Schnaus

Schnaus is a former municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Schnaus, Castrisch, Ilanz, Ladir, Luven, Pitasch, Riein, Ruschein, Sevgein, Duvin, Pigniu, Rueun and Siat merged into the new municipality of Ilanz/Glion.

History

Schnaus is first mentioned about 840 as Scanaues.

Geography

Before the merger, Schnaus had a total area of 3.0 km² (1.2 sq mi). Of this area, 58.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (8.4%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The former municipality is located in the Ilanz sub-district of the Surselva district. It consists of the village of Schnaus above the Vorderrhein and the exclave of Alp da Schnaus eastward above the Val da Siat.

Demographics

SSchnaus had a population (as of 2011) of 123.As of 2008, 17.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 43%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks Romansh(45.5%), with German being second most common (40.4%) and Serbo-Croatian being third (11.1%).