Schwarzenburg

Schwarzenburg is a municipality in the district of Bern-Mittelland in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It was created on 1 January 2011 through the merger of the municipalities of Wahlern and Albligen.

History

Albligen

Albligen is first mentioned in 1346 as ''Alblingen''.

Wahlern

Wahlern is first mentioned in 1228 as ''Walerro''.

Geography

The former municipalities that now make up Schwarzenburg have a total combined area of .

Demographics

Schwarzenburg has a population () of . , 4.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last year (2010-2011) the population has changed at a rate of 0.7%. Migration accounted for 0.8%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.2%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 13 March 2014 Most of the population () speaks German (96%) as their first language, French is the second most common (0.8%) and Italian is the third (0.4%).

, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.1%.

, the construction rate of new housing units was 3.9 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.56%. In 2011, single family homes made up 44.9% of the total housing in the municipality.

Historic population

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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bar:1950 from: 0 till:4825 text:"4,825" color:WA
bar:1960 from: 0 till:4723 text:"4,723" color:WA
bar:1970 from: 0 till:4832 text:"4,832" color:WA
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bar:1990 from: 0 till:5732 text:"5,732" color:WA
bar:2000 from: 0 till:6205 text:"6,205" color:WA
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bar:1890 from: 5130 till:5822 text:"692" color:AL
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bar:1910 from: 5234 till:5879 text:"645" color:AL
bar:1920 from: 5286 till:5947 text:"661" color:AL
bar:1930 from: 4804 till:5360 text:"556" color:AL
bar:1940 from: 4600 till:5095 text:"495" color:AL
bar:1950 from: 4825 till:5298 text:"473" color:AL
bar:1960 from: 4723 till:5144 text:"421" color:AL
bar:1970 from: 4832 till:5260 text:"428" color:AL
bar:1980 from: 5104 till:5510 text:"406" color:AL
bar:1990 from: 5732 till:6174 text:"442" color:AL
bar:2000 from: 6205 till:6688 text:"483" color:AL

Transportation

Schwarzenburg is the terminal station of the Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn, which opened in 1907 and today forms part of the BLS AG. Lanzenhäusern also has a station.

Heritage sites of national significance

The farm house ''Aeckenmatt'' at Aeckenmatt 6, the ruins of Grasburg Castle, the ''Frühmesskapelle'' at Käppeligässli 5, the ''Rossgrabenbrücke'' (bridge, shared with Rüeggisberg), Schwarzenburg Castle and the granary at Henzischwand 298 A are all listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance. The entire village of Schwarzenburg and the hamlets of Äckenmatt and Elisried are designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

File:Aeckenmatt Bauernhaus DSC05386.jpg, Farm house at Aeckenmatt 6
File:Grasburg Ruins Wahlern Sep2010.jpg, Ruins of Grasburg Castle
File:Naturpark_Gantrisch_21.jpg, Grasburg castle ruins : front section
File:Naturpark_Gantrisch_23.jpg, Grasburg castle ruins : rear section
File:Naturpark_Gantrisch_14.jpg, Schwarzenburg - Gnomengarten (Garden of the Gnomes; demolished 2016) : "Pluto, the King of the Garden" (Jürg-Ulrich Ernst)
File:Chäppeli 001.jpg, ''Frühmesskapelle''
File:Schloss Schwarzenburg, Gesamtansicht.jpg, Castle Schwarzenburg
File:Speicher Henzischwand 298a DSC05450.jpg, Granary at Henzischwand 298 A

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 35.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (20.1%), the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (14.7%) and the Green Party (6.9%). In the federal election, a total of 2,783 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 52.1%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Schwarzenburg had an unemployment rate of 1.24%. , there were a total of 3,032 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 625 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 218 businesses involved in this sector. 1,088 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 80 businesses in this sector. 1,319 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 187 businesses in this sector. Of the working population, 21.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 42.7% used a private car.

In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Schwarzenburg making 150,000 CHF was 12.9%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 19%. 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 2011 a total of 3.5% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

Religion

In 2000 about 79.6% of the population belonged to a Protestant church, 8.6% were Roman Catholic and 5.5% had no religious affiliation. Schwarzenburg, along with Thun, is the area where most of the Amish and ethnic Mennonites in the United States trace their ancestry from.

Climate

Between 1981 and 2010 Schwarzenburg had an average of 136.7 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was May during which time Schwarzenburg received an average of of rain or snow. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 14.2 days. The driest month of the year was February with an average of of precipitation over 10.3 days., the Schwarzenburg weather station elevation is 806 meters above sea level.

Education

In Schwarzenburg about 55.9% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 18.2% have completed additional higher education (either university or a ''Fachhochschule''). Schwarzenburg is home to the ''Schul- und Gemeindebibliothek'' (municipal library of Schwarzenburg). The library has () 20,690 books or other media, and loaned out 94,725 items in the same year. It was open a total of 230 days with average of 20.5 hours per week during that year.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, list of libraries
accessed 14 May 2010

References

{{Authority control

Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern
Populated places established in 2011