Hitzkirch

Hitzkirch is a municipality in the district of Hochdorf in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, Gelfingen, Hämikon, Mosen, Müswangen, Retschwil and Sulz joined Hitzkirch. On 1 January 2021, Altwis merged into Hitzkirch.

History

Hitzkirch is first mentioned in 1230 as ''Hiltschilche''.

Altwis

Altwis is first mentioned in 1113 as ''Altwise''.

Geography

Hitzkirchis is located in the Seetal valley, at the foot of the Lindenberg mountain.

After the 2021 merger, Hitzkirch has an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey), of . Of this area, 66% is used for agricultural purposes, while 14% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 19.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.3%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). , 23.76% of the total land area was forested. Of the agricultural land, 59.83% is used for farming or pastures, while 7.31% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the settled areas, 4.79% is covered with buildings, 0.41% is industrial, 0.28% is classed as special developments, 0.24% is parks or greenbelts and 3.05% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.08% is unproductive standing water (ponds or lakes), 0.12% is unproductive flowing water (rivers) and 0.12% is other unproductive land.

On 21 May 2006 an attempt to merge the Hitzkirch and the surrounding 10 municipalities failed, when five of the eleven voted against the merger. A less ambitious merger was then proposed and accepted, with the municipalities of Gelfingen, Hämikon, Mosen, Müswangen, Retschwil and Sulz joining Hitzkirch.

Demographics

Hitzkirch has a population (as of ) of . , 18.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. The combined municipality has a population of 4,588 of which 11.6% are foreign. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 3.7%. Most of the population () speaks German (87.8%), with Albanian being second most common ( 4.3%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 3.3%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the CVP which received 34.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (24.6%), the FDP (21.3%) and the SPS (11.2%).

The age distribution in Hitzkirch is; 1,282 people or 27.7% of the population is 0–19 years old. 1,116 people or 24.1% are 20–39 years old, and 1,673 people or 36.1% are 40–64 years old. The senior population distribution is 421 people or 9.1% are 65–79 years old, 120 or 2.6% are 80–89 years old and 22 people or 0.5% of the population are 90+ years old.LUSTAT Lucerne Cantonal Statistics
accessed 12 August 2009

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Hitzkirch about 68.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''Fachhochschule'').

there are 1,503 households, of which 347 households (or about 23.1%) contain only a single individual. 228 or about 15.2% are large households, with at least five members. there were 958 inhabited buildings in the municipality, of which 751 were built only as housing, and 207 were mixed use buildings. There were 589 single family homes, 92 double family homes, and 70 multi-family homes in the municipality. Most homes were either two (462) or three (200) story structures. There were only 47 single story buildings and 42 four or more story buildings.

Hitzkirch has an unemployment rate of 1.79%. , there were 44 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 786 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 28 businesses in this sector. 680 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 76 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 18-Aug-2009 50.9% of the population of the municipality were employed in some capacity. At the same time, females made up 42% of the workforce.

the religious membership of Hitzkirch was; 3,347 (74.6%) were Roman Catholic, and 448 (10.%) were Protestant, with an additional 83 (1.85%) that were of some other Christian faith. There are 1 individuals (0.02% of the population) who are Jewish. There are 234 individuals (5.22% of the population) who are Muslim. Of the rest; there were 43 (0.96%) individuals who belong to another religion, 192 (4.28%) who do not belong to any organized religion, 139 (3.1%) who did not answer the question.Updated statistics
accessed 18 August 2009.

Historic Population

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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id:AL value:blue legend:Altwis
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bar:1678 from: 0 till:413 text:"413" color:HI
bar:1798 from: 0 till:632 text:"632" color:HI
bar:1850 from: 0 till:766 text:"766" color:HI
bar:1860 from: 0 till:686 text:"686" color:HI
bar:1870 from: 0 till:779 text:"779" color:HI
bar:1880 from: 0 till:743 text:"743" color:HI
bar:1888 from: 0 till:720 text:"720" color:HI
bar:1900 from: 0 till:738 text:"738" color:HI
bar:1910 from: 0 till:819 text:"819" color:HI
bar:1920 from: 0 till:782 text:"782" color:HI
bar:1930 from: 0 till:857 text:"857" color:HI
bar:1941 from: 0 till:919 text:"919" color:HI
bar:1950 from: 0 till:1000 text:"1000" color:HI
bar:1960 from: 0 till:1173 text:"1173" color:HI
bar:1970 from: 0 till:1468 text:"1468" color:HI
bar:1980 from: 0 till:1648 text:"1648" color:HI
bar:1990 from: 0 till:2044 text:"2044" color:HI
bar:2000 from: 0 till:2293 text:"2293" color:HI
bar:2010 from: 0 till:4691 text:"4691" color:HI
bar:1850 from: 766 till:1138 text:"372" color:AL
bar:1860 from: 686 till:1089 text:"403" color:AL
bar:1870 from: 779 till:1201 text:"422" color:AL
bar:1880 from: 743 till:1147 text:"404" color:AL
bar:1888 from: 720 till:1093 text:"373" color:AL
bar:1900 from: 738 till:1087 text:"349" color:AL
bar:1910 from: 819 till:1123 text:"304" color:AL
bar:1920 from: 782 till:1079 text:"297" color:AL
bar:1930 from: 857 till:1161 text:"304" color:AL
bar:1941 from: 919 till:1239 text:"320" color:AL
bar:1950 from: 1000 till:1350 text:"350" color:AL
bar:1960 from: 1173 till:1477 text:"304" color:AL
bar:1970 from: 1468 till:1763 text:"295" color:AL
bar:1980 from: 1648 till:1957 text:"309" color:AL
bar:1990 from: 2044 till:2394 text:"350" color:AL
bar:2000 from: 2293 till:2647 text:"354" color:AL
bar:2010 from: 4691 till:5074 text:"383" color:AL

World heritage site

It is home to the Seematte prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements that is part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site.UNESCO World Heritage Site - Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
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Seematte was the site of a number of Neolithic settlements from the Cortaillod, Pfyn, Horgen and Corded Ware cultures. The site covers a strip about long along the northern end of Lake Baldegg. First discovered in 1860, it was excavated again in 1871 and 1922 and about were excavated in 1938. During that excavation, two Cortaillod layers, the bottom was thick while the top was , were discovered. A number of ceramic, stone, flint, bone and antler items were found.palafittes.org nomination documents
accessed 14 August 2011

References

External links

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{{Authority control

Municipalities of the canton of Lucerne