Gornergrat

About Gornergrat

Zermatt is a village in the Swiss Alps and a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais. It is located on the Matterhorn and at the foot of the Gornergrat. Zermatt is first mentioned in 1252 as "Cermat". Zermatt has an area, , of . Of this area, or 5.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 45.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 43.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 4.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 1.0% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 29.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 11.9%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.7%. Out of the forested land, 43.0% of the land is heavily forested and 2.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.2% is used for growing crops and 5.5% is pastures, while 0.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the Visp district, on the southern foot of the Matterhorn and at the foot of the Gornergrat. It consists of the village of Zermatt and the hamlets of Winkelmatten, Riffelberg and Hohtenn. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is "Gules, a Chapel Argent roofed Sable and windowed Or with a Cross of the second in Chief." Zermatt has a population () of . , 23.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at