Gerzensee 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 go ...
in the
Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the
canton 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 ...
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 ...
.
The town is named after its
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
:
Gerzensee.
History
![SchlossGerzensee 6396](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/SchlossGerzensee_6396.jpg)
Gerzensee is first mentioned in 1228 as ''Gercentse''.
[
The oldest trace of a settlement in the area comes from 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 parts ...
artifacts found around the municipality. La Tène and Roman era
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
artifacts indicate that the area remained settled. By the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
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 Kramburg had built his Festi Castle above the village and ruled over part of the valley. After about 1300 the Kramburg lands were acquired by another noble. Over the following centuries, the land was traded and sold multiple times. At the end of the 17th century Gerzensee was divided in half and each half was sold to a different noble family.[
The Festi Castle or Old Castle was damaged in a fire in 1518. Jakob von Wattenwyl had the old building rebuilt in a late-]Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style under the direction of the master builder Balthasar Ambühl. The Old Castle passed through several owners until the Stuker family bought it in 1947.[
In 1700 Samuel Morlot decided to build a country manor house, known as the New Castle, on the one-third of the estate that he owned. In 1755 Franz Emanuel Anton von Graffenried bought the scattered pieces of the estate and combined the manor house, village, lake and other farm land back into a single estate. 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, ma ...
eliminated the medieval court rights and other powers of the powerful landowners. In 1813 the von Graffenrieds sold the manor house and lake to the von Erlach family. They, in turn sold it to the Lindemann and Losinger families in 1918. In 1980 the Swiss National Bank
The Swiss National Bank (SNB; german: Schweizerische Nationalbank; french: Banque nationale suisse; it, Banca nazionale svizzera; rm, Banca naziunala svizra) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy an ...
acquired the New Castle and turned it into a research center.[
The village church was probably built during 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 ...
. It first appears in a historic record in 1228 as St. Mary's Church. St. Mary's was rebuilt in the third quarter of the 15th century and then completely redone in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1479 the villagers funded and built a chapel in the village. However, it was demolished around 1528 when 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 ...
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 in ...
and its location was lost.[
During the 17th to 19th centuries, the sunny southern slope of the ]Belpberg
Belpberg is a former municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The municipality of Belpberg merged on 1 January 2012 into the municipality of Belp.[patrician
Patrician may refer to:
* Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage
* Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...]
s. The Lerber, Graffenried, Luternau, Freudenreich and Büren families all built country estates above the village. In 1633 a mineral water spa opened in the village. The old baths were completely changed in a 1906 renovation. As the city of Bern grew, Gerzensee became more of a commuter town
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
. A number of new single-family homes were built in the 1970s to house the growing population. Today about half of the workforce commutes to Bern for their jobs.[
]
Geography
Gerzensee has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 67.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 20.3% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 9.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 3.6% is either rivers or lakes.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
During the same year, housing and buildings made up 6.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.1%. A total of 18.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 39.3% is used for growing crops and 25.7% is pasturage, while 2.8% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 1.8% is in lakes and 1.8% is in rivers and streams.[
The municipality stretches from the south-east edge of Belpberg mountain to 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 descend ...
river. The village of Gerzensee is located on a terrace above the Gerzensee Lake. It consists of the village of Gerzensee and the scattered settlements of Sädel, Vorderchlapf and Hinterchlapf.
The municipalities of Gelterfingen
Gelterfingen is a former municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipalities of Gelterfingen, Mühledorf and Noflen merged into the municipality of Kirchd ...
, Gerzensee, Kirchdorf, Mühledorf and Noflen
Noflen is a former municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipalities of Gelterfingen, Mühledorf and Noflen merged into the municipality of Kirchdorf.
...
are considering a merger on 1 January 2017 into the new municipality with an, , undetermined name.[Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 12 December 2013
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.
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 vis ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
is ''Azure an Angel volant proper robed and winged Argent holding in his dexter hand Scales Or and in his sinister a Palm Branch vert.''
