Diemtigen is a village and 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 go ...

of the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located at the northern end of the Diemtigtal elevated on a plateau west above the creek Chirel. In 1986, the community was awarded the

Wakker Prize The Wakker Prize (German: ''Wakkerpreis'', French: ''Prix Wakker'', Italian: ''Premio Wakker'') is awarded annually by the Swiss Heritage Society to a Municipality of Switzerland for the development and preservation of its architectural heritag ...

for preservation of its architectural heritage.

History

Diemtigen is first mentioned in 1257 as ''Diemtingen''. The Diemtigen area was inhabited during the

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 prin ...

and possibly during the Mesolithic Era. It was permanently inhabited and fortified by the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the 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 around AD 150 ...

. The heights above the valleys are home to several castles or castle ruins. No records exist and very little is known about the ruins of Kronegg Castle, above Eggwald, and Grafenstein Castle, above Oey. The third castle, Hasenburg near Diemtigen was first mentioned in 1257 as castrum de Diemtingen and in the 12th and 13th centuries was the 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 Empire ...

von Strättligen. After the 12th century the castle and lands passed through several noble families until the Bernese von Scharnachtal family acquired it and in 1439 sold it to the city of Bern. A set of laws and privileges were granted to the villagers of the entire valley in 1361 and again in 1393. In 1649 the laws governing the entire valley were codified. Beginning in the 15th century passes from the Diemtigen valley into Adelboden, Lenk and Zweisimmen opened up local trade. By the 16th century, the villagers in the valley bought grain from the lowlands, raised cattle in alpine meadows and then exported the cattle over the passes. While a little silver and coal were found in the mountains, there was never enough to support mines. Due to limited farmland and poverty, many residents left the valley. Before the 19th century it was into mercenary service, while after 1800 they emigrated to North America, Germany or Russia. Following the 1798 French invasion, Diemtigen became part of the Helvetic Republic

Canton of Oberland Oberland (German for ''Highlands'') was the name of a canton of the Helvetic Republic (1798–1803), corresponding to the area of the Bernese Oberland, with its capital at Thun. History After the Napoleonic invasion of Switzerland in 1798, the ol ...

. With the

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasi ...

in 1803 it returned to the Canton of Bern. Beginning in the 18th century, several alpine spas were built around natural mineral springs. Two of the most famous, the Rothbad Horben and the Kurhaus Grimmialp in Schwenden opened the village up to tourism. The construction of Simmentalstrasse (Simmental road) and the Spiez-Zweisimmen railroad in 1897 opened up the valley to many new businesses and brought in an increasing number of tourists. The railroad station was built in the village of Oey, which grew into the population and administrative center of the municipality. In 1963 the municipality built a hotel and sport complex to encourage further tourism. Today, tourism is an important component in the local economy. However, agriculture still remains important and Diemtigen has 107 seasonal alpine pastures, the most of any Swiss municipality. The village church of St. Nicholas in Diemtigen village was first mentioned in 1314 and was a filial church of the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in Schwenden. The original building was extended in 1490. In 1527 the valley 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 ...

and the village church became a parish church for the new Reformed

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 o ...

of Diemtigen.

Geography

Diemtigen has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 48.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 30.4% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 1.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 19.4% 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 0.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.8%. A total of 25.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 9.5% is pasturage and 38.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 9.1% is unproductive vegetation and 10.3% is too rocky for vegetation. The municipality is located in the Diemtig valley and several neighboring valleys. It consists of the settlements of Oey, Diemtigen, Bächlen, Horben, Riedern, Entschwil, Zwischenflüh, Schwenden and the "Sporthalle Diemtigtal" as well as a number of small settlements in alpine meadows and forests above the valleys. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Niedersimmental, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Frutigen-Niedersimmental.
accessed 4 April 2011

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 vi ...

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 ''Per pale Gules and Argent a Castle embattled counterchanged.''

Demographics

Diemtigen has a population () of . , 3.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -0.7%. Migration accounted for -1.4%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.2%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 28 October 2013 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 ...

