Lungern 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
canton of
Obwalden in
Switzerland. It encompasses
Lake Lungern
Lake Lungern (german: Lungerersee, also spelled ''Lungernsee'' or ''Lungerensee'') is a natural lake in Obwalden, Switzerland which is named after the town Lungern on its shore. The lake is drained by the Sarner Aa river, which flows through the S ...
and, besides the village of Lungern, the settlements of Bürglen, Kaiserstuhl and Obsee.
Geography
The village of Lungern lies above sea level in the highest part of the canton of Obwalden, on the eastern shore of the
Lake of Lungern and at the foot of the
Brünig Pass
The Brünig Pass, at an altitude of , connects the Bernese Oberland and central Switzerland, linking Meiringen in the canton of Bern and Lungern in the canton of Obwalden. It is on the watershed between the upper reaches of the Aare, which flows ...
. It is the highest village of the Sarneraa-Valley, in a basin open only to the north and surrounded on all other sides by steep and woody inclinations and rocks.
To the south-west the municipality extends to the Brünig Pass. On its north-western side, the municipal boundary is set by the
Wilerhorn and
Höch Gumme
The Höch Gumme (2,205 m) is a mountain of the Emmental Alps in Switzerland. It lies to the east of the Brienzer Rothorn and Arnihaaggen, and the west of the Wilerhorn and Brünig Pass. The '' Schönbüel'' cable car station (2,011 m) is on i ...
mountains, and includes the whole of the Lake of Lungern. To the east, the boundary reaches as far as the
Hochstollen and
Chingstuel
The Chingstuel is a mountain of the Urner Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Obwalden and Bern. It lies between the Klein Melchtal and the region of Hasliberg
Hasliberg is a Swiss municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli ad ...
mountains, and includes the
Güpfi
The Güpfi is a mountain of the Urner Alps, overlooking Lungern in the canton of Obwalden. It lies on the range north of the Chingstuel
The Chingstuel is a mountain of the Urner Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Obwalden ...
mountain and part of the
Kleine Melchtal valley.
Besides the village of Lungern, the municipality includes the settlements of Kaiserstuhl and Bürglen that lie at the northern end of the lake, and Obsee on the south-western end of the lake.
[
The municipal district of Lungern has an area of , of which are meadow and tilled land, are pastureland, are wooded and the remaining are unproductive.][
]
History
The first legal proof of Lungern's existence is contained in a tax register for the diocese of the bishop of Konstanz in Germany dating from the year 1275. It is mentioned as ''Lutigern'' and also as ''de Lungern''.[
]
In 1861 it became easier to reach the village with the construction of the old road over the Brünig pass
The Brünig Pass, at an altitude of , connects the Bernese Oberland and central Switzerland, linking Meiringen in the canton of Bern and Lungern in the canton of Obwalden. It is on the watershed between the upper reaches of the Aare, which flows ...
. A quarter century later, in 1886, the first mail
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sys ...
carriages came over the pass. However, this only lasted two years, in 1888 the railroad from Brienz to Alpnachstad
Alpnach is a village in the canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. It comprises the villages of Alpnach Dorf, Alpnachstad and Schoried.
History
Alpnach is first mentioned about 870 as ''Alpenacho''.
Geography
Alpnach has an area, , of . Of this ...
(now part of Alpnach
Alpnach is a village in the canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. It comprises the villages of Alpnach Dorf, Alpnachstad and Schoried.
History
Alpnach is first mentioned about 870 as ''Alpenacho''.
Geography
Alpnach has an area, , of . Of this are ...
) opened. In 1887 the Eibach river flooded causing damage to the old village church. Six years later, in 1893, was the consecration of the neo-gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style church. At the end of the 18th century the population of Lungern lowered the level of the lake, with great effort and over many years, in order to improve living conditions. The works created new land for agriculture, housing, and a sawmill. Within 80 years the hard-won land was lost to a new dam: in 1922 a company named CKW built and started running a power station located at the lake. Nowadays the local power station (EWO) produces electricity from the power of the water of the Lungerersee. In 1942 the railroad line over the Brünig pass was electrified.
Population and economy
Nowadays the village of Lungern has about 2120 inhabitants. The population is stable, so there is a rise in the ratio of elderly to total population. In fact 17.5% of the total population of Lungern are of a pensionable age, compared with an average of 12% in the canton. If work opportunities remain limited this will likely grow even further in the future.
Demographics
Lungern has a population (as of ) of . , 8.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.[Canton Obwalden Statistics]
accessed 2 September 2009 Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 2.6%. Most of the population () speaks German (94.8%), with Albanian being second most common (2.2%) and French third (0.7%).
accessed 03-Sep-2009 the gender distribution of the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. In 2000 there were 681 households in Lungern.[
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 ...
the most popular party was just classed as other, which received 41.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (26.2%), the CVP (25.6%) and the SPS (6.5%).[
In Lungern about 71.5% of the population (between ages 25 and 64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a '' Fachhochschule'').][
]
Economy
Lungern has an unemployment rate of 0.6%. In 2005, there were 156 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 66 businesses involved; 443 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 27 businesses involved; 394 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 54 businesses.[ About 24% of the workers were involved in agriculture and forestry, 40% were considered artisans or craftsman. Of the rest of the working population, 13% were in commercial business or teaching staff, 12% were self-employed and 11% were domestic and hotel employees.
Economically, agriculture, forestry and wood-working are predominant. Agriculture comprises cattle-breeding and dairy-farming. All of the agricultural farms are cultivated by native highlanders, and they are mainly situated not in the bottom of the valley but on its slopes.
Lungern has a large industrial sector with the main employers being with 300 employees specialising in securing rockfaces preventing rockfalls and landslides, neue Holzbau AG][neue Holzbau AG website](_blank)
/ref> (70+ employees) specialising in pre-fabricated wooden constructions and engineered wood products, H-P Gasser Membranbau[H-P Gasser Membranbau website](_blank)
/ref> (80+ employees) specialising in membrane structures and skylights and Sutter Fahrzeugbau[Sutter Fahrzeugbau website](_blank)
/ref> who are specialists in coachwork and commercial vehicles. Located in the Obsee sector of Lungern together with many smaller companies, ensures that companies in Lungern provide employment not just for the inhabitants of the village but the Sarner-Aa valley and the Haslital
The Oberhasli is a historical '' Landvogtei'' or ''Talschaft'' in the Bernese Highlands, Switzerland, bordering on the cantons of Obwalden (OW), Nidwalden (NW), Uri (UR) and Wallis (VS).
From 1833 to 2009, Oberhasli was incorporated as the ...
.
Historic population
The historical population is given in the following table:
Weather
From 1961 to 1990, Lungern had an average of 149.5 days of rain 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 August, during which Lungern received an average of of precipitation and over an average of 14.4 days. The month with the most days of precipitation was June, with an average of 14.7, but with only of precipitation. The driest month was October, with an average of of precipitation over 14.4 days.[, the weather station elevation is 740 meters above sea level.]
Churches
There is one Catholic church and five chapels. The church is fairly new, about 110 years old, because the old one was destroyed in a flood of the lake. Chapels are located in the center of the village (Dorfkapelle), Obseekapelle, Kapelle Bürglen, Kapelle Breitenfeld and Kappele Krummelbach.
Tourist sights
The main sights of Lungern are:
*the old church tower (''Alter Kirchturm''), a neo-Gothic church, and the hamlet ''Obsee''
*the Lungern-Turren cablecar to Turren and then hike to Schönbüel[Lungern-Turren Bahn website](_blank)
/ref>
*the underground shooting range[Brünig Indoor website](_blank)
/ref>
Transport
The Brünig railway line
The Brünig railway line (german: Brünigbahn) is a Swiss narrow gauge railway line that links Lucerne, in central Switzerland, with Interlaken, in the Bernese Oberland. The line runs via Alpnachstad, Giswil, Meiringen and Brienz, and passes ...
passes through the municipality, on its route between Interlaken
Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern. It is an important and well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss A ...
and Lucerne. Both Lungern station and Kaiserstuhl OW station are on the line and in the municipality; and in 2013 were served by one train per hour in each direction.
Notes
References
External links
Official site of the municipal Lungern
Tourism Lungern
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Obwalden
Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland