Gündlischwand is a village and
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
Interlaken-Oberhasli 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 ...
. Besides the village of Gündlischwand, the municipality also includes the hamlet of Zweilütschinen.
History
Gündlischwand is first mentioned in 1331 as ''Gundlisswant''.
[
During 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 ...
parts of the Lütschine valley were owned by a variety of local nobles. By 1331, Interlaken Abbey
, order = Augustinians
, established = by 1133
, disestablished = 1528
, mother =
, dedication =
, diocese = Lausanne
, churches =
, founder = Ba ...
acquired the land and rights to the village of Gündlischwand. It remained under the Abbey's control until 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 secularized the Abbey and all its land. The modern municipality also includes the village of Zweilütschinen at the confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the White and Black Lütschine rivers. In 1580 a bridge was built over the rivers at Zweilütschinen, allowing more local trade to flow through the village.[
In the late 16th century rich ore deposits were discovered in the Lauterbrunnen valley. After the ore was mined, it was moved to the ]blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...
at Schmelziwald near Gündlischwand for smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...
. The mine closed in 1715 and the furnace, hammer mill
A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre-industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The featur ...
, foundry and village fell into ruin, though parts are still visible. In 1890 the Bernese Oberland railway
The Bernese Oberland Railway (german: Berner Oberland-Bahn, BOB) is a narrow-gauge mountain railway in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. It runs, via a "Y" junction at Zweilütschinen to serve Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald from Interla ...
built a station and depot at Zweilütschinen, providing an easy, year round transportation connection.[
]
Geography
Gündlischwand lies in the Bernese Oberland
The Bernese Oberland ( en, Bernese Highlands, german: Berner Oberland; gsw, Bärner Oberland; french: Oberland bernois), the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern, is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context ...
in the Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
on the Black Lütschine river. The municipality includes the hamlet of Zweilütschinen, so named because it is the point of confluence of the White and Black Lütschine rivers. To the north of the Black Lütschine, the municipality extends up the Sägis Valley and its small lake, and includes the slopes up to the summits of the Schynige Platte
The Schynige Platte (''Scheinige Platte'' on the old Siegfried Map) is a small mountain ridge and a viewpoint in the Bernese Highlands and belongs to the Schwarzhorn group. The mountain range consists of three peaks: Gumihorn (), Tuba (mountain), ...
, Loucherhorn, Roteflue
The Roteflue (also spelled ''Rotefluh'') is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Lake Brienz in the Bernese Oberland
The Bernese Oberland ( en, Bernese Highlands, german: Berner Oberland; gsw, Bärner Oberland; french: Oberland bernois), ...
, Faulhorn
The Faulhorn is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, located between Lake Brienz and Grindelwald in the Bernese Oberland. The summit is high and can be reached by several trails.
The mountain is split between the municipalities of Iseltwald and Grin ...
and Sägissa () mountains. Both the Schynige Platte Alpine Garden
The Schynige Platte Alpine Garden (german: Alpengarten Schynige Platte) is a botanical garden located at an altitude of about , near the summit of the Schynige Platte mountain in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. It specialises in resea ...
and the adjoining summit station of the Schynige Platte railway are within the municipality. To the south of the Black Lütschine, the municipality includes the north-western slopes of the Männlichen
The Männlichen is a mountain in the Swiss Alps located within the Canton of Berne.
It can be reached from Wengen by the Wengen–Männlichen aerial cableway, or from the new (December 2019) Grindelwald Terminal stationBOB website - was to hav ...
.
Gündlischwand has an area of . Of this area, or 32.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 39.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 1.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 24.9% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.7%. Out of the forested land, 35.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.1% is pastures and 29.2% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 8.9% is unproductive vegetation and 15.9% is too rocky for vegetation.[
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Interlaken, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Interlaken-Oberhasli.]
accessed 4 April 2011
Along with eight other municipalities, Gündlischwand belongs to the church parish of Gsteig bei Interlaken in the municipality of Gsteigwiler
Gsteigwiler is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
Gsteigwiler belongs to the Small Agglomeration ''Interlaken'' with 23,300 inhabitants (2014).
History
Gsteigwiler is first ...
.
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 ''Per pale Sable and Argent overall a Chevron wavy reaching the Chief counterchanged.''
