Olten (; High Alemannic: Oute or Olte) is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name.

Olten grew into a town during the Middle Ages at the location of a bridge over the Aare. After a period of decline, it grew rapidly as a railway town in the 19th century. Its railway station is a major rail hub of Switzerland, located at the junction of lines to Zurich, Basel, Bern, and Lucerne, all of which are within 30 minutes by train, and the town is also home to a depot for Swiss Federal Railways.

History

thumb|upright|Peasant woman from Olten in traditional costume (c. 1800).

thumb|Aerial view from 400 m by [[Walter Mittelholzer (1919)]]

Significant amounts of artefacts of the Magdalenian (c. 16'000 to 14'000 years ago) have been excavated near Olten.

There are also finds dated to the Mesolithic and Neolithic, but there is no trace of a settlement, and no ceramic finds; finds dating to the Bronze and Iron Ages are also rather limited.

There was a vicus at the site during the Roman era. The name of the settlement is not known, but it seems to have been of a certain importance, presumably reflecting the presence of a bridge across the Aare. The Roman settlement was probably destroyed in the later 3rd century.

At the end of the 3rd century, a fortification was built at the bridge-head, on the south-eastern corner of the earlier vicus. This fortress was abandoned in the 4th century, and later replaced by a larger castle, comparable to late Roman fortresses protecting crossings of the Aare at Solothurn and Brugg.

The medieval settlement was built on the foundations of the Roman castle. It is first mentioned in 1201, as Oltun (conjectured as continuing an *Olodunum, with the Gaulish suffix dunum "fort", and a prefix olo-, possibly from a hydronym, thus "river-fort").

It was in possession of the counts of Frohburg in the 13th century, passing to Kyburg in 1377 and to Habsburg in 1384.

Olten passed under the administration of Basel in 1407, which invested in infrastructure, which was however destroyed in fires in 1411 and 1422. Basel lost interest in rebuilding the town again after the 1422 fire, and sold the settlement to Solothurn in 1426.

Throughout the medieval period, Olten was little more than a fortified bridge-head with some services (blacksmiths, taverns); its total population is estimated to about 500 people for the year 1600. Olten lost its city rights in 1653 as punishment for its support of the rebels in the Swiss Peasant War.

This resulted in a lasting tradition of resistance against authority in Olten, and the town welcomed as liberators the French troops in the 1798 invasion. In 1814, Solothurn suppressed another rebellion of Olten patriots against the Swiss Restauration.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 15.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 11.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.2% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.1%. Out of the forested land, 40.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 6.2% is used for growing crops and 5.9% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

Demographics

thumb|Alpiq building in Olten

thumb|House in the Old Town

thumb|upright|City hall of Olten

Olten has a population () of . , 27.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 1.2%.

Most of the population () speaks German (13,855 or 82.7%), with Italian being second most common (844 or 5.0%) and Albanian being third (356 or 2.1%). There are 167 people who speak French and 22 people who speak Romansh. Of the population in the municipality 4,596 or about 27.4% were born in Olten and lived there in 2000. There were 2,920 or 17.4% who were born in the same canton, while 4,585 or 27.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,904 or 23.3% were born outside of Switzerland.

, there were 6,700 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 7,504 married individuals, 1,356 widows or widowers and 1,197 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 8,069 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household.

there were 9,217 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 3,158. There were 677 single room apartments and 1,669 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,928 apartments (86.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 820 apartments (8.9%) were seasonally occupied and 469 apartments (5.1%) were empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.85%.

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bar:1941 from:start till:15287 text:"15,287"

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Heritage sites of national significance

The Old City, which includes a Roman era vicus as well as medieval and early modern developments, Train Station, the prehistoric and Roman era hilltop settlement of Dickenbännli, the covered wooden bridge over the Aare and the Naturmuseum are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance. The entire town of Olten is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

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File:Picswiss SO-18-13.jpg|Old city of Olten

File:Rückseite des Rathskeller Olten - 20140514.jpg|Rathskeller Olten

File:Picswiss SO-18-31.jpg|Train station

File:OltenBruecke1.jpg|Olten's covered wooden bridge

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Culture

Every year, on 1 August, a large firework show occurs from boats floating down the river. It is also home to a wooden foot bridge, one of the towns landmarks. In Olten's railway station restaurant, the Gruppe Olten (Olten Group), a group of writers that included Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt, was founded, as was the Swiss Alpine Club in 1863.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 25.31% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (21.42%), the FDP (18.61%) and the CVP (15.8%). In the federal election, a total of 5,515 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 50.9%.

Economy

Located at the crossroads of the most important west–east and north–south lines of Switzerland, Olten has been considered a railway town for more than 150 years. The Swiss Federal Railways is running here a central maintenance facility established in 1855 by Swiss Central Railway. The headquarters of SBB Cargo International are in Olten as well.

Swiss Prime Site, one of the most important real estate companies in Switzerland, has its head office in Olten today. In 1916, the Walter Verlag was founded by Otto Walter, where Otto F. Walter worked from 1956 to 1966. The former building is now used by the Alternative Bank Schweiz (ABS).

, Olten had an unemployment rate of 4.4%. , there were 19 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 7 businesses involved in this sector. 2,825 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 147 businesses in this sector. 13,000 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,067 businesses in this sector.

, there were 11,508 workers who commuted into the municipality and 4,156 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 28.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 37.6% used a private car. During that school year, there were 254 children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 767 students in primary school and 74 students in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. 454 lower secondary students attend school in Olten.

, there were 1,526 students in Olten who came from another municipality, while 183 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Sports

EHC Olten, hockey team playing in the Swiss League. They play their home games in the 6,500-seat Kleinholz Arena, which they regularly fill.

SC Altstadt Olten plays in the Second Regio League, the fifth tier of the Swiss ice hockey league system. The team also plays its home games in the Kleinholz Arena.

Notable people

140px|thumb|Paul Hermann Müller

  • Martin Disteli (1802–1844), painter of caricatures
  • Bernhard Hammer (1822–1907), politician, President of the Confederation in 1879 and 1889
  • Werner Munzinger (1832–1875), administrator and explorer
  • Walter Lienhard (1890–1973), sport shooter
  • Paul Hermann Müller (1899–1965), chemist
  • Bruno Heim (1911–2003) the Vatican's first Apostolic Nuncio to Britain
  • Robert Heuberger (1922–2021), real estate entrepreneur, patron and author
  • Lilian Uchtenhagen, (1928–2016), politician and economist
  • Ueli Schibler (born 1947), biologist, chronobiologist and academic
  • Pedro Lenz (born 1965), writer
  • Ramon Vega (born 1971), footballer
  • Min Li Marti (born 1974), politician, publisher, sociologist and historian
  • Marianne Schmid Mast (born ) psychologist and academic
  • Naomy (born 1977), Romanian recording artist, songwriter and actress
  • Gökhan Inler (born 1984), footballer
  • Denis Malgin (born 1997), ice hockey player
  • Lian Bichsel (born 2004), ice hockey player

References

  • Official town website