Demographics
Gerzensee has a population () of . , 5.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last year (2010-2011) the population has changed at a rate of 2.9%. Migration accounted for 2.3%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.9%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 21 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
**Ger ...
(884 or 97.0%) as their first language, French is the second most common (14 or 1.5%) and Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
is the third (4 or 0.4%). and 1 person who speaks Romansh.[
, the population was 49.5% male and 50.5% female. The population was made up of 517 Swiss men (46.7% of the population) and 31 (2.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 533 Swiss women (48.1%) and 27 (2.4%) non-Swiss women.][Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 309 or about 33.9% were born in Gerzensee and lived there in 2000. There were 415 or 45.6% who were born in the same canton, while 108 or 11.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 50 or 5.5% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.4%.][
, there were 381 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 440 married individuals, 44 widows or widowers and 46 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 123 households that consist of only one person and 35 households with five or more people. , a total of 356 apartments (90.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 29 apartments (7.3%) were seasonally occupied and 10 apartments (2.5%) 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 12.6 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.6%. In 2011, single family homes made up 51.9% of the total housing in the municipality.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
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bar:1888 from:start till:781 text:"781"
bar:1900 from:start till:790 text:"790"
bar:1910 from:start till:766 text:"766"
bar:1920 from:start till:822 text:"822"
bar:1930 from:start till:778 text:"778"
bar:1941 from:start till:790 text:"790"
bar:1950 from:start till:802 text:"802"
bar:1960 from:start till:776 text:"776"
bar:1970 from:start till:767 text:"767"
bar:1980 from:start till:795 text:"795"
bar:1990 from:start till:872 text:"872"
bar:2000 from:start till:911 text:"911"
bar:2010 from:start till:1088 text:"1,088"
Heritage sites of national significance
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 ...
's farm house at Rütimatt is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Gerzensee and the hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
of Vordere Chlapf are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.
Sites of national importance
Types
The types are based on t ...
.
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 38.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (15.3%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (11.9%) and the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
(9.3%). In the federal election, a total of 534 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 Unive ...
was 61.6%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Gerzensee had an unemployment rate of 2.14%. , there were a total of 302 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 98 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 35 businesses involved in this sector. 59 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 construction. ...
and there were 10 businesses in this sector. 145 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 25 businesses in this sector.[ There were 492 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.5% of the workforce.
there were a total of 230 ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employee, employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to me ...
jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 61, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 51 of which 14 or (27.5%) were in manufacturing, 26 or (51.0%) were in mining and 12 (23.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 118. In the tertiary sector; 19 or 16.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 8 or 6.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 47 or 39.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 24 or 20.3% were in education and 5 or 4.2% were in health care.
, there were 132 workers who commuted into the municipality and 302 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 190 workers (59.0% of the 322 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Gerzensee.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 15.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 50.8% used a private car.[
In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Gerzensee making 150,000 CHF was 12.2%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 17.9%. 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 466 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 188 made over 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Gerzensee was 143,489 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF.
In 2011 a total of 0.5% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.
]
Religion
From the , 690 or 75.7% 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 77 or 8.5% 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 lette ...
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there were 42 individuals (or about 4.61% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 6 (or about 0.66% 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 was 1 person who was 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 ...
. 71 (or about 7.79% 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 sufficient ...
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 23 individuals (or about 2.52% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Gerzensee about 55.2% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 23.4% 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, t ...
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 arts ...
'').[ Of the 138 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 69.6% were Swiss men, 27.5% were 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 cent ...
, 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 Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...
.
During the 2011-12 school year, there were a total of 107 students attending classes in Gerzensee. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 19 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 5.3% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens). The municipality had 3 primary classes and 60 students. Of the primary students, 5.0% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens). During the same year, there were 2 lower secondary classes with a total of 28 students.[Schuljahr 2011/12 pdf document]
accessed 9 May 2013
, there were a total of 118 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 83 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 35 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 42 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern
Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern