Eggerberg

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The title of this article is ambiguous. For other meanings, see Eggerberg (disambiguation).

Eggerberg (Walliserdeutsch: Eggerbärg) is a political municipality and a Burgergemeinde with a Burgerrat of the district of Brig and a parish of the deanery of Visp in the German-speaking part of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Parts of the municipality are part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn UNESCO World Heritage Site. The president of the municipality is Reto Zimmermann. All five elected councillors are non-party members.

Geography

Eggerberg is in the German-speaking Upper Valais on the southern side of the Bernese Alps on the northern valley side of the Rhone Valley. The municipality consists of the villages of Eggerberg and Eggen, the hamlets of Finnu (Finnen), Mühlackern, Wirmschland, Weitematte, Schliecht, Nest, Engernhaus, Berg, Lipboden, Halta, Zum Stadel, Rohrli, Hohwang, the areas of Wang and Wyer in the Alpine foothills and various alpine pastures. The village is part of the Brig-Visp-Naters agglomeration. Eggerberg's neighbouring municipalities are an exclave of Baltschieder to the north, Naters to the east, Lalden to the south, Baltschieder to the southwest and Ausserberg to the northwest.

Land use

In 2009, the municipal area of 6.0 km2 consisted of 15.2 % agricultural land and 6.0 % settlement land. Historically, this means an increase of the settlement area by 11 ha since 1985. The stocked area (i.e. woodland, forest) accounted for 62.1 %, the remaining part was considered as unproductive area.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1307 under the name "Ecun". Five years later, the village was first referred to as "communitas" (Latin for community), at that time the village was still under the rule of the Zenden Brig. In the late Middle Ages, the village was under the jurisdiction of the lords of Raron. In the course of time, the village name developed from "Eccun" to "Eccon" and finally to "Egcon". Eggen, now a hamlet, was once the main village of the scattered settlement. The village hall in the mountain was built in 1658, and in 1798 seven inhabited hamlets belonged to the village. In 1854 the hamlet of Finnu was incorporated. Today the municipality of Eggerberg is made up of a total of 13 hamlets and has a varied landscape of associations.