Chur[note 1][note 2] 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.

Romansh and Italian are significantly spoken in the city as a result of the trilingual identity of the canton.

Remains and objects from the Bronze and Iron Ages have also been found in the eastern sector of the centre of the current city.

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.

Despite a legend assigning its foundation to an alleged British king, St. Lucius, the first known bishop is one Asinio [de][8] in AD 451.

The bishop soon acquired great temporal powers, especially after 831 when his dominions were made dependent on the Empire alone.

[12] The city suffered several invasions, by the Magyars in 925–926, when the cathedral was destroyed, and by the Saracens (940 and 954),[13] but afterwards it flourished thanks to its location where the roads from several major Alpine transit routes come together and continue down the Rhine.

Emperor Otto I granted the town the right to collect tolls in 952 and appointed his vassal Hartpert as bishop of Chur in 958, giving the bishopric further privileges.

On 27 April 1464 most of the town was destroyed in a fire, which only the bishop's estates and St. Luzi monastery survived.

With the bishop's power waning as he came increasingly under the influence of the nearby Habsburg County of Tyrol, the citizens sent a delegation to Emperor Frederick III.

In 1465 the citizens wrote a constitution that granted all governmental power to Chur's guilds.

In 1497–98, concerned about Habsburg expansion and with the Bishop of Chur quarrelling with Austria, the Three Leagues formed an alliance with the Swiss Confederation.

In 1499 the Swabian War broke out between the Three Leagues and Austria and quickly expanded to include the Confederation.

During the war troops from Chur fought under the Bishop's Vogt Heinrich Ammann in the Lower Engadin, in Prättigau and near Balzers.

In 1523 Johannes (Dorfmann) Comander [de] was appointed parish priest of St Martin's Church and began preaching the new faith of the Protestant Reformation.

Bishop Thomas Planta [de], a friend of Charles Borromeo, tried, but without success, to suppress Protestantism.

The huge monolithic block of granite was erected in 1938 and for decades was largely ignored by passers-by until in 2023 a controversy arose after a Swiss historian discovered that it was originally built as propaganda for the Nazi regime.

[20] Chur is situated at a height of 1,949 ft (594 m) above sea level, on the right bank of the torrent Plessur just as it issues from the valley Schanfigg and about a mile above its junction with the Rhine, almost entirely surrounded by the Alps, overshadowed by the Mittenberg [ceb] (northeast) and Pizokel (southwest), hills that guard the entrance to the deep-cut valley Schanfigg.

Summers are warm and sometimes hot, normally averaging around 25 °C (77 °F) during the day, whilst winter means are around freezing, with daytime temperatures being about 5 °C (41 °F).

[21] Blazon: Argent, a city gate gules with three merlons, within which a capricorn rampant sable, langued and viriled of the second.

In the mandate period 2021–2024 (Legislatur) the City Council is presided by Stadtpräsident Urs Marti [de].

The regular election of the City Council by any inhabitant valid to vote is held every four years.

Any resident of Chur allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the City Council.

[23] As of 2020[update], Chur's City Council is made up of one representative of the FDP (FDP.The Liberals, who is also the mayor), one of the SP (Social Democratic Party), and one new member of The Centre (former CVP/PDC and BDP/PBD), giving the right parties a new majority of two out of three seats.

[24] The last regular election of the Municipal Council was held on 27 September 2020 for the mandate period (German: Legislatur) from January 2021 to December 2024.

[20] The historical population is given in the following chart:[34] From the 2000 census[update], 14,713 or 44.6% are Roman Catholic, while 12,199 or 37.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

[37] In 2014 the crime rate, of the over 200 crimes listed in the Swiss Criminal Code (running from murder, robbery and assault to accepting bribes and election fraud), in Chur was 68.6 per thousand residents, only slightly higher than the national average of 64.6 per thousand.

There are 15 other buildings that are also heritage sites; these include the Alte Kaserne at Zeughaus 3 (the Old Armory), the Confederation Paper Mill, the Main Post Office [de], the new Town Hall [de], headquarters of the Rhätische Bahn and several old patrician houses.

As of 2017 they finished first in the league, hosting Swiss Bowl XXXII in Ringstrasse Stadium where they defeated the Basel Gladiators [de] 42–6 on 8 July.