Stadion Au

About

The municipality extends for six kilometers (4 mi.) from its southwestern to northeastern boundaries, and is barely wider than one kilometer (2/3 mi.) at its broadest point. The Aare, which flows through the centre of the old town, divides the municipality into two separate, distinct landscapes – the Swiss plateau on the southern bank and the beginnings of the Jura on the northern side.

The southwesternmost area of Brugg is primarily a flood plain, known as the Wildischachen, which is located between the Aare and a hill, the Wülpelsberg, upon which the Habsburg castle in the neighboring community of Habsburg was built. Approximately two kilometers (1.25 mi.) further north two separate branches of the Aare come together near the village of Altenburg. In between these two branches, which came into being following the construction of the hydroelectric power station Wildegg-Brugg, is the forested island of Schacheninsel.

Following a bend in the river, at which it alters its course from the north to the east, the river enters a 200-meter-long section with a rapids and a (650 ft) gorge. The Aare narrows from its previous width of about 130 meters (430 feet) to a mere 12 m (39 ft). It is along this gorge that the historic center of Brugg formed near the old bridge, with sections of the old town developing on both banks. Today the southern bank is heavily built up and is composed primarily of residential and industrial buildings, while the northern bank, due to the lack of space at the foot of the Bruggerberg (516 m (1,693 ft), is less settled.

The Aare broadens again after it exits the gorge and departs the old town, where it flows alongside the Aufeld plain. A majority of the population in this area is concentrated in a small band along the southeastern slope of the Bruggerberg. On the eastern border of the municipality three of the most important Swiss rivers flow together, first the Reuss and the Aare, the combination of which is met approximately one and a half kilometers (0.93 miles) further downstream by the Limmat. In the northeasternmost part of town, nestled between the mouth of the Limmat and the Reinerberg (522 m (1,713 ft) is the village of Lauffohr, which also is a part of Brugg.

Brugg has an area, as of 2007 [update], of 5.56 square kilometers (2.15 sq mi). Of this area, 0.74 square kilometers (0.29 sq mi) or 13.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while1.58 square kilometers (0.61 sq mi) or 28.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.79 square kilometers (1.08 sq mi) or 50.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.38 square kilometers (0.15 sq mi) or 6.8% is either rivers or lakes and 0.03 km 2 (7.4 acres) or 0.5% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 7.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 24.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 14.7%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.1%. 27.9% of the total land area was heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 8.3% is used for growing crops and 4.0% is pastures, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.

Brugg is bordered by the municipalities of Rüfenach and Villigen to the north; Untersiggenthal and Gebenstorf to the northeast; Windisch and Lupfig to the east; Hausen, Habsburg, Holderbank, and Veltheim to the south; Villnachern and Schinznach to the west; and Riniken and Bözberg to the northwest. Over time the built-up areas of Brugg have grown into the neighboring communities of Umiken and Windisch.

Up until the 19th century Brugg consisted of only one-tenth of its current surface area. The municipality's expansion began in 1823 with the purchase of around one-fourth of the territory of the neighboring community of Lauffohr. This was followed by the acquisition of a number of properties in 1827 from Umiken. Windisch sold the area around the train station in 1863 and transferred the land around the gas works in 1912. The village of Altenburg was incorporated into Brugg in 1901, and was followed in 1970 by the remainder of Lauffohr.

On 1 January 2010 the municipality of Umiken and on 1 January 2020 the municipality of Schinznach Bad merged into Brugg.

Up until the 19th century Brugg consisted of only one-tenth of its current surface area. The municipality's expansion began in 1823 with the purchase of around one-fourth of the territory of the neighboring community of Lauffohr. This was followed by the acquisition of a number of properties in 1827 from Umiken. Windisch sold the area around the train station in 1863 and transferred the land around the gas works in 1912. The village of Altenburg was incorporated into Brugg in 1901, and was followed in 1970 by the remainder of Lauffohr.

On 1 January 2010 the municipality of Umiken and on 1 January 2020 the municipality of Schinznach Bad merged into Brugg.

Archeological discoveries from the prehistoric era are scant. Two blades and fragments of a stone ax from the early Stone Age as well as a sickle from the Bronze Age are all that have been unearthed.

