A Town, Village or Flecken, the history of Stans

6 July 2024

Is Stans, a main town (Hauptort) of Canton Nidwalden, a village, ‘Flecken‘ or a city after all? Like the other ‘Hauptorte’ of cantons in the Urschweiz (and both Appenzeller), Stans has the appearance of a town. Monumental buildings, colossal churches, large monastery complexes and other (public) buildings dominate the street scene.

St Peter and Paul (1647) is an early Baroque church with a Romanesque bell tower (12th century) on the square.

This question is as complicated as the genesis of the cantons of Obwalden, Nidwalden, also called Unterwalden, in the Middle Ages. In any case, the name Unterwalden was first found in documents. King Rudolf of Habsburg (1218-1291) acquired this area from the monasteries of Murbach, Engelberg and Beromünster in 1291.

The Beinhaus next to the St Peter and Paul

Two Orte developed in Unterwalden after 1330 and the formation of the first Eidgenossenschaft: Obwalden with Sarnen as its main town and Nidwalden with Stans as its regional centre.

For a long time, Obwalden and Nidwalden shared the vote (Obwalden had two-thirds, and Nidwalden one-third) in the Diet (Tagsatzung), and later, they had one rotating vote until 1798. The growing identity and interests of both cantons sometimes caused disagreements.

Stans in the 17th century. Anonymous painting in the church of St Clara monastery

In the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803), the canton of Unterwalden made a short-lived reappearance. Stans was the capital. From 1803 until 1999, the semi-cantons Obwalden and Nidwalden had each one vote in the Senate (Ständerat (as well as the two Basler and the two Appenzeller cantons).

Since the 1999 constitutional amendment (effective 1 January 2000), the semi-cantons have been formally cantons, but they still have one vote in the Ständerat.

But why is Stans not formally a town, while, say, Fürstenau (canton of Graubünden) is a city? Stans did have other relevant privileges of a city, such as Marktrecht and jurisdiction.

However, Stans did not have a city wall in the Middle Ages, and therefore, by medieval law, it was not a city. Because of other privileges, it is not a village but a so-called ‘Flecken’.

This legal hair-splitting does not diminish the importance of these ‘Flecken’ and Hauptort Nidwalden (and Obwalden) in the development of the Eidgenossenschaft, starting, of course, with 1291 (Rütli), 1309 (independent jurisdiction) and 1315 (the battle of Morgarten and renewal of the alliance of the three Orte).

Monumental (religious) buildings and crucial treaties give Stans the allure of a capital. The Stanser Verkommnis of 22 December 1481 was another milestone in developing the Eidgenossenschaft.

The Winkelried monument, the baroque town palaces, the Rathaus, the Rosenburg(13th century), the old and new Zeughaus, the Winkelriedhaus (15th century, the (former) Capuchin monastery (1583), and the (former) women’s convent St Klara (1618) complement the urban impression of this ‘Flecken’.

The former Capuchin monastery (Culinarium Alpinum)

(Source and further information: Gemeinde Stans)

The former St. Klara Monastery and Church

Relics

Saint Prostor (above) and in shrouds in an alternate projection!

Painting 17th century (anonymous) in a reception room, on the left the French king, on the right (probably) the soldiers Ursus, Victor and Mauritius; in the middle saints and other religious personalities