Chur
capital of the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland
Chur is the capital and largest town of the Swiss canton of the Grisons and lies in the Grisonian Rhine Valley, where the Rhine turns towards the north, in the northern part of the canton. The city, on the right bank of the Rhine, is reputedly the oldest town in Switzerland.
On 1 January 2020 the former municipality of Maladers merged into Chur and on 1 January 2021 Haldenstein also merged. On 1 January 2025 the former municipality of Tschiertschen-Praden merged into Chur.
History
Archaeological evidence of settlement at the site, in the Eastern Alps, goes back as far as the Pfyn culture (3900–3500 BC), making Chur one of the oldest settlements in Switzerland. Remains and objects from the Bronze and Iron Ages have also been found in the eastern sector of the centre of the current city. These include Bronze-Age Urnfield and Laugen-Melaun settlements from 1300 to 800 BC and Iron-Age settlements from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC.
The Roman Empire conquered the area that then came to be known as the Roman province of Raetia in 15 BC. Under emperor Diocletian (late 3rd century AD), the existing settlement of Curia Raetorum (later Chur) was made the capital of the newly established province of Raetia prima.
In the 4th century Chur became the seat of the first Christian bishopric north of the Alps. Despite a legend assigning its foundation to an alleged British king, St. Lucius, the first known bishop is one Asinio in AD 451.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Chur” as capital of the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as capital of the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q69007. VIAF identifies the subject as 154757544. The Library of Congress control number is n79064879. Authority coordinates are 46.852, 9.530. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2021, 2025 and 1300.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chur” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.