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Anniviers

Merger 2009 Canton of Valais · District: Sierre · 2'784 inhabitants (31.12.2025, provisional FSO figure)
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Anniviers

The municipality takes the name of the Val d'Anniviers, recorded before 1052 as « Annivesium ». The old German name of the valley is « Eifischtal ».[7]

Founding of Anniviers

Ayer, Chandolin, Grimentz, Saint-Jean, Saint-Luc and Vissoie, the six municipalities the valley had counted since 1905, merged to form the municipality of Anniviers. From 1970 to 2005 they had already set up many forms of cooperation. An intermunicipal commission prepared the project, which was then put to the citizens of the six municipalities. At its creation, the new municipality had 2'369 inhabitants. The territory is the Val d'Anniviers, on the left bank of the Rhône, through which the Navizence flows. With 243.4 km², Anniviers is the second-largest commune in Valais by area. Until the end of the 18th century the valley formed a single lordship and a single parish, centred on Vissoie, with one confraternity and one large community of ten villages whose relations were sometimes strained. It also marks the eastern limit of Franco-Provençal.[1][3][6][7][10]

History of Anniviers

1193. The Bishop of Sion, lord of the valley once again, has it administered as a vidomnat by the d'Anniviers family. From 1311 the vidomnat becomes hereditary.[7]

1231. Vissoie, already the religious centre of the whole valley, appears as a parish dedicated to Saint Euphemia.[10]

1235. At Vissoie the bishop has a new oval-plan borough built, whose houses form the enclosure.[10]

1243. Grimentz becomes a commune, the first village in the valley to do so.[11]

1327-1798. The community of Anniviers is divided into four political quarters, from which the communes later emerge. Ayer belongs to them from 1327.[7][12]

1381. The lordship passes to the Rarogne family. From 1467 to 1798 it returns to the episcopal mensa, with a castellan appointed by the bishop.[7][10]

1565. The valley now forms one third of the dizain of Sierre.[7][10]

1798. After the French invasion, Vissoie is joined to Grimentz. Ayer forms a commune with Mission and La Comba.[10][12]

1805. Saint-Luc, together with Chandolin, leaves the parish of Vissoie. The valley then has two parishes.[7][10]

1854. A carriage road is built up the valley to serve the cobalt and nickel mines. On the territory of Ayer, copper, nickel, cobalt and arsenic have been mined since 1836.[7][12]

1904-1905. The Council of State restores the commune of Vissoie in 1904. From 1905 to 2008 the valley has six communes.[7][10]

1930-1933. Ayer becomes a parish in 1930, Grimentz in 1933.[10]

1955-1957. In 1955 a modern road is built for the Moiry dam, which dates from 1957.[7][11]

1998. The municipalities set up an intermunicipal « collaboration-fusion » commission.[3]

2002-2004. From December 2002 to August 2004 the commission drafts a report. Presented to the municipalities in September 2004, it is accepted by each of them.[3]

2005. In January the report is sent to the cantonal government (Conseil d'État).[3]

2006. On 26 November the voters of the six municipalities decide on the merger. All accept it by a majority, and commissions then prepare the new municipality.[2][3]

2008. On 10 June the Federal Gazette announces that Ayer, Chandolin, Grimentz, Saint-Jean, Saint-Luc and Vissoie will form the municipality of Anniviers on 1 January 2009.[4]

2009. On 1 January the municipality of Anniviers comes into being.[1][5][6][7]

Population of Anniviers

Sources and references: [6][7][9]

Population of Anniviers
17981'645 (Val d'Anniviers)
19102'253 (Val d'Anniviers)
19701'443 (Val d'Anniviers)
19801'584 (present-day territory)
19901'719 (present-day territory)
20002'035 (present-day territory)
20092'369 at the merger (Ayer 690, Chandolin 120, Grimentz 457, Saint-Jean 235, Saint-Luc 403, Vissoie 464)
20102'617
20202'742
20252'784

Historic sites in Anniviers

Administration counters. The municipal administration has counters in Ayer, Saint-Luc and Vissoie. The municipality's postal address is in Vissoie.[1][8]

Borough and church of Vissoie. The oval borough of 1235 still has at its centre the stone tower known as the Cour neuve. The church of Sainte-Euphémie dates from 1808-1809, but its tower is older.[10]

Burghers' house of Grimentz. Built in 1550, it remained the property of the commune until 1904. The village of Grimentz has kept the typical architecture of the Anniviers villages.[11]

Pierre des Sauvages, at Saint-Luc. In the forest above Saint-Luc, at 1'714 m, this 14 m gneiss block bears more than 300 cup marks. It is described as the largest cup-marked stone recorded in Switzerland.[13]

Mills of Saint-Luc. A 16th-century craft site laid out as a cascade: a grain mill, two rye and wheat mills, a drum for barley or hemp and a walnut press. The miller's house dates from 1793. The installations were restored from 1981 to 1984.[14]

Church of Sainte-Madeleine at Mission. The parish church of Ayer, dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene, stands in the village of Mission.[12]

Sources

  1. Commune d'Anniviers, « Présentation de la Commune »
  2. Communes d'Anniviers, « Commission pour la mise en place de la commune d'Anniviers »
  3. « La fusion des communes du Val d'Anniviers : essai sur les conséquences pratiques », rapport d'étudiants en économie, Sierre, 7 mai 2007
  4. Feuille fédérale 2008, p. 4542, changements de noms de communes (10.6.2008), via entscheidsuche.ch
  5. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), Répertoire officiel des communes, mutation 2760
  6. Canton du Valais, Service des affaires intérieures et communales, « Rapport sur les finances communales 2008 » (2010)
  7. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Anniviers, val d' » (Danielle Allet-Zwissig, version du 13.03.2017)
  8. État du Valais, « Anniviers » (fiche de la commune)
  9. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), STATPOP, chiffres provisoires au 31.12.2025, via citypopulation.de
  10. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Vissoie » (David Rey, version du 23.12.2016)
  11. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Grimentz » (Bernard Monnet, version du 23.12.2016)
  12. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Ayer » (Danielle Allet-Zwissig, version du 04.01.2017)
  13. Val d'Anniviers Tourisme, « Pierre des Sauvages »
  14. Association des musées suisses (museums.ch), « Les Moulins de St-Luc »

Localities of the municipality with a page

Other villages near Anniviers

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