Aarburg is a historic town and a municipality in the district of Zofingen in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.
The small town lies in the southwest Aargau, in a narrow section of the Aare valley, at the confluence with the Wigger. It lies in the intersection of the most important traffic routes of Switzerland. The dominant landmark is the Aarburg Castle, one of Switzerland's largest castles and a heritage site of national significance. The visual character of Aarburg is shaped by the fortification and the church on a rock spur.
The official language of Aarburg is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
In Roman times a road went by Aarburg, connecting the Olten region with the rest of inner Switzerland. During the construction of a factory in the 20th century, a hoard of coins produced during the reign of Emperor Tetricus I was discovered. The coin hoard was probably buried during the Bagauden Invasions in 284 CE.
When, precisely, the fortress of Aarburg was constructed on the rocky outcropping is unknown. The first time it was documented was in 1123 when it is mentioned as Areburc.[3] At the time it was the property of the Grafen von Frohburg family. From this castle the Bailiwick of Aarburg was governed, what is today the western part of the county of Zofingen, though not the town of Zofingen itself. In 1299 the Frohburgs sold the castle and the Bailiwick of Aarburg to the Habsburg family. The settlement at the foot of the castle was clearly identified as a town in the year 1330. Archeological evidence has shown that the town was probably founded around the year 1312.
Wedged between the cities of Olten and Zofingen, with only four kilometers between them, Aarburg could not develop commercially and remained a small town. The people of Aarburg lived mainly on the tariff revenues that commerce along the Gotthard Pass provided. A small harbor on the river Aare was constructed in 1361. The resulting river boat traffic was of great economic importance until the 16th and 17th centuries.
After a short siege the town was captured by Bern on 14 April 1415. In 1416, the castle became the residence of the bailiff of the Bailiwick of Aarburg. Under control of Bern, the castle was expanded into a fortress in the 16th and 17th centuries, in order to protect the alliance between the Reformed cities of Bern and Zurich from attack by their Catholic neighbors.
On 4 May 1798 the town and fortress were captured by France without a struggle. The district of Aarburg was dissolved and the regional administrative functions of the French imposed Helvetic Republic were moved to Zofingen. The newly established Canton of Aargau took over the fortress in 1804, initially using it as a jail and prison. Since 1893 the castle has housed a canton-run school.
A huge fire destroyed much of the premises and the church on 4 May 1840, leaving 68 families homeless. The village was rebuilt, though without the main fortifications. On the rock spur, near the castle, a church was raised up between 1842 and 1845 in the new gothic style.
The first textile factory was opened in 1824. The railway station was opened in on 9 July 1856 along the Aarau – Olten – Zofingen – Emmenbrücke line; on 16 March 1857, the Herzogenbuchsee line was opened, later extended to Bern. Aarburg thereby became a privileged industrial town. In the second half of the 20th century the township's population doubled due to the construction of the autobahn nearby.
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