Belp is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
in the
Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the
canton of Bern
The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...
in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. It is close to
Bern
german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese
, neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen
, website ...
's
Belp Airport
The Regional Aerodrome Bern-Belp , marketed as ''Bern Airport'',, french: Aéroport de Berne, it, Aeroporto di Berna, rm, Eroport da Berna officially referred to as in German, is a regional aerodrome serving Bern, the de facto capital of Switz ...
. The municipality of
Belpberg merged on 1 January 2012 into the municipality of Belp.
[Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 21 December 2011
History
Belp is first mentioned in 1263 as ''Belpo''.
[
Scattered ]neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
artifacts indicate that the Belp area was inhabited prehistorically. Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
cemeteries and La Tène artifacts show that there were villages near modern Belp before the Roman invasion
The Roman conquest of Britain refers to the conquest of the island of Britain by occupying Roman forces. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the southern half of Britain by 87 when the Staneg ...
. After the collapse of the Roman Empire the area may have been uninhabited, but by the High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...
there were villages and wooden castles here. Very little is known about Fahrhubel Castle, located about north-west of the Hunzigenbrücke (Hunzigen Bridge), and it was eventually completely demolished.[
Hohberg Castle, on the northern slope of the Belpberg, was the ancestral seat of the ]Freiherr
(; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empir ...
en of Belp-Montenach. It was built around 1135 and today only ruins remain.[Belp municipal website - History]
accessed 18 March 2014 During the 12th and 13th centuries, the family expanded their authority from Belp to include neighboring villages. In 1277 they created the '' Herrschaft'' of Belp to include all their estates and villages. Their expanding power brought them into conflict with the growing city-state of Bern
german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese
, neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen
, website ...
and in 1298 Bern attacked Belp. At the Battle of Donnerbühl or Dornbühl in 1298 Bern destroyed the castle. Eight years later, in 1306, they forced the Freiherren of Belp-Montenach to become citizens of Bern and give up their independence. The ''Hölzernes Schloss'' or Wooden Castle was built in 1327 by the Freiherr in Belp village. By the late 14th century the male line of the Belp-Montenach family died out and Belp and the surrounding lands were acquired by a noble family in Bern. Over the following centuries, Belp passed through several noble families. In 1550-54 the von Luternau family built the Old Castle in the village across from the Wooden Castle. The Old Castle was the administrative seat of the ''Herrschaft'' during the 16th and 17th centuries.
By the 18th century, wealthy Bernese families began moving to Belp to escape the noise and crowding in the city. In 1735 Victor Fischer built Oberried Estate
Oberried Estate (german: Schloss Oberried or german: Campagne Oberried) is an estate in the municipality of Belp in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
History
Oberried was built in 1735-6 i ...
above the growing town. This estate was followed in 1740 by the ''Schlössli'' or ''Neues Schloss'' on Rubigenstrasse which was built for the historian Alexander Ludwig von Wattenwyl. Lindenegg Mansion was built in 1800.
The Wooden Castle was demolished in 1783. In 1721 the von Wattenwyl family acquired the ''Herrschaft'', which they ruled until the 1798 French invasion and creation of the Helvetic Republic
The Helvetic Republic (, , ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, m ...
abolished the old aristocratic order. In 1810 the Canton of Bern bought the castle from Karl von Wattenwyl and used it as the center of the newly created Seftigen District.[
The village church of St. Peter and Paul was first mentioned in 1228. It was probably established by the Freiherr of Belp. In 1334, ]Interlaken Abbey
, order = Augustinians
, established = by 1133
, disestablished = 1528
, mother =
, dedication =
, diocese = Lausanne
, churches =
, founder = B ...
received the patronage rights over the church. In 1528, Bern adopted the new faith of the Protestant 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 ...
