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Wangen an der Aare




Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked Alpine country in Central Europe. The country, which borders Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east, was historically a confederation, and has been a federation since 1848. Switzerland is a federation of relatively autonomous cantons, some of which have a history of confederacy that goes back more than 700 years, arguably putting them among the world's oldest surviving republics. With an area of 41,285 square kilometres, Switzerland is a relatively small country. Switzerland comprises three basic topographical areas namely the Swiss Alps, the Swiss plateau, and the Jura mountains. Switzerland has four official languages namely German, French, Italian and Romansh.
 
Wangen an der Aare is a municipality in the Bernese Upper Aargau, Switzerland famous for its historic town centre. This small town lies between Olten and Solothurn in rural surroundings on the Aare, a major river of the west-central lowland region of Switzerland, the Mittelland. An ancient wooden covered bridge crosses the Aare at this point. Wangen an der Aare is the administrative centre of the district of the same name. Wangen an der Aare population is 5487 in December 2002.
 
Wangen means an area at the foot of a slope, in this case the slope in question is almost certainly that of the nearby Jura mountain range. Wangen's coat of arms shows crossed St Peter's keys in blue on a white ground. The nobles who held the lordship of Wangen adopted this symbol which had been the badge of the Upper Aargau estates of the monastery of St Peter in Schwarzwald. The earliest document to be sealed with the crossed-keys symbol dates from the year 1380.
 
The modern-day Swiss Army base at Wangen is a link to the town's history as a military centre. The base grew up around the riverside warehouses, where field howitzer units were stationed in World War I. Today Wangen an der Aare is the Transport Corps' main centre and a training-place for disaster relief and rescue units. As it is often regarded as among the most beautiful parts of Switzerland, it is one of the most visited places amongst the most die-hard travelers the world over.

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