- Schaffhausen
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/shahf'how"zeuhn/, n.1. a canton in N Switzerland. 70,700; 100 sq. mi. (259 sq. km).2. a city in and the capital of this canton, on the Rhine. 34,000.
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capital of Schaffhausen canton, northern Switzerland, on the right bank of the Rhine, west of Lake Constance (Bodensee). The site was first mentioned in 1045 as Villa Scafhusun. About 1049 Count Eberhard III of Nellenburg founded there the Benedictine monastery of All Saints, around which the community developed. The town became a free imperial city between 1190 and 1218 but fell under Habsburg domination from 1330, until it bought its independence in 1415. It allied with the Swiss Confederation against the Habsburgs in 1454 and was admitted as a full member in 1501.The Protestant Münster, or cathedral (consecrated 1103), formerly the church of the All Saints monastery, has a bell (cast in 1486) inscribed “vivos voco, mortuos plango, fulgura frango” (“I call the living, I toll the dead, I break lightning bolts”), which is said to have inspired Friedrich Schiller's famous poem “Das Lied von der Glocke” (“The Lay of the Bell”). The former monastery now houses the municipal museum. Other notable landmarks are the round, massive Munot Fort (1564–85), the parish church (1460–1517), the old (1382–1412) and new (1617) town halls, and the Haus zum Ritter, or the Knight's House (1485), with frescoes by Tobias Stimmer.A busy rail junction and tourist centre, it manufactures machinery, , chemicals, metal products, and watches. Important hydroelectric plants are nearby on the Rhine, there noted for its magnificent Rhine Falls, 2 miles (3 km) southwest. The population is German speaking and predominantly Protestant. Pop. (2007 est.) 33,459.most northerly canton of Switzerland. It lies north of the Rhine River and west of Lake Constance (Bodensee) and has an area of 115 square miles (298 square km), of which about 90 percent is classed as productive. It is virtually surrounded on the north, east, and west by Germany, portions of which divide the canton into three detached parts: a large region including the capital city of Schaffhausen (q.v.), the small isolated district of Rüdlingen-Buchberg to the southwest, and an area extending northward from Stein am Rhein. The canton contains the small German enclave of Büsingen. The dominant relief feature is the plateau of Randen (reaching 2,992 feet [912 m] at the summit, Hoher Randen), which slopes gently southward to the Rhine River and is intersected by short, narrow valleys such as the Klettgau. On the Rhine just below Schaffhausen is the celebrated Rhine Falls.Historically, the canton represents acquisitions made at various times by the city of Schaffhausen, which was admitted to the Swiss Confederation in 1501. The cantonal constitution dates from 1876.The major industries include the production of machinery and metal goods, watches, food and beverages, and chemicals. Hydroelectricity (hydroelectric power) produced at Rheinau supplies power for the chemical industry at Rheinfelden and engineering works at Schaffhausen. Vine cultivation is the predominant agricultural activity, and forestry is significant. The majority of the population is German speaking and Protestant. Pop. (2007 est.) 73,866.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
