Thierachern 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 administrative district of
Thun
, neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg
, twintown =
, website = www.thun.ch
Thun (french: Thoune) ...
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 ...
.
History
Thierachern is first mentioned in 1250 as ''Tierachern''.
[
The area around Thierachern was occupied during the ]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 ...
era, 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 pri ...
and the La Tène era. The remains of a 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 ...
settlement and graves were discovered under the village church. Additional Roman or early medieval
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
stone lined cist
A cist ( or ; also kist ;
from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East ...
s were found near Egg. Other graves, of an indeterminate age, have been found in Oberen Hasliholz, by Halterain and by Wahlen. All the prehistoric artifacts indicate that the area has had a long history of human habitation.[
The village first appears in historic records as a part of the '']Herrschaft
The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...
'' of Strättligen. The village church of St. Martin was first mentioned in 1228 as one of the 12 Lake Thun
Lake Thun (german: Thunersee) is an Alpine lake in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland named after the city of Thun, on its northern shore. At in surface area, it is the largest Swiss lake entirely within a single canton.
The lake was created af ...
churches in the Strättliger Chronicle. The current church dates to 1706-08 when Abraham Dünz the Younger rebuilt the old building. When the Strättligen family died out in 1349, the village was inherited and sold to several lords over the following centuries. In 1594 the von May family from 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 ...
acquired the village. They sold it to Bern in 1607 and the village became part of the Bernese Thun District
Thun District was one of the 25 administrative districts in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. Its capital was the municipality of Thun. The district had an area of 285 km2 and consists of 27 municipalities
A municipality is usually a singl ...
. In 1841 the village sold a large ''Allmend'' or common field
Common Field is an American national network of artist-centered organizations and projects. Founded in 2014 by co-founders Elizabeth Chodos, Courtney Fink, Nat May, Stephanie Sherman, Abigail Statinsky, and Shannon Stratton with support from ...
(about 23% of the total land area) to the Swiss Army for a training ground for the barracks at Thun.[
In the 1960s commuters began to move into the village to escape the growing city of Thun. To house the growing population several new housing developments grew up in the municipality. Today over 80% of the population commutes to jobs in Thun. Of the jobs remaining in the municipality, about 35% are in agriculture, while only 13% are in industry.][
]
Geography
Thierachern has an area of . As of the 2004 survey, a total of or 66.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 17.3% is forested. Of rest of the municipality or 12.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 3.5% is unproductive land. Between the 1981 and 2004 surveys the settled area increased from to , an increase of 32.86%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 27 August 2014
From the same survey, housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.9%. A total of 16.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 41.1% is used for growing crops and 23.8% is pasturage, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 2.4% is unproductive vegetation and 1.1% is too rocky for vegetation.[
The municipality is located from downtown ]Thun
, neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg
, twintown =
, website = www.thun.ch
Thun (french: Thoune) ...
along 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. It consists of the village of Thierachern and the hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
of Wahlen, Egg and Schwand.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Thun, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Thun.[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
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 ''Or a Deer rampant Gules on a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert.''
Demographics
Thierachern has a population () of . , 3.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Between the last 2 years (2010-2012) the population changed at a rate of 3.4%. Migration accounted for 1.6%, while births and deaths accounted for 1.0%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 6 October 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
**Ge ...
(1,838 or 97.4%) as their first language, French is the second most common (17 or 0.9%) 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 (7 or 0.4%). There are 6 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 ...
.[
, the population was 48.7% male and 51.3% female. The population was made up of 1,074 Swiss men (47.3% of the population) and 34 (1.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,136 Swiss women (50.0%) and 29 (1.3%) non-Swiss women.][Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 470 or about 24.9% were born in Thierachern and lived there in 2000. There were 1,060 or 56.1% who were born in the same canton, while 235 or 12.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 93 or 4.9% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.9%.][
, there were 761 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 953 married individuals, 94 widows or widowers and 80 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 223 households that consist of only one person and 78 households with five or more people. , a total of 758 apartments (93.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 31 apartments (3.8%) were seasonally occupied and 23 apartments (2.8%) 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 9.4 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.6%. In 2012, single family homes made up 60.1% of the total housing in the municipality.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Economy
, Thierachern had an unemployment rate of 1.42%. , there were a total of 425 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 97 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 33 businesses involved in this sector. 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 ...
employs 79 people and there were 20 businesses in this sector. 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 ...
employs 248 people, with 84 businesses in this sector.[ There were 1,020 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.0% of the workforce.
there were a total of 285 ]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 64, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 72 of which 16 or (22.2%) were in manufacturing and 56 (77.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 149. In the tertiary sector; 52 or 34.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 4.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 10 or 6.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 24 or 16.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 32 or 21.5% were in education and 12 or 8.1% were in health care.
, there were 158 workers who commuted into the municipality and 815 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 205 workers (56.5% of the 363 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Thierachern.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 15.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 53.2% used a private car.[
The local and cantonal tax rate in Thierachern is one of the lowest in the canton. In 2012 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Thierachern making 150,000 CHF was 11.9%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 17.8%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in 2011, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively.
In 2010 there were a total of 1,009 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 330 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 9 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Thierachern was 107,395 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 131,244 CHF.
In 2011 a total of 1.7% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.
]
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 34.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (16.0%), the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (14.1%) and the Evangelical People's Party (EVP) (9.2%). In the federal election, a total of 917 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 52.7%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Religion
From the , 1,462 or 77.4% 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 ...
, while 182 or 9.6% 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 were 9 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.48% of the population), and there were 101 individuals (or about 5.35% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and 6 (or about 0.32% 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 were 2 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 85 (or about 4.50% 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 36 individuals (or about 1.91% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Thierachern about 65.2% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 16.9% 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 215 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 75.8% were Swiss men, 20.0% were Swiss women, 2.8% were non-Swiss men.][
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 2012-13 school year, there were a total of 362 students attending classes in Thierachern. There were a total of 50 students in the German language kindergarten classes in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 4.0% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 4.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality's primary school had 168 students in German language classes. Of the primary students, 2.4% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 4.2% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, the lower secondary school had a total of 144 students. There were 0.7% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 2.1% have a different mother language than the classroom language.[Datei der Gemeinde- und Schultabellen]
accessed 23 July 2014
, there were a total of 306 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 225 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 81 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 50 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
Thierachern is home to the ''Schul- und Volksbibliothek Thierachern'' library. The library has () 5,072 books or other media, and loaned out 13,669 items in the same year. It was open a total of 125 days with average of 6 hours per week during that year.]
accessed 14 May 2010
References
External links
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern