Utzenstorf 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

Emmental The Emmental ( en, Emme Valley) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme (river), Emme and Ilfis (river), Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to ...

in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is regionally famous for its

medieval 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 ...

castle, Landshut Castle.

History

Utzenstorf is first mentioned in 1175 as ''Uzansdorf''. The oldest trace of a settlement in the municipality is 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 p ...

hilltop settlement at Bürglenhubel. The Bürglenhubel site includes traces of an earthen wall,

turf house An earth shelter, also called an earth house, earth bermed house, or underground house, is a structure (usually a house) with earth (soil) against the walls, on the roof, or that is entirely buried underground. Earth acts as thermal mass, making ...

s and flint tools. There are several other prehistoric sites in the municipality, including scatter neolithic items at Lindenrain and a La Tene culture grave at Schnäggefeld. When the area was part of the

Kingdom of Burgundy Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various states located in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The historical Burgundy correlates with the border area of France, Italy and Switzerland and includes the major modern cities of Geneva and ...

, the county of Uranestorfus was mentioned in a record from 1009. Under the

Dukes of Zähringen Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

Landshut Castle was the administrative center of the ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' or

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

of Utzenstorf. The ''Amt'' included both the upper village (Ober-Utzenstorf) and the lower village (Unter-Utzenstorf) and included ownership of all land along with the right to hold both the high and low courts. When the Zähringen line died out, the ''Amt'' was inherited by the

Counts of Kyburg The Kyburg family (; ; also Kiburg) was a noble family of ''grafen'' (counts) in the Duchy of Swabia, a cadet line of the counts of Dillingen, who in the late 12th and early 13th centuries ruled the County of Kyburg, corresponding to much of wha ...

. During the Gümmenenkrieg in 1332, the castle was attacked by troops from Bern and Solothurn and destroyed. It was rebuilt shortly thereafter. At the end of the 14th century, the Kyburgs were forced to

pawn Pawn most often refers to: * Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous piece in the game * Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral Pawn may also refer to: Places * Pawn, Oregon, an his ...

the castle and the ''Amt''. It was acquired by Rudolf von Ringoltingen from Bern, who combined several estates into the ''Amt''. In 1479 Ludwig von Diesbach inherited the estate from the Ringoltingen family. However, in 1514 the city of Bern bought the castle and ''Amt'' from the Diesbachs. Under Bernese rule, the castle became the center of the bailiwick of Landshut. During the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the 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 around AD 150 ...

the villages were part of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of Kirchberg. A village church was probably built in the 11th or 12th century, but it was first mentioned in 1275. A new church, dedicated to St. Martin, was built on the same site in 1457. In 1481, Bern acquired the right to collect

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

s from the two villages. The villages adopted 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 ...

when Bern converted. The church became the Reformed

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

over a parish that included the two villages, Wiler bei Utzenstorf and Zielebach. In 1804 the father of the future novelist Albert Bitzius, who would be better known by his pen name

Jeremias Gotthelf Albert Bitzius (4 October 179722 October 1854) was a Swiss novelist; best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf. Biography Bitzius was born at Murten, where his father was pastor. The Bitzius family had once belonged to the Bernese patrici ...

, became the pastor at Utzenstorf. Young Albert lived in the village until 1812 when he left to continue his education. He returned a few years later and worked as his father's

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

, though he left to be a vicar in

Herzogenbuchsee Herzogenbuchsee is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The population is 7055 (2011), counting the villages in the Oberaargau. The traditional name was ''Buchsi''. History Herzogenb ...

after his father's death in 1824. Many of his novels feature peasants from the Emmental and are probably influenced by his time in Utzenstorf. The municipality remained mostly Protestant, but in 1960 a Roman Catholic church was built in Utzenstorf for the surrounding 24 municipalities. During the 16th century, Utzenstorf began to expand, causing border conflicts and disagreements with neighboring municipalities. It quarreled with Bätterkinden from 1505 until 1526 and with Wiler and Zielebach in 1596. The villages and surrounding fields were often devastated when the Emme flooded. The municipality tried to build levees along the river in the 17th century, but they still suffered floods until the Canton adjusted the river course in 1884. A village school was built in 1892. The

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissens ...

- Burgdorf Railroad built a rail line and station in Utzenstorf in 1875. The line connected the municipality to rest of the country and allowed industry to move into the area. The first industrial factory, a paper mill, opened in 1892. Two years later, a biscuit factory opened and remained in operation until 1952. The first two factories were followed by other factories.

Swiss Central Airport Utzenstorf

The Swiss Central Airport Utzenstorf - German ''Schweizerischer Zentralflughafen Utzenstorf'' () - was a project for an intercontinental

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

, located about 23 kilometers north of Bern and about 10 kilometers south of

. The proposal to build an international airport along the banks of Emme river in 1945 failed due to opposition from the residents. During World War II, the government of the Canton of Bern created a study group to prepare a project. The obstacle-free area near Utzenstorf was deemed ideal, and the Canton then handed the project over the federal government. Because of massive opposition to the project, mainly by farmers - some of the most fertile Swiss ground would have to be sacrificed for an airport - the swampy area near

Kloten Kloten is a municipality in the district of Bülach in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, and belongs to the Glatt Valley (german: Glatttal). History Kloten is first mentioned in 1155 as ''Chlotun''. Geography Kloten is located in the ...

in the canton of Zurich was finally selected by the Swiss government. Another advantage of Kloten was that the area already belonged to the federal government - it was a military training area. In hindsight, Utzenstorf would have been the better place for a large airport: Today, both a highway and the newly built high-speed railway line Mattstetten-Rothrist would have supplied the airport with both passenger and freight connections. In addition, the airport operation would not be affected by the German frontier, as it is now the case with

Zurich Airport Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switzerland's la ...

