Birmenstorf is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

in the district of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden ...

in the canton of

Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capit ...

in Switzerland.

History

The first written mention of Birmenstorf dates to 1146. In 1415, the '' Eidgenossenschaft'' conquered the Aargau, and Birmenstorf as part of the Habsburg County of Baden came under their sovereignty. During the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

, about a third of the population converted to

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. The

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

of the old church with frescos dating to 1440 still exists . For over 600 years,

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vine ...

s have been cultivated in Birmenstorf.

Archeology

Archeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes ...

findings indicate that the area was inhabited as early as the Stone Age. The village proper was most likely founded by

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pr ...

settlers probably in the 6th century.

Geography

Birmenstorf has an area, , of . Of this area, 44% is used for agricultural purposes, while 36.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 15.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (3.4%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The municipality is located in the Baden district, in the valley of the Reuss near its confluence with the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it desce ...

and west-south-west from

. It consists of the village of Birmenstorf and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Lindmühle, Muntwil, Müslen and Oberhard as well as a new housing development.

Coat of arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visua ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...

is ''Vert a Garb Or.''

Demographics

Birmenstorf has a population (as of ) of . , 19.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bereich 01 -Bevölkerung
accessed 20 January 2010 Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.1%. Most of the population () speaks German (90.3%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 2.0%) and Albanian being third ( 1.6%).
accessed 5 February 2010 The age distribution, , in Birmenstorf is; 249 children or 10.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 301 teenagers or 12.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 343 people or 13.8% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 388 people or 15.6% are between 30 and 39, 445 people or 17.9% are between 40 and 49, and 310 people or 12.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 236 people or 9.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 152 people or 6.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 62 people or 2.5% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 4 people or 0.2% who are 90 and older.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bevölkerungsdaten für den Kanton Aargau und die Gemeinden (Archiv)
accessed 20 January 2010 , there were 71 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 426 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 396 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. The average number of people per household was 2.51 individuals. there were 486 single family homes (or 45.1% of the total) out of a total of 1,078 homes and apartments.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau
accessed 20 January 2010 In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...

the most popular party was the SVP which received 35.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (23.1%), the FDP (12.2%) and the SP (11.5%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Birmenstorf about 81% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied ar ...

''). Of the school age population (), there are 180 students attending

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, there are 22 students attending secondary school in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following table:

Economy

, Birmenstorf had an unemployment rate of 1.68%. , there were 129 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 330 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructio ...

and there are 26 businesses in this sector. 328 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector ( raw materials) and the secon ...

, with 68 businesses in this sector. there was a total of 1,267 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 1,015 or about 80.1% of the residents worked outside Birmenstorf while 395 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 647 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau-Bereich 11 Verkehr und Nachrichtenwesen
accessed 21 January 2010

Religion

From the , 1,108 or 47.9% are

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

, while 766 or 33.1% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

. Of the rest of the population, there are 7 individuals (or about 0.30% of the population) who belong to the

Christian Catholic The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is an Old Catholic denomination in Switzerland. This denomination is part of the Union of Utrecht (Old Catholic). Recent developments In 1871 the Zürich Catholic community planned to build a chu ...

faith.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau – Aargauer Zahlen 2009
accessed 20 January 2010

References

External links

Official homepage of the municipality of BirmenstorfHomepage of the viticulture cooperative
{{Authority control