In 58 BC, or shortly thereafter, the Helvetii, who had returned to the Swiss Plateau following the Battle of Bibracte, (re-)founded the settlement of Vindonissa on a hill between the Aare and Reuss on what is today territory of the neighboring community of Windisch.

The Romans constructed a military post at Vindonissa around 15 BC, which they expanded into an encampment of a Roman Legion. At this time the first wooden bridge over the Aare was built as part of a Roman road across the Jura mountains to Augusta Raurica (known today as Augst ). It was the only position along the Aare between Lake Thun and the Rhine at which the river could be crossed with a single log. Remains of around 350 Roman graves have since been discovered within Brugg, where two large Roman burial grounds were located, and archeologists estimate that a total of 7,000 graves exist.

After the invasion of the Alemanni between 259 and 270 AD the Romans converted Vindonissa back into a camp of a Roman Legion, breaking with a 170-year "civilian phase." Around 370 AD the Romans established a fort as part of the Donau-Iller-Rhine-Limes -System in Altenburg. The Romans, though, ultimately withdrew between the years 401 and 406 AD. Settlement of the Alemanni in their stead has been traced to the 7th century. The toponymy is first recorded as Bruggo ( Latin ) in 1064.

In the late 10th century a noble dynasty under Lanzelin, which was possibly related to the Alsatian Etichonids, settled in Altenburg. He expanded the established Roman fort into the Altenburg Castle and made it his seat. Around 1020 Lanzelin's son, Radbot, ordered the construction of the Habsburg Castle approximately three kilometers to the southwest on the Wülpelsberg in the modern town of Habsburg. A few decades later the royal house adopted the castle's name as its own. Consequently, Altenburg is the first verifiable residence of the Habsburgs. With the acquisition of this territory between the Aare and Reuss, known as the " Eigenamt," the Habsburgs established the steppingstone of their imperium.

The earliest documented use of the name Bruggo has been dated to the year 1064, when Count Werner I attested to the possession of goods on the part of Muri Abbey in the area. The exact date, however, is contentious, as the Acta Murensia was first drawn up in 1160 and included a number of various older documents. Between 1164 and 1174 the place was mentioned as Brucca and between 1227 and 1234 as Brukke. At the end of the 12th century the Black Tower, or Schwarze Turm, was constructed at the behest of Count Albrecht III, Werner II 's son. The Black Tower is the oldest standing structure remaining in Brugg's old town today.

During the 13th century the settlement at the fortified river crossing took on the characteristics of a small town. Coins were minted from 1232, while a toll post was established in 1273. The town had a mayor, or Schultheiss, by 1278 and the first mention of a market can be traced to 1283. The importance of Brugg to the Habsburg can be seen in their decision to relocate to the town between 1220 and 1230. The confines of the Habsburg Castle had become too small for the family members that lived there. In 1242 the town is said to have been plundered by supporters of the Habsburg's Laufenburg Line.

Rudolf I, who spent a great deal of time in Brugg before his election to King of the Romans, awarded Brugg city rights, or Stadtrecht, on 23 July 1284. The decree awarding this new status was identical, word for word, to that of the town of Aarau. At the same time Brugg was granted independence from the Eigenamt and became a separate polity. Although the Habsburgs had moved their center of power a few years earlier to Vienna, they continued to maintain close ties with Brugg. The "Austrian House," later known as "Effingerhof," served as accommodations and a headquarters during military conflicts throughout this period of time in the Austrian forelands.

On 1 May 1308 King Albrecht I was murdered by his nephew John Parricida in the neighboring community of Windisch. In memory of this event his wife, Elisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol, founded Königsfelden Abbey (Cloister of King's Field), a Franciscan monastery and Clarisse convent, in 1310–11 at the site – approximately 200 meters from Brugg. Albrecht's oldest daughter, Agnes of Hungary, the widow of the Hungarian King Andrew III, moved to Königsfelden in 1317 and led it to commercial success, but did not join a religious order. In 1348 she received the sovereign rights to Brugg as well as the neighboring districts of Bözberg (including Lauffohr ) and the Eigenamt (including Altenburg) from her brother Duke Albrecht II. These rights lapsed after her death in 1364.