Pigniu
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Pigniu (
, German and until 1943 officially Panix, subsequently until 1984 officially Pigniu/Panix) was until 31 December 2013 a political municipality in the district of Ruis in the former district of Surselva of the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014, Pigniu merged with the former municipalities of Castrisch, Duvin, Ilanz, Ladir, Luven, Pitasch, Riein, Rueun, Ruschein, Schnaus, Sevgein, Siat to form the new municipality of Ilanz/Glion.
Municipal status before the merger on 1 January 2014
Coat of arms
Blasing: In red behind a boy standing the silver (white) Saint Valentine as a bishop.
Implementation of a seal motif referring to the patron saint of the parish church.
Geography
The municipality lies in the Panixertal valley through which the Schmuèr flows, a steeply rising northern side valley of the Vorderrheintal, eleven and a half kilometres north-west of Ilanz. It has a share in the Vorab glacier. To the north and above the village is Lake Panixer (1452 m a.s.l. ) and a short distance away is the Aua da Fluaz waterfall. The entire northern part of the municipality consists of mountains, which is also reflected in the area statistics. Of the 18 km² of the municipality, 877 ha are unproductive areas or mountains. Of the 647 ha of agricultural land, 598 ha are alpine farms or Maiensässen. A further 267 ha are covered by forest and woodland, and the remainder of 7 ha is settlement land.
The villagers are concerned about the annual landslides and slides, which also damage the road network. The realisation of Lake Panix, around 60 % of which lies on Panix municipal territory, generated financial contributions that relieved the burden on the municipal budget.
The high-alpine Panixerpass (Rhaetian: Pass dil Veptga) connects Pigniu with Elm in the Glarus Sernftal valley. It gained some notoriety when the army of the Russian General Suworow crossed the pass, which was snowed in, in an evasive manoeuvre to avoid the French. Today, this frequently used alpine pass hike leads mainly in high summer from the Sernftal to Pigniu or Andiast.
The Senda Sursilvana long-distance hiking trail leads as a tourist-marked high-level trail from Brigels-Waltensburg-Andiast through Panix and on along the young Rhine towards Chur.