1970-90

In the 1970s and 80s several new neighborhoods were built to house the growing population.

Geography

Utzenstorf has an area of . Of this area, or 59.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 26.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 12.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.9% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.2%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 50.8% is used for growing crops and 7.4% is pastures, while 1.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the Emmental along the right bank of the Emme river. It consists of the villages of Ober-Utzenstorf and Unter-Utzenstorf, 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 Schachen, Ei and Altwiden, Landshut Castle and other scattered farm houses. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Fraubrunnen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.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 vi ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

is ''Per pale Vert and Argent four Linden Leaves conjoined in saltire counterchanged.''

Demographics

Utzenstorf has a population () of . , 7.5% 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 11.6%. Migration accounted for 10.5%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.7%.
accessed 19 February 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 **Ge ...

(3,485 or 95.5%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (25 or 0.7%) and

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 ...

is the third (24 or 0.7%). There are 14 people who speak French and 1 person who speaks Romansh. , the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. The population was made up of 1,872 Swiss men (45.9% of the population) and 164 (4.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,904 Swiss women (46.7%) and 141 (3.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 1,186 or about 32.5% were born in Utzenstorf and lived there in 2000. There were 1,434 or 39.3% who were born in the same canton, while 584 or 16.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 303 or 8.3% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.7%. , there were 1,517 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,774 married individuals, 213 widows or widowers and 145 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 424 households that consist of only one person and 96 households with five or more people. , a total of 1,440 apartments (91.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 88 apartments (5.6%) were seasonally occupied and 41 apartments (2.6%) 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 2.7 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 3.82%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:3700 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:700 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:140 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:852 text:"852" bar:1850 from:start till:1651 text:"1,651" bar:1860 from:start till:1574 text:"1,574" bar:1870 from:start till:1649 text:"1,649" bar:1880 from:start till:1721 text:"1,721" bar:1888 from:start till:1747 text:"1,747" bar:1900 from:start till:1843 text:"1,843" bar:1910 from:start till:2018 text:"2,018" bar:1920 from:start till:2142 text:"2,142" bar:1930 from:start till:2183 text:"2,183" bar:1941 from:start till:2344 text:"2,344" bar:1950 from:start till:2527 text:"2,527" bar:1960 from:start till:2821 text:"2,821" bar:1970 from:start till:3193 text:"3,193" bar:1980 from:start till:3141 text:"3,141" bar:1990 from:start till:3356 text:"3,356" bar:2000 from:start till:3649 text:"3,649"

Heritage sites of national significance

The neolithic settlement at Bürglenhubel, the Gasthof Bären and Landshut Castle are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire area around Landshut Castle is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. File:SchlossLandshut.jpg , Landshut Castle File:Utzenstorf Baeren Nordostecke.jpg

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 32% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (20.9%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (19.4%) 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 ...

(6.8%). In the federal election, a total of 1,527 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 Univ ...

was 48.9%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Utzenstorf had an unemployment rate of 2.66%. , there were a total of 1,871 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 124 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 41 businesses involved in this sector. 823 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 47 businesses in this sector. 924 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 112 businesses in this sector. There were 1,982 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.8% of the workforce. there were a total of 1,609

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...

jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 85, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 785 of which 617 or (78.6%) were in manufacturing and 136 (17.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 739. In the tertiary sector; 267 or 36.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 115 or 15.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 60 or 8.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 28 or 3.8% were in the information industry, 18 or 2.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 50 or 6.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 38 or 5.1% were in education and 84 or 11.4% were in health care. , there were 991 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,184 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 15.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 48.5% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 397 or 10.9% 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 let ...

, while 2,769 or 75.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 18 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.49% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 127 individuals (or about 3.48% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 individuals (or about 0.08% of the population) who were

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 103 (or about 2.82% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 5 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 ...

, 9 individuals who were

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 ...

and 6 individuals who belonged to another church. 154 (or about 4.22% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 119 individuals (or about 3.26% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Utzenstorf about 1,522 or (41.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 399 or (10.9%) 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 ...

or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 399 who completed tertiary schooling, 74.7% were Swiss men, 19.3% were Swiss women, 4.8% were non-Swiss men and 1.3% were non-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 ce ...

, 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 trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

. During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 481 students attending classes in Utzenstorf. There were 3 kindergarten classes with a total of 70 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 5.7% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 18.6% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 15 primary classes and 285 students. Of the primary students, 7.0% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 10.5% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 7 lower secondary classes with a total of 126 students. There were 7.1% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 6.3% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 17 students in Utzenstorf who came from another municipality, while 118 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Notable residents

* Albert Bitzius (1797-1854) Swiss novelist, better known by his pen name

, lived in Utzenstorf as a boy. *

Jakob Steiner Jakob Steiner (18 March 1796 – 1 April 1863) was a Swiss mathematician who worked primarily in geometry. Life Steiner was born in the village of Utzenstorf, Canton of Bern. At 18, he became a pupil of Heinrich Pestalozzi and afterwards st ...

(1796-1863), Swiss mathematician, native.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern