Sierre

Infobox Swiss town
subject_name = Sierre
municipality_name = Sierre
municipality_type = city
imagepath_coa = Sierre-coat of arms.png|pixel_coa=image_photo = Sierre City Hall.jpg
image_caption = The city hall of Sierre by night.


languages = French
canton = Valais
iso-code-region = CH-VS
district = Sierre
lat_d=46|lat_m=18|lat_NS=N|long_d=7|long_m=32|long_EW=E
postal_code = 3960
municipality_code = 6248
area = 19.2
elevation = 533|elevation_description=
population = 14355|populationof = December 2002 | popofyear = 2002
website = www.sierre.ch
mayor = Manfred Stucky (CVP/PDC)|mayor_asof=|mayor_party=
mayor_title = |list_of_mayors =
places =
demonym =
neighboring_municipalities= Chalais, Chandolin, Chermignon, Chippis, Grône, Lens, Montana, Randogne, Saint-Léonard, Saint-Luc, Salgesch, Venthône, Veyras
twintowns = Aubenas (France), Cesenatico (Italy), Delfzijl (Netherlands), Schwarzenbeck (Germany), Zelzate (Belgium)|

Sierre (German: "Siders") is the capital of the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

It has a population of 14,355. It is situated at the language border of the German-speaking upper part of the "Wallis" and the French-speaking "Valais". As a German-speaking minority lives in Sierre, it counts as one of the three official bilingual towns in Switzerland. Sierre is starting point for the tourist sites of the Val d'Anniviers comprising the villages of Vercorin, Chandolin, St-Luc Vissoie, St-Jean Chandolin, Grimentz, Zinal and Ayer. Sierre is connected with Crans-Montana by a cable car.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Sierre became economically important as very early aluminium smelting is enabled by its access to hydroelectricity. Today the aluminium factory 'Novelis' employs 1200 workers in Chippis and Sierre.

Sierre is host to a local wine museum (Musée Valaisan de la Vigne et du Vin) and of a museum dedicated to the memory of Rainer Maria Rilke who lived there until his death and is buried in nearby town of Raron.

Lac de Géronde is a small lake at its outskirts.

External links

*commonscat-inline|Sierre
* [http://www.sierre.ch Official website] fr icon