Kriens

Schloss Schauensee in Kriens

In the oldest documents of the Benedictine Monastery of Lucerne, Chrientes is specified as one of their 16 properties. Chrientes specified an area between Mt. Pilatus and the Lake of Lucerne.[3] The monastery received the area as a present from two noble sisters. This document dates from about 840 AD. The Habsburgs acquired the municipality in 1291. It remained in their possession as part of the District of Rothenburg until the Battle of Sempach. The city of Lucerne took over in 1392. Kriens, along with Horw and Eigenthal, belonged to the Vogtei of Horw-Kriens from 1421 until 1798. In 1653 the local peasants revolted under the leadership of Hans Spengler. It was a part of the District of Lucerne until 1803, and has belonged to the Authority of Lucerne ever since.

Aerial view (1949)

The City of Kriens consists of the ("citified") town of diverse districts, the community of Obernau to its west, the hamlet of Hergiswald, 5 km to the west of the town on the road to Eigenthal, and numerous independent farmsteads on the slopes of Pilatus.

The border in the east, with the neighboring community of Lucerne, goes across the property of a large brewery. From there it runs in a north-westerly direction through the Gigeliwald and runs to the west of the Lucerne district of Obergütsch and the Gütschwald to the Böschenhof farmstead. From there it runs to the south-west up the slopes of Mount Sonnenberg and Mount Blettenberg to the Gspan farmstead. It turns thence to the south-east, separating the hamlet of Holderchäppeli (elev. 935 m (3,068 ft)), running over Mount Würzenegg (elev. 1,146 m (3,760 ft)), Mount Chraigütsch (elev. 1,081 m (3,547 ft)) and Mount Höchberg (elev. 1,162 m (3,812 ft)) on its way to Mount Lauelenegg (elev. 1,442 m (4,731 ft)) northwest of Pilatus. Thence the municipal border leads to the north-east over Mount Fräkmüntegg (elev. 1,469 m (4,820 ft)), and Mount Biele (elev. 1,373 m (4,505 ft)) to the Hochwald. From there the border leads to Steinibach and shortly thereafter, nearly to the train station in Horw. From there it follows the (partially former) train track toward Lucerne in a north-easterly direction back to the property of the brewery.

The eastern part of Kriens (the districts near the city and near Horw) lie in a valley. From Kupferhammer the land gently rises to the west, toward Obernau (elevation difference between Kupferhammer and Obernau less than 90 m (300 ft) ).

To the north of the town is the little-forested southern slope of Mount Sonnenberg. The slope to the south of town is the northern side of Mount Schattenberg.

The Schattenberg is the first rise of Pilatus. The lower part is cleared and partially developed. The majority of the land west of Obernau and south of town is forest. West of the line connecting Krienseregg and Fräkmüntegg there is a large, flat swamp, from which begin many brooks (including Tschuggenbach, Weissbach, Rotbach, and Renggbach). The whole area forms part of the north slope of Pilatus.

Of importance is the stream the Unterer Krienbach, which often caused floods before it was covered. It flows through the town and empties into the Reuss in Lucerne. The Schlundbach and the previously mentioned Steinibach flow in the direction of Horw and onward into Lake Lucerne.

Kriens has an area of 27.3 km² (10.5 sq mi). Of this area, 31.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 50.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 16.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).[4] In the 1997 land survey, 50.51% of the total land area was forested. Of the agricultural land, 29.63% is used for farming or pastures, while 1.98% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the settled areas, 8.81% is covered with buildings, 2.23% is industrial, 0.84% is classed as special developments, 1.1% is parks or greenbelts and 3.88% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.07% is unproductive standing water (ponds or lakes), 0.33% is unproductive flowing water (rivers) and 0.62% is other unproductive land.[5]

It consists of Kriens and since 1845 Hergiswald. The Eigental belonged to Kriens parish until 1832. It was also part of Kriens during the Middle Ages and from 1814 to 1845.

Kriens borders on Hergiswil to the south, on Horw to the south and east, on the City of Lucerne to the east, the former municipality Littau (now part of the City of Lucerne) to the north, on Malters to the north-west, and on Schwarzenberg to the west.

Kriens has a population (as of 31 December 2019) of 27,847.[6] As of 2007, 15.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 6.3%.[4]

The age distribution in Kriens is: 5,438 people or 21% of the population is 0–19 years old. 6,412 people or 24.8% are 20–39 years old, and 9,199 people or 35.5% are 40–64 years old. The senior population distribution is 3,675 people or 14.2% are 65–79 years old, 997 or 3.9% are 80–89 years old and 167 people or 0.6% of the population are 90+ years old.[5]

Housing

Kriens from the Pilatus Aerial Cableway

As of 2000 there are 10,830 households, of which 3,760 households (or about 34.7%) contain only a single individual. 573 or about 5.3% are large households, with at least five members.[5] As of 2000 there were 2,941 inhabited buildings in the municipality, of which 2,532 were built only as housing, and 409 were mixed use buildings. There were 1,341 single family homes, 275 double family homes, and 916 multi-family homes in the municipality. Most homes were either two (918) or three (906) story structures. There were only 114 single story buildings and 594 four or more story buildings.[5]

Two-thirds of the jobs are in the service sector. Kriens offers 12,120 jobs in 958 work places. Kriens has an unemployment rate of 2.53%. As of 2005, there were 155 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 59 businesses involved in this sector. 2051 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 200 businesses in this sector. 6629 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 657 businesses in this sector.[4] As of 2000 51.2% of the population of the municipality were employed in some capacity. At the same time, females made up 45% of the workforce.[5]

Kriens was formerly accessible by train. The Kriens-Lucerne Train handled passenger traffic for decades. The tracks were removed from town in 2004, during a reorganisation of downtown. In the same year, rail service was restored to Kriens. The Kriens-Mattenhof station opened on the rail line between Lucerne and Interlaken in December 2004. It is, however, closer to Horw than to the town of Kriens.

Despite this, Kriens has an outstanding public transportation system. Line 1 of the VBL bus company goes from Lucerne to Kriens-Obernau via the town center. Lines 15 and 16 make other communities accessible by public transportation. In 2005, Line 16 was extended to the train station in Horw. Additionally, the bus lines 14 and 21 go from Lucerne to Kriens, partially via Horw. The Kriens–Sonnenberg funicular links Kriens with the hiking and recreational area of the Sonnenberg.

Kriens has its own exit on the A2 motorway near Grosshof, south of the Mount Sonnenberg tunnel. However, the exit for Horw, in Schlund, also on the A2, is more convenient for inhabitants in some parts of Kriens.

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 28.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (20.2%), the FDP (20%) and the SPS (17.1%).[4]

Neither the origin nor the meaning of Kriens is clearly ascertainable. It probably comes from the Indo-Germanic word (s)keri, that meant something like "separate" (4th century AD). It was then probably transferred into the Celtic Crientas. In a 9th-century document the Alemannic word Chrientes is mentioned.

There are twelve primary and three secondary schools in Kriens.

In Kriens about 74.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).[4]

The football team SC Kriens is based in the town.

• Petri Sutermeister (1920-2018) a Danish-Swiss writer of travel literature, she spent each summer in Spitsbergen
• Yvette Estermann (born 1967) a politician and member of the Swiss National Council
• Jean Nuttli (born 1974) a former cyclist
• Fabio Coltorti (born 1980) a former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, 360 club caps and 8 for Switzerland

• Official website of Kriens (in German)
• Kriens in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Kriens and Horw in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.