and Belp converted. After Bern forcefully secularized Interlaken Abbey, the patronage rights passed to Bern.[
The Aare river correction of 1829-31 and the Gürbe river correction of 1855-60 helped open up new farmland and prevented devastating floods in the municipality. The river ferries were replaced with the Hunzigen or August Bridge in 1836. It was replaced with the larger Schützenfahr Bridge in 1883 and today is a covered pedestrian bridge. The Industrial Revolution reached Belp in 1844 when a cloth factory settled in the village. The factory operated until 1974. In 1928-29 the Belpmoos airport opened outside the town. It eventually grew into the Bern-Belp Regional Airport. Today, almost two-thirds of the population commutes to jobs outside the municipality and about two-thirds of the jobs in Belp are in the services sector.][
]
Geography
Before the merger Belp had an area, , of . After the 2012 merger, Belp has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 57.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 25.9% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 14.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.1% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
During the same year, housing and buildings made up 7.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.9%. A total of 24.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 39.1% is used for growing crops and 17.3% is pasturage, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.3% is in lakes and 1.8% is in rivers and streams.[
The municipality is located at the mouth of the Gürbetal and on the left bank of the Aare river. It includes the village of Belp, the hamlets of Viehweide, Heitern and Hofmatt. In recent years, a number of new developments have been built including Eissel (1956–75), Montenach (1960s), Schafmatt (1970s), Hühnerhubel (1980). The ]parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
includes Belp, Belpberg and Toffen. It is home to the Bern-Belp regional airport.
On 1 January 2012 the former municipality of Belpberg merged into the municipality of Belp.[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
accessed 13 December 2014
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Seftigen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Bern-Mittelland.
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 ...
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 its ...
is ''Quartered Gules and Argent.''
Demographics
Belp has a population () of . , 11.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last year (2010-2011) the population has changed at a rate of 3.2%. Migration accounted for 2.5%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.4%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 18 March 2014
Most of the population () speaks German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
(8,505 or 92.5%) as their first language, French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
is the second most common (107 or 1.2%) and Albanian is the third (107 or 1.2%). There are 103 people who speak Italian and 5 people who speak Romansh.[
, the population was 48.8% male and 51.2% female. The population was made up of 4,376 Swiss men (42.8% of the population) and 608 (5.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,679 Swiss women (45.8%) and 558 (5.5%) non-Swiss women.][Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 2,500 or about 27.2% were born in Belp and lived there in 2000. There were 3,908 or 42.5% who were born in the same canton, while 1,434 or 15.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,052 or 11.4% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.5%.][
, there were 3,754 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 4,468 married individuals, 492 widows or widowers and 479 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 1,484 households that consist of only one person and 211 households with five or more people. , a total of 3,772 apartments (93.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 175 apartments (4.3%) were seasonally occupied and 84 apartments (2.1%) were empty.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 13 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.26%. In 2011, single family homes made up 48.4% of the total housing in the municipality.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Colors=
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id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8)
ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45
PlotArea = top:20 left:40 bottom:20 right:35
AlignBars = justify
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:11000
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AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:2000 start:0
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color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center
bar:1764 from:start till:789 text:"789"
bar:1850 from:start till:1970 text:"1,970"
bar:1860 from:start till:1867 text:"1,867"
bar:1870 from:start till:2046 text:"2,046"
bar:1880 from:start till:2069 text:"2,069"
bar:1888 from:start till:2112 text:"2,112"
bar:1900 from:start till:2343 text:"2,343"
bar:1910 from:start till:2921 text:"2,921"
bar:1920 from:start till:3235 text:"3,235"
bar:1930 from:start till:3293 text:"3,293"
bar:1941 from:start till:3593 text:"3,593"
bar:1950 from:start till:4066 text:"4,066"
bar:1960 from:start till:4922 text:"4,922"
bar:1970 from:start till:6981 text:"6,981"
bar:1980 from:start till:7578 text:"7,578"
bar:1990 from:start till:8104 text:"8,104"
bar:2000 from:start till:9193 text:"9,193"
bar:2010 from:start till:10084 text:"10,084"
Heritage sites of national significance
The Bider-Hangar at the airport and Oberried Estate
Oberried Estate (german: Schloss Oberried or german: Campagne Oberried) is an estate in the municipality of Belp in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
History
Oberried was built in 1735-6 i ...
are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.
