Appenzell is a village, though considered as a town by the FSO, and the capital of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in Switzerland. Appenzell has no municipal government of its own; rather, the different parts of Appenzell belong to and are governed by the districts Appenzell and Schwende-Rüte. Because of that, for firefighting, energy and water, the village Appenzell has a special-purpose municipality, the Feuerschaugemeinde.
Aerial view of Appenzell
Distillery "Appenzeller Alpenbitter" at the river Sitter and the mountain Hoher Kasten in the background
The village centre
Aerial view from 400 metres (1000') by Walter Mittelholzer (1922)
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the Waldstätte. Two important periods in the development of the Old Swiss Confederacy are summarized by the terms Acht Orte and Dreizehn Orte.
The 22 cantonal coats of arms (all but Jura, with the half-cantons represented jointly) in stained glass set in the dome of the Federal Palace of Switzerland (c. 1900)
Caricature of the division of Basel, 1833
