Muttenz is a municipality with a population of approximately 17,000 in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.

Under the Roman Empire a hamlet called Montetum existed, which the Alamanni invaders referred to as Mittenza since the 3rd century CE.

[3] In 1306 the village became the property of the Münch of Münchenstein, who fortified the village church of St. Arbogast with a rampart at the beginning of the 15th century, after their fortresses on the nearby Wartenberg were partially destroyed in the devastating Basle earthquake of 1356.

Having fallen on hard times the Münch sold the village and the Wartenberg to the city of Basel in 1517.

Many of the villagers, still subjects of the city of Basel, were poor and beginning in the middle of the 18th century, many emigrated to the Americas.

In 1790 only were the remaining peasants freed from serfdom by a decision of the Great Council of the city of Basel.

After a short civil war between forces of the city and the countryside in 1833 the canton of Basel was divided into the two half-cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country.

Muttenz became part of Basel-Country and remained a peasant village until the beginning of the 20th century, when it began to grow into the small industrialized town it is today.

[4] Muttenz has an area, as of 2009[update], of 16.64 square kilometers (6.42 sq mi).

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (14,642 or 87.9%), with Italian language being second most common (648 or 3.9%) and French being third (254 or 1.5%).

[8] The age distribution, as of 2010[update], in Muttenz is; 995 children or 5.7% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 2,283 teenagers or 13.2% are between 7 and 19.

[9] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][14] The Au-Hard (Part of the late-Roman era Rhine fortifications), the Freidorf settlement, the Rangierbahnhof (Train Station) and the Reformed Parish Fortified Church of St. Arbogast are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The entire village of Muttenz and the cemetery with surrounding settlements are both listed in the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[16] The fortified church of St. Arbogast, serving the local evangelical community, was built in the late Middle Ages.

[17][18] Muttenz was awarded the Wakker Prize for architectural preservation by the Swiss Heritage Society in 1983.

The church is listed as a heritage site of national significance, as is the medieval village core.

[19] Freidorf is a communal housing estate with 150 buildings built in 1920 by Hannes Meyer (1889–1954), a Bauhaus-affiliated architect.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 30.59% of the vote.

[9] There were 8,261 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.7% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 1,777 or 24.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 1,536 or 21.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 287 or 3.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 133 or 1.8% were in the information industry, 340 or 4.7% were the insurance or financial industry, 1,061 or 14.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 718 or 9.9% were in education and 434 or 6.0% were in health care.

[9] From the 2000 census[update], 4,844 or 29.1% were Roman Catholic, while 7,126 or 42.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.