File:Biderhangar.jpg, Bider Hangar
File:Campagna Oberried01843.jpg, Oberried Estate
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 29.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (17.8%), the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (15.9%) and the FDP.The Liberals (7.9%). In the federal election, a total of 3,948 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...
was 51.3%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
Sky Work Airlines has its head office in Belp. The head office of Heliswiss is located on the grounds of Bern Airport in Belp, and SkyWorks previously had its head office on the airport grounds.
, Belp had an unemployment rate of 2.02%. , there were a total of 4,372 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 323 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 85 businesses involved in this sector. 1,147 people were 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 construc ...
and there were 93 businesses in this sector. 2,902 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 345 businesses in this sector.[ There were 5,081 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.0% of the workforce.
there were a total of 3,426 ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...
jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 113, of which 108 were in agriculture, 4 were in forestry or lumber production and 1 was in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 1,056 of which 686 or (65.0%) were in manufacturing and 340 (32.2%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 2,257. In the tertiary sector; 760 or 33.7% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 251 or 11.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 134 or 5.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 78 or 3.5% were in the information industry, 67 or 3.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 190 or 8.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 153 or 6.8% were in education and 403 or 17.9% were in health care.
, there were 2,464 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,297 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 1,784 workers (42.0% of the 4,248 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Belp.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 26.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 46% used a private car.[
In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Belp making 150,000 CHF was 11.6%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 17%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in the same year, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively.
In 2009 there were a total of 4,678 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 1,787 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 31 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Belp was 115,784 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF.
In 2011 a total of 4.1% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.
]
Religion
From the , 6,020 or 65.5% 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 ...
, while 1,277 or 13.9% were 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 let ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 75 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.82% of the population), there were 2 individuals (or about 0.02% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 560 individuals (or about 6.09% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 9 individuals (or about 0.10% of the population) who were Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and 307 (or about 3.34% of the population) who were Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
. There were 22 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
, 50 individuals who were Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and 7 individuals who belonged to another church. 585 (or about 6.36% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficien ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 279 individuals (or about 3.03% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Climate
Between 1981 and 2010 Belp had an average of 127.9 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
. The wettest month was May during which time Belp received an average of of rain or snow. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 12.8 days. The driest month of the year was February with an average of of precipitation over 9.6 days.[, the Belp weather station elevation is 515 meters above sea level.]
Education
In Belp about 60.8% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 19.8% have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
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 art ...
'').[ Of the 1,183 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 69.5% were Swiss men, 22.5% were Swiss women, 5.3% were non-Swiss men and 2.7% were non-Swiss women.][
The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory ]Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
.
During the 2011–12 school year, there were a total of 1,161 students attending classes in Belp. There were 8 kindergarten classes with a total of 140 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 20.0% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 11.4% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 31 primary classes and 602 students. Of the primary students, 16.3% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 14.3% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 22 lower secondary classes with a total of 411 students. There were 10.5% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 6.3% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The remainder of the students attend a private or special school.[Schuljahr 2011/12 pdf document]
accessed 9 May 2013
, there were a total of 949 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 876 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 73 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 371 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
Belp is home to the ''Gemeindebibliothek Belp'' (municipal library of Belp). The library has () 13,040 books or other media, and loaned out 79,886 items in the same year. It was open a total of 312 days with average of 18 hours per week during that year.]
accessed 14 May 2010
Notable people
* Bruno Messerli (1931 in Belp – 2019) a Swiss geographer and university professor, who focused on geographic high mountain research
* Rudolf Joder (born 1950) politician, member of the Swiss National Council and lawyer; lives in Belp
* Nicolas Bürgy (born 1995 in Belp) a Swiss footballer who plays for FC Thun
Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league system, following relegation from the Swiss Super League in ...
, over 50 club caps
References
External links
Town of Belp
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern
Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern