Altstätten

Altstätten is a historic rural town of about 11,900 inhabitants in the Rhine Valley district of the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and the capital of the Rheintal electoral district. It lies in the flat, wide St. Gall Rhine Valley about five kilometres west of the Alpine Rhine, which forms the border with Austria, at the foot of the Alpstein mountains between St. Margrethen and Buchs. The place is first mentioned in 853 as Altsteti, and the municipality covers about 39.5 square kilometres, nearly two thirds of it farmland. The town is the starting point of the rack-and-pinion line of the Appenzeller railways to Gais; an electric tramway served it from 1897 until 1973 and trolleybuses ran from 1940 to 1977. It is known beyond the region for its long Shrove Tuesday carnival, with performances by the Röllelibutzen club founded in 1919 and an international parade that draws over 30,000 spectators.