Demographics
Gündlischwand has a population () of . , 3.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of -2.4%. Migration accounted for 0.7%, while births and deaths accounted for -1%.
accessed 21 March 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
**Ger ...
(253 or 96.2%) as their first language, 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 and ...
is the second most common (4 or 1.5%) and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
is the third (3 or 1.1%). There are 2 people who speak French.[
, the population was 49.6% male and 50.4% female. The population was made up of 133 Swiss men (47.5% of the population) and 6 (2.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 137 Swiss women (48.9%) and 4 (1.4%) non-Swiss women.] Of the population in the municipality, 93 or about 35.4% were born in Gündlischwand and lived there in 2000. There were 117 or 44.5% who were born in the same canton, while 32 or 12.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 16 or 6.1% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.2%.][
, there were 108 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 125 married individuals, 20 widows or widowers and 10 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 44 households that consist of only one person and 6 households with five or more people. , a total of 101 apartments (64.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 47 apartments (29.9%) were seasonally occupied and 9 apartments (5.7%) were empty.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.12%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Colors=
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id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8)
ImageSize = width:1020 height:210
PlotArea = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100
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Period = from:0 till:370
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
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ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:14 start:0
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color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center
bar:1764 from:start till:123 text:"123"
bar:1850 from:start till:335 text:"335"
bar:1860 from:start till:301 text:"301"
bar:1870 from:start till:310 text:"310"
bar:1880 from:start till:305 text:"305"
bar:1888 from:start till:279 text:"279"
bar:1900 from:start till:321 text:"321"
bar:1910 from:start till:367 text:"367"
bar:1920 from:start till:336 text:"336"
bar:1930 from:start till:316 text:"316"
bar:1941 from:start till:278 text:"278"
bar:1950 from:start till:308 text:"308"
bar:1960 from:start till:289 text:"289"
bar:1970 from:start till:285 text:"285"
bar:1980 from:start till:287 text:"287"
bar:1990 from:start till:262 text:"262"
bar:2000 from:start till:263 text:"263"
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 39.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (25.8%), 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%) and the FDP.The Liberals
french: PLR.Les Libéraux-Radicaux it, PLR.I Liberali Radicali rm, PLD.Ils Liberals
, logo =
, caption = Logo of the party in French, German, and Italian
, leader1_title = President
, leader1_name = Thierry Burkart
...
(9%). In the federal election, a total of 100 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 44.8%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Gündlischwand had an unemployment rate of 1%. , there were a total of 116 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 3 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 3 businesses involved in this sector. 9 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 4 businesses in this sector. 104 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 11 businesses in this sector.[ There were 139 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.4% of the workforce.
there were a total of 101 ]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. There was one job in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 7 of which 2 or (28.6%) were in manufacturing and 5 (71.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 93. In the tertiary sector; 2 or 2.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 67 or 72.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 18 or 19.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 4.3% were in education.
, there were 80 workers who commuted into the municipality and 88 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 25.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 38.8% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 25 or 9.5% 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 ...
, while 214 or 81.4% 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 were 4 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.52% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 12 individuals (or about 4.56% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 5 (or about 1.90% 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 8 individuals (or about 3.04% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Gündlischwand about 127 or (48.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 11 or (4.2%) 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 11 who completed tertiary schooling, 72.7% were Swiss men, 18.2% 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 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 31 students attending classes in Gündlischwand. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 9 students in the municipality. The municipality had one primary class and 16 students. During the same year, there was one lower secondary class with a total of 6 students.[Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document]
accessed 4 January 2012
, there were 5 students in Gündlischwand who came from another municipality, while 4 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
Transport
The Zweilütschinen railway station is on the Berner Oberland Bahn
The Bernese Oberland Railway (german: Berner Oberland-Bahn, BOB) is a narrow-gauge mountain railway in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. It runs, via a "Y" junction at Zweilütschinen to serve Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald from Inter ...
, whose trains operate services to Interlaken Ost
Interlaken Ost or Interlaken East is a railway station in the resort town of Interlaken in the Swiss canton of Bern. The station was previously known as Interlaken Zollhaus. The town has one other station, Interlaken West.
Interlaken Ost is a ...
, Grindelwald
Grindelwald is a village and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli (administrative district), Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Berne. In addition ...
and Lauterbrunnen
, neighboring_municipalities= Aeschi bei Spiez, Blatten (Lötschen) (VS), Fieschertal (VS), Grindelwald, Gündlischwand, Kandersteg, Lütschental, Reichenbach im Kandertal, Saxeten, Wilderswil
, twintowns =
}
Lauterbrunnen is a village and M ...
on an hourly or half-hourly frequency.
Zweilütschinen is the operating centre of the Berner Oberland Bahn, with its depot and workshop adjacent to the station.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gundlischwand
Municipalities of the canton of Bern