Municipality of Ruggell Municipal director Jakob Büchel Since 1st February 1999

Ruggell appears certified by document for the first time in the year 933 with regard to the sale of a farm («cortinum a ron- cale»). «Roncale» is later altered to «Runggaelle» (in the 1347 contract of sale), and in 1721 becomes «Roggel» in the map «Heberkarte».

Ruggell is Liechtenstein’s only municipality in which the village area lies entirely in the plains. Not the least due to this reason Ruggell is known as Liechtenstein’s «bicycling municipality». In the past two decades Ruggell has been transformed from an agricultural village into a modern municipality and offers an above-average range of leisure activities. The high proportion of sports and culturally-related clubs is also a characteristic factor, which naturally strengthens the proverbial title «village municipality». A «volunteer pool» was established by the municipality in the UN Year of the Volunteer. An impressive number of over 70 volunteer helpers registered in this list straight-away.

The municipality supports club activities in many respects. And so a clubhouse which provides a home for several clubs as well as the volunteer fire department has been in existence since 1987. Recently the tennis club was able to move into their clubhouse, next to the tennis courts which had been built earlier. The new Widau leisure activity centre will be inaugurated in August 2002. In addition to the main utilisation as a football facility and as a youth centre, several leisure facilities such as a skate park, hockey field as well as a beach volleyball court are also located there.

Time hasn’t stood still for the cultural sector either. In 1998 the municipality acquired an old, full-of-character farmhouse, which is now being converted into a village museum and a cultural meeting centre. The «küefermartishuus» will be inaugurated as a social meeting place in October 2002. The «cultural threshing floor» in the küefermartishuus is slated to serve as a home for all cultural enthusiasts from Ruggell and the local surroundings - no matter whether it’s for hobbies or for professional activists, or whether it serves for the creative or musical realm.
The supra-regionally well-known and protected «Ruggeller Riet» «nature preserve» with its rare flora and fauna is worth special mentioning. Nobody can escape the magic of the Ruggeller Riet, especially at the end of May and beginning of June, when the «Elga» (Siberian iris) is in bloom. With the recently effected renaturation of the connecting canal to the mouth of the Rhine River Ruggell now features a broader, more attractive greenbelt recreation area which is also a worthwhile destination for bicycle tourists from throughout the region. The barbecue area, which lies in a forest clearing on the landwards side, is yet another attraction with unmistakable character.

That’s why it’s well worth visiting and spending some time here in Liechtenstein’s most northerly municipality - the municipality in the «Dreiländereck» «triangle where three countries meet».

For more informations: http://www.ruggell.li/