Solothurn
Place in Switzerland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Solothurn (/ˈsoʊlətʊərn, ˈzoʊ-/ SOH-lə-toorn, ZOH-, German: [ˈzoːlotʊrn] (
listen); French: Soleure [sɔlœʁ]; Italian: Soletta [soˈletta]; Romansh: Soloturn) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains.
Solothurn | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Coat of arms | |
Location of Solothurn  | |
  Solothurn  Solothurn | |
| Coordinates: 47°13′N 7°32′E | |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Canton | Solothurn |
| District | Solothurn |
| Government | |
| • Executive | Gemeinderat with 30 members |
| • Mayor | Stadtpräsidentin (list) Stefanie Ingold SPS/PSS (as of 2021) |
| • Parliament | none (Gemeindeversammlung) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6.28 km2 (2.42 sq mi) |
| Elevation (Chapel of St Peter) | 432 m (1,417 ft) |
| Population (2018-12-31)[2] | |
| • Total | 16,777 |
| • Density | 2,700/km2 (6,900/sq mi) |
| Demonym | German: Solothurner(in) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (Central European Time) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (Central European Summer Time) |
| Postal code(s) | 4500 |
| SFOS number | 2601 |
| Surrounded by | Bellach, Biberist, Feldbrunnen-Sankt Niklaus, Langendorf, Rüttenen, Zuchwil |
| Twin towns | Heilbronn (Germany), Kraków (Poland), Le Landeron (Switzerland) |
| Website | www SFSO statistics |
Imperial City of Solothurn Reichsstadt Solothurn | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1218–1648 | |||||||||
| Status | Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Capital | Solothurn | ||||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Founded | AD 14–37 | ||||||||
• Gained Imperial immediacy | 1218 | ||||||||
• Allied with Bern | 1295 | ||||||||
| 1353 | |||||||||
• Failed annexation by Counts of Kyburg | Night of 10 November 1382 | ||||||||
• Full member of Swiss confederacy | 22 December 1481 | ||||||||
• Joined Golden League | 5 October 1586 | ||||||||
| 24 October 1648 | |||||||||
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The town is the only municipality of the district of the same name.
The town got its name from Salodurum, a Roman-era settlement. From 1530 to 1792 it was the seat of the French ambassador to Switzerland. The pedestrian-only old town was built between 1530 and 1792 and shows an impressive array of Baroque architecture, combining Italian Grandezza, French style, and Swiss ideas. The town has eighteen structures listed as heritage sites.
The official language of Solothurn is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.