Stans

The N2 highway runs through the fertile valley (fruit orchards) between the Bürgenstock and the Stanserhorn to the exit for Stans (455 m/1,493ft), a little market town (population 6,000), the capital of the half-canton of Nidwalden, the eastern half of the canton of Unterwalden. In the main square are the parish church (rebuilt in Baroque style 1641-47) and a monument to Arnold von Winkelried, hero of the Battle of Sempach (1386). To the right of the church is a double chapel of 1482 (charnel-house); to the left, above the church, stands the Town Hall (1715) where can be seen an interesting collection of paintings of Swiss cantonal officials. The Höfli is a restored medieval secular building. To the east of the center the Kollegium St Fidelis has a small natural history collection. The former salt and corn store (1700) on the Stansstad road near the Stanserhorn funicular houses the Historical Museum, with a collection of weapons, uniforms, flags and official robes of the 16th-19th C., as well as costumes, religious art and paintings from the canton of Nidwalden.