Guarda, Switzerland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Guarda
Former municipality of Switzerland
Guarda Village
Coat of arms
Guarda Location in Switzerland Show map of Switzerland Guarda Location in Canton of Graubünden Show map of Canton of Graubünden
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Graubünden
District	Inn
Area
• Total	31.5 km2 (12.2 sq mi)
Elevation	1,653 m (5,423 ft)
Population  (Dec 2014)
• Total	155
• Density	4.921/km2 (12.74/sq mi)
Postal code	7545
Surrounded by	Ardez, Galtür (AT-7), Gaschurn (AT-8), Lavin

Guarda is a lovely village in Switzerland. It used to be its own municipality in the Inn District of the Graubünden canton. On January 1, 2015, Guarda joined with several other villages like Ardez and Tarasp to become part of a larger municipality called Scuol.

In 1975, Guarda won the special Wakker Prize for doing a great job of keeping its old buildings and unique look.

History of Guarda Village

Guarda was first written about way back in 1160. Back then, it was called Warda.

From 1939 to 1945, many buildings in Guarda were carefully fixed up and made beautiful again. A Swiss architect named Iachen Ulrich Könz led this important work.

Geography and Landscape

Guarda village

Guarda covers an area of about 31.5 square kilometers (12 square miles). A good part of its land, about 35.5%, is used for farming. About 12.5% of the area is covered by forests.

Only a small part, 0.7%, has buildings or roads. The rest, over half of the land (51.4%), is made up of rivers, glaciers, or mountains.

The village is located on a high area above the Inn river. It includes the main village of Guarda and a smaller settlement called Giarsun down in the valley.

People and Population

Aerial view of Guarda by Walter Mittelholzer (1925)

In 2014, Guarda had a population of 155 people. About 13.5% of the people living there in 2008 were from other countries. Over the past 10 years, the number of people living in Guarda has gone down a bit.

Most people in Switzerland get a good education. In Guarda, about 77.3% of adults (aged 25-64) have finished high school or gone on to higher education like a university.

Guarda has a low unemployment rate, which means most people who want to work can find jobs. In 2005, many people worked in farming and related businesses. Others worked in manufacturing or in service jobs like hotels and shops.

Here's how the population of Guarda has changed over time:

Getting Around: Transport

Guarda railway station is a stop on the train line that goes from Bever to Scuol-Tarasp. This line is part of the Rhaetian Railway network.

Wakker Prize for Heritage

Fountain in the village of Guarda

In 1975, the Swiss Heritage Society gave Guarda the Wakker Prize. This award is for towns that do an excellent job of keeping their old buildings and traditional look. Guarda was recognized as one of the best-preserved and most unique villages in the Unterengadin region.

The award also noted that the village faced challenges. These included its tough mountain landscape, the needs of tourism, and young people moving away to bigger cities in Switzerland.

Languages Spoken in Guarda

Romansh sgraffito in Guarda

Most people in Guarda speak Rhaeto-Romance, which is a very old language. About 62.5% of the population spoke Romansh in 2000. German is the second most common language, spoken by about 30.6% of people. A small number of people also speak French.

The main type of Romansh spoken here is called Vallader. For a long time, almost everyone in Guarda spoke Romansh. Even though more people are speaking German now, the village school still teaches in Romansh to help keep the language alive.

Here's a look at the languages spoken in Guarda over the years:

See also

In Spanish: Guarda (Grisones) para niños