Stans

Stans, the capital of the eastern half (or Nidwalden) of the Swiss canton of Unterwalden. It stands amid orchards a a.

height of 1493 ft. above the sea-level on a plain at the north foot of the conical Stanserhorn (6238 ft.). It is, by electric railway, about 2 m. from Stansstad, its port on the south shore of the lake of Lucerne, and 12 m. from Engelberg (with its great Benedictine monastery, founded about 1120), now a muchfrequented summer resort, while there is also an electric railway from Stans up the Stanserhorn. In 1900 Stans had a population of 2798, all German-speaking and Romanists. Stans was the home of the Winkelried family (q.v.) and has a modern monument to the memory of Arnold von Winkelried, the legendary hero of the battle of Sempach (1386). In 1481 the holy Nicholas von der Flue composed at Stans by his advice the strife between the Confederates, while in 1798 many persons were massacred here by the French. (W. A. B. C.)