Chur, capital of the Grisons canton and oldest town in Switzerland, has developed into a considerable intellectual and cultural attraction thanks to its excellent strategic situation at the end of some of the most important passes through the Alps and also its mild climate. The town, known in Romansch
as Cuera or Cuoira, grew up around the episcopal residence of the bishops of Chur (who are first mentioned in the records in 452), and became an important staging-point on the trade routes through the Alps. It is also the terminus of international railroad lines and the starting-point of the Rhätische Bahn (narrow gauge) to St Moritz, the Chur-Arosa line and the "Glacier Express" to Zermatt, the Bernina-Express to Tirano (Italy) and the Furka-Oberalp line to Brig. There is a postal bus service from Chur via Lenzerheide to St Moritz. The post stage-coach connection "Grand Canon Express" from Chur through the Upper Rhine Valley to Laax is becoming increasingly popular.
Excavation has shown that the sight was occupied about 3000 B.C. In 15 B.C. after their conquest of Rhaetia (an ancient Alpine district), the Romans made this the chief town of Rhaetia Prima. The name is derived from the Celtic "kora" or "koria" (tribe, clan). In 284 Chur became the provincial capital, about 450 the see of a bishop. In the 12th C. the bishops of Chur were granted the status of princes of the Empire, but the Reformation deprived them of their secular authority. When the canton of Grisons was established in 1803 Chur became its administrative capital.
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