Schaffhausen. Schaffhausen is a town with historic roots, a municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 36,000 as of December 2016.
It is located right next to the shore of the High Rhine; it is one of four Swiss towns located on the northern side of the Rhine, along with Neuhausen a. Rhf., the historic Neunkirch, and Stein a. Rh. The old portion of the town has many fine Renaissance era buildings decorated with exterior frescos and sculpture, as well as the old canton fortress, the Munot. Schaffhausen is also a railway junction of Swiss and German rail networks.
One of the lines connects the town with the nearby Rhine Falls in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Europe's largest waterfall, a tourist attraction. The official language of Schaffhausen is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
The town is first mentioned in 1045 as Villa Scafhusun. There are at least two theories on the origin of this name: One relates to a mention of a ford across the Rhine that first occurs in 1050.
This ford may actually refer to a scapha or skiff which was used to disembark goods coming from Constance to move them around the Rhine Falls. The name Scafhusun then arose from the scapha used at that point. Another theory is that Scafhusun comes from Schaf, as a ram formed the ancient arms of
It is located right next to the shore of the High Rhine; it is one of four Swiss towns located on the northern side of the Rhine, along with Neuhausen a. Rhf., the historic Neunkirch, and Stein a. Rh. The old portion of the town has many fine Renaissance era buildings decorated with exterior frescos and sculpture, as well as the old canton fortress, the Munot. Schaffhausen is also a railway junction of Swiss and German rail networks.
One of the lines connects the town with the nearby Rhine Falls in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Europe's largest waterfall, a tourist attraction. The official language of Schaffhausen is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
The town is first mentioned in 1045 as Villa Scafhusun. There are at least two theories on the origin of this name: One relates to a mention of a ford across the Rhine that first occurs in 1050.
This ford may actually refer to a scapha or skiff which was used to disembark goods coming from Constance to move them around the Rhine Falls. The name Scafhusun then arose from the scapha used at that point. Another theory is that Scafhusun comes from Schaf, as a ram formed the ancient arms of
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