Stans and Nidwalden

27 July 2021

The village of Stans is the capital of Canton Nidwalden. It is the oldest settlement in the Nidwalden Valley. The Roman name was Stagnum. The Alemanni settled in the 7th and 8th centuries, and they built the first churches.

The Tagsatzung of Stans (meeting of the eight cities/Orte of the Confederation/Eidgenossenschaft) led to the Treaty of Stans (die Verkommnis) in 1481 and the Confederation of ten members.

The Verkommnis is the treaty of the eight old members of the Confederation that, together with the other alliance with Freiburg and Solothurn, ended state formation (until 1501).

The construction of the Rosenburg, the Fruonzhaus, the Oberhaus, the Zeigerhaus, the Busingerhaus, the town hall, (Rathaus), Winkelriedhaus, the Leuw’scheshaus, the Wammer’scheshaus, the Zeiger’scheshaus, the presbytery, the Capuchins and the nunnery took place in the 13th-18th centuries.

The early baroque parish church of St. Peter and Paul was built in 1642-1647.

The Ossuary is a chapel from the 15th/16th century. On the east side is a memorial plaque with the Ars Moriendi for the victims of the French invasion of 1798.

(Source: Historisches Lexicon der Schweiz, Stanser Verkommnis (www.hls-dhs-dss.ch); www.stans.ch).