Silenen

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Silenen is a municipality in the canton of Uri, Switzerland. It includes the villages of Silenen (divided into Dörfli, Russ, and Rusli), Amsteg, and Acherli, plus many small hamlets.

The area covers 144.8 square kilometers and sits about 510 meters above sea level. About 12.8% is used for agriculture (mostly alpine pastures), 18.3% is forest, 0.7% is settled, and 68.1% is non-productive mountain terrain. Arnisee can be reached by gondola from Amsteg. The nearby Zwing Uri Castle, overlooking Amsteg, is notable in Swiss history as the first fortress destroyed at the start of the Swiss Confederacy.

As of December 2020, Silenen has 1,951 residents. In 2007, 11.7% were foreign nationals. The community is largely German-speaking (about 98%), with very small minorities speaking Italian or Serbo-Croatian. The gender distribution in 2007 was 55.3% male and 44.7% female. In politics, the FDP received the majority of votes in 2007. The unemployment rate was 1.22%.

Economy by sector (around mid-2000s): primary (agriculture) employed about 141 people in 60 businesses; secondary (industry) about 117 people in 16 businesses; tertiary (services) about 241 people in 50 businesses.

Silenen borders Disentis/Mustér (GR), Erstfeld, Gurtnellen, Linthal (GL), Schattdorf, Spiringen, Tujetsch (GR), and Unterschächen.