Aegi Life Brugg (CH)

Brugg

Name origin

(ze) brucco (Old High German, = by the bridge) --> Bruggo

First documented mention

1064 AD

Population

13,000

Area

8,26 km²

Canton

Aargau

District

Brugg

Vehicle registration

AG

River

Reuss-->Aare, Limmat-->Aare

The Club Aegi Life is located in Brugg northeast of the town centre on the main road out to Lauffohr.

Brugg is a small town in the Swiss canton of Aargau and the chief town of the district of Brugg. It lies at 352 m above sea level about 16 km northeast of Aarau and is easily reached via the A3 motorway and Brugg railway station.

The area within the catchment of Brugg, Windisch, Gebenstorf, Turgi, Stilli and Untersiggenthal at the southern edge of the Jura is known as the Wasserschloss of Switzerland, because it is here, at the Gebenstorf district of Vogelsang, that the three rivers coming from the Alps – the Aare, Reuss and Limmat – merge.

Around 58 BC the Helvetii founded the settlement of Vindonissa near Brugg on the hill spur between the Aare and Reuss, on the territory of what is today the neighbouring municipality of Windisch. Around 15 BC the Romans built a military station here, which from 14 AD they expanded into a legionary camp. In the late 10th century a noble family, possibly descended from the Alsatian Etichonen, settled in Altenburg. Count Lanzelin had the Roman fort converted into the small castle of Altenburg, which today stands 1 km west of Brugg's town centre. Around 1020 the construction of the Habsburg followed on the Wülpelsberg, 3 km to the southwest. The Habsburgs, named after this castle, lived here for only around two hundred years. The increasingly powerful count's dynasty left the castle around 1220/30, as it seemed too small and not prestigious enough. It was afterwards leased out to various vassals. With the conquest of the Aargau in 1415 by the Confederates, the Habsburgs – who by then had built up a far more important seat of power in Vienna – finally lost their ancestral castle for good. Since 1804 the Habsburg has belonged to the canton of Aargau. The castle and fort grounds of Altenburg, on the other hand, were purchased in 1938 by the Gesellschaft Pro Vindonissa and the Aargauische Historische Gesellschaft; today the city's youth hostel is located there. The Altenburg is the first documented residence of the Habsburgs.

In 1284 Brugg was granted town rights. Even after the Habsburgs moved away, the town remained firmly in their hands until the Bernese Confederates marched in on 29 April 1415. Brugg kept its town rights, and after decades of disputes over Brugg, Bern finally seized control in 1460. As French troops kept advancing at the start of 1798 and the end of Bernese rule became foreseeable, a revolutionary committee took power in Brugg. After French troops led by General Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune marched into Bern on 5 March, the delegates of the large cantons constituted the Helvetic Republic in Aarau on 12 April. At the beginning of the 19th century Brugg turned into a stronghold of liberalism. For the settlement of industry, however, the political will was initially lacking in the age of industrialisation. In 1858 Brugg got its railway connection, and as a result the region became a centre of the livestock trade. From 1920 onwards, industry provided about half of all jobs. Today around 700 small and medium-sized enterprises, especially from the service sector, are based in Brugg. Brugg is the seat of the Swiss Farmers' Union and the centre of the Swiss Genietruppen (engineer corps).

In Brugg's old town and its surroundings, many testimonies to Brugg's eventful history can still be found, such as the Schwarzer Turm, the reformed town church, the Rote Haus, the Lateinschule, the Palais Fröhlich and the Zeughaus. The Industriekulturpfad Limmat–Wasserschloss, which leads past 44 industrial-historical monuments, ends in Brugg.