Saint-Gingolph, Switzerland

Saint-Gingolph (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ ʒɛ̃ɡɔlf]) is a municipality in the district of Monthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

The municipality is the Swiss portion of the town of Saint-Gingolph, which straddles the France–Switzerland border provided by the Morge river.

[3] Saint-Gingolph has an area, as of 2009[update], of 14.4 square kilometers (5.6 sq mi).

[4] The municipality is located in the Monthey district, along the La Morge stream.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per bend serrated Argent and Gules overall an Otter rampant Sable langued Gules and armed of the first in chief sinister a Mullet of Five of the second.

[8] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speoke French (672 or 86.9%) as their first language; German was the second most common (31 or 4.0%) and Serbo-Croatian was the third (19 or 2.5%).

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][12] The entire Saint-Gingolph area is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

In the federal election, a total of 340 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 55.7%.

[8] There were 298 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.6% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 14 or 14.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 5.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 28 or 28.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 3.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 9 or 9.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 4.0% were in education and 3 or 3.0% were in health care.

[8] From the 2000 census[update], 476 or 61.6% were Roman Catholic, while 85 or 11.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

A total of 69 people (8.93%) belonged to no church, were agnostic or atheist, and 120 (or about 15.52% of the population) did not answer the question.

Aerial view (1968)
Border in Saint-Gingolph, looking toward the Swiss side. The border is guarded by a video camera mounted on a balcony.
The Morge river forms the border in Saint-Gingolph. The left side is French, the right side Swiss.
Saint-Gingolph train station
A chapel in Saint-Gingolph