Valendas

Valendas is a former municipality in the district of Surselva in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. The municipalities of Valendas, Versam, Safien and Tenna merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Safiental.

History

Valendas is first mentioned in 765 as in Valendano.

Geography

Valendas had an area, as of 2006, of 22.8 km² (8.8 sq mi). Of this area, 21.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 48.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (27.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The former municipality is located in the Ilanz sub-district of the Surselva district. It is located above the right side of the Vorderrhein canyon. It consists of the haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Valendas and the hamlets of Carrera, Brün, Dutjen and Turisch.

Demographics

Valendas had a population (as of 2011) of 298.As of 2008, 6.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -2.3%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (96.9%), with Romansh being second most common ( 1.7%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 1.0%).