previous years was 333).

Sport

The HC Forward-Morges plays in the Swiss 1. Liga.

The YC Yens-Morges plays in the Swiss Unihockey Competition.

Notable people

140px|thumb|Jean-François Sablet, self-portrait

140px|thumb|Fernán Caballero

140px|thumb|Claude Anet, 1931

140px|thumb|Lara Michel, 2015

Early times

  • Margaret of Savoy (1420 in Morges – 1479) a daughter of Amadeus VIII of Savoy and Mary of Burgundy

18th century

  • Charles-Emmanuel de Warnery (1720 in Morges - 1776) a royal Prussian colonel, later a royal Polish general
  • Henri de Catt (1725 in Morges – 1795) Swiss scholar, private secretary to Frederick the Great of Prussia
  • John Francis Hobler (1727 in Morges - 1794 ) Swiss-born, naturalised-English, watchmaker
  • Jean-André Venel (1740 in Morges – 1791) a Swiss doctor, pioneer in the field of orthopedics
  • Jean-François Sablet (1745 in Morges - 1819) a French painter; part of a family of artists of Swiss origin
  • Jean-Marc Mousson (1776 in Morges - 1861) politician and civil servant, the first Chancellor of Switzerland from 1803 to 1830
  • Fernán Caballero (1796 in Morges – 1877) pseudonym of the Spanish novelist Cecilia Francisca Josefa Böhl de Faber
  • Marc Warnery (1797 in Morges - 1836) slave plantation overseer and director in Dutch Suriname

19th century

  • Louis Buvelot (1814 in Morges – 1888) landscape painter, influenced the Heidelberg School of painters
  • François-Alphonse Forel (1841 in Morges – 1912) scientist, pioneered the study of lakes, founded limnology
  • Eugen Bracht (1842 in Morges – 1921) a German landscape painter
  • Auguste-Henri Forel (1848 in Morges – 1931) a myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and eugenicist
  • Victor Morax (1866 in Morges – 1935) Swiss ophthalmologist
  • Jean Morax (1869–1939) Swiss painter and theatre decorator, born and died in Morges
  • Henryk Opieński (1870 – 1942 in Morges) Polish composer, violinist, teacher and musicologist
  • René Morax (1873–1963) Swiss poet and playwright, born and died in Morges
  • Milo Martin (1893 in Morges – 1970) a Swiss sculptor and medal-artist

20th century

  • Igor Stravinsky, Russian-born composer, lived in Morges from 1915 to 1920
  • Queen Anne of Romania (1923 – 2016 in Morges), wife of the former king Michael I of Romania
  • Patrick Moraz (born 1948 in Morges), Swiss keyboardist, played with Yes and The Moody Blues
  • Gilles Jobin (born 1964 in Morges), a Swiss dancer, choreographer and director
  • Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist and politician
  • Nuria Gorrite (born 1970), grew up in Morges, President of the Council of State of Vaud

Sport

  • Jean Schopfer (1868 in Morges – 1931), a French tennis player and a writer, known as Claude Anet
  • Olivier Anken (born 1957 in Morges), a retired ice hockey player
  • Dominique Bosshart (born 1977 in Morges), a Canadian taekwondo athlete, bronze medallist at the 2000 Summer Olympics, also competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics
  • Jonathan Massacand (born 1984 in Morges), backstroke swimmer, competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics
  • Yannick Weber (born 1988 in Morges), a Swiss professional ice hockey defenceman
  • Yann Sommer (born 1988 in Morges), Swiss football goalkeeper
  • Nikola Vučević (born 1990 in Morges), a Montenegrin professional basketball player
  • Lara Michel (born 1991 in Morges), a Swiss tennis player

References

  • Morges-Ville de Morges
  • Morges Photo Gallery