Zofingen

Zofingen occupies the end of the Wigger valley, in the canton of Aargau, of whose district it is the seat. The commune covers 11.09 square kilometres and counted 12,876 inhabitants on 31 December 2023, a density of 1,161 inhabitants per square kilometre. Between 2010 and 2019 its population grew by 9.8%, close to the Swiss figure (9.4%) and below the cantonal one (12.2%).

The town was founded by the Froburgs at the end of the twelfth century. In 1803 it was attached to the newly created canton of Aargau and became the seat of its district. The old core keeps the outline of the medieval small town; it is just west of it that the first industrial firms settled at the beginning of the nineteenth century — graphic arts, chemicals, textiles, paints and machinery.

A missed appointment fixed Zofingen's place. At the end of the nineteenth century, as the railways were built, the town hoped to become the node where the east-west and north-south axes would cross. The crossing was finally made at Olten, 9 kilometres away. Zofingen today stands at the junction of the A1 and A2 motorways, on the Basel – Lucerne – Chiasso railway line, 48 kilometres from Lucerne.

Its built heritage holds ten entries on the list of cultural property of national significance: the Roman site of Hirzeberg, the former arsenal, the former leper house, the town school, the town museum, the municipal library, the Klösterli, the Sennenhof house, the town hall and the Heiternplatz public garden. The Zofingue student society was founded in the town in 1819.

Why this place is remarkable

Zofingen takes its shape from a double inheritance: a medieval small town founded by the Froburgs at the end of the twelfth century, and a band of industry settled just west of that core from the beginning of the nineteenth. Ten of its monuments are listed as cultural property of national significance, from the Roman site of Hirzeberg to the Heiternplatz public garden — an uncommon density for a commune of 12,876 people.

History and origin

The administrative history of the town rests on two dates. In 1803 the creation of the canton of Aargau gave it its present attachment and the rank of district seat; in 1819 the Zofingue student society was born there. Between the two, industry settled west of the old town — graphic arts, chemicals, textiles, paints, machinery — before the railway, at the end of the nineteenth century, redistributed the roles in favour of Olten.