(2,017 or 98.2%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (10 or 0.5%) and

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

is the third (9 or 0.4%). There are 4 people who speak French, 3 people who speak

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and 1 person who speaks Romansh. , the population was 50.4% male and 49.6% female. The population was made up of 1,046 Swiss men (48.6% of the population) and 39 (1.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,037 Swiss women (48.1%) and 32 (1.5%) non-Swiss women.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 1,235 or about 60.1% were born in Diemtigen and lived there in 2000. There were 539 or 26.2% who were born in the same canton, while 150 or 7.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 83 or 4.0% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.8%. , there were 882 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 994 married individuals, 126 widows or widowers and 52 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 266 households that consist of only one person and 91 households with five or more people. , a total of 726 apartments (59.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 432 apartments (35.4%) were seasonally occupied and 61 apartments (5.0%) 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 1.4 new units per 1000 residents. In 2011, single family homes made up 39.2% of the total housing in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:35 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:2200 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:400 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:80 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:1138 text:"1,138" bar:1850 from:start till:2150 text:"2,150" bar:1860 from:start till:1946 text:"1,946" bar:1870 from:start till:2009 text:"2,009" bar:1880 from:start till:2149 text:"2,149" bar:1888 from:start till:1993 text:"1,993" bar:1900 from:start till:2014 text:"2,014" bar:1910 from:start till:1905 text:"1,905" bar:1920 from:start till:1943 text:"1,943" bar:1930 from:start till:1901 text:"1,901" bar:1941 from:start till:1946 text:"1,946" bar:1950 from:start till:2049 text:"2,049" bar:1960 from:start till:1934 text:"1,934" bar:1970 from:start till:1913 text:"1,913" bar:1980 from:start till:2013 text:"2,013" bar:1990 from:start till:2023 text:"2,023" bar:2000 from:start till:2054 text:"2,054" bar:2010 from:start till:2146 text:"2,146"

Wakker Prize

The Wakker prize is given each year by the Swiss Heritage Society to a Municipality of Switzerland for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. In 1986, Diemtigen was given the prize for consistent planning that remained spared much of an area measuring from development. The scattered nature of the municipality made this more difficult, because there are many scattered land owners with different goals. However, the municipality was able to create a number of large landscape protection zones, which limited and concentrated holiday house areas to a few places.

Heritage sites of national significance

The farm house in Oey at Sälbezen 714 and the farm house at Trogmatte 32 are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Diemtigen is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 63.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (14.2%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (6.2%) and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) (3.8%). In the federal election, a total of 871 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 51.4%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Diemtigen had an unemployment rate of 1.19%. , there were a total of 1,028 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 383 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 138 businesses involved in this sector. 304 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 constructi ...

and there were 47 businesses in this sector. 341 people were 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 second ...

, with 80 businesses in this sector. There were 1,072 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.3% of the workforce. there were a total of 739

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 221, of which 219 were in agriculture and 2 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 277 of which 165 or (59.6%) were in manufacturing and 111 (40.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 241. In the tertiary sector; 52 or 21.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 37 or 15.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 82 or 34.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 12 or 5.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 11 or 4.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 16 or 6.6% were in education and 11 or 4.6% were in health care. , there were 242 workers who commuted into the municipality and 425 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 647 workers (72.8% of the 889 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Diemtigen.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 7.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 54.3% used a private car. In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Diemtigen making 150,000 CHF was 13%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 19.1%. 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 841 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 176 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 5 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The greatest number of workers, 214, made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Diemtigen was 107,050 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF. In 2011 a total of 1.7% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

Religion

From the , 1,833 or 89.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 57 or 2.8% 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 9 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.44% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 50 individuals (or about 2.43% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 12 (or about 0.58% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 50 (or about 2.43% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 40 individuals (or about 1.95% of the population) did not answer the question.

Transport

Diemtigen sits on the Spiez–Zweisimmen line and is served by trains at the

Wimmis Wimmis is a municipality in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Wimmis is first mentioned in 994 as ''Windemis''. The oldest traces of a settlement in Wimmis include the Mesol ...

and Burgholz railway stations.

Education

In Diemtigen about 51.1% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 10.7% 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 States ...

or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 134 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 73.1% were Swiss men, 19.4% were Swiss women and 4.5% 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 ce ...

, 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 259 students attending classes in Diemtigen. There were 3 kindergarten classes with a total of 51 students in the municipality. The municipality had 7 primary classes and 136 students. Of the primary students, 1.5% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 0.7% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 3 lower secondary classes with a total of 57 students. There were 1.8% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens). 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 281 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 240 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 41 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 74 residents attended schools outside the municipality.