Moutier () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Currently, the town belongs to the Jura bernois administrative district of the canton of

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. On 28 March 2021, the population voted to secede from the canton of Bern and join the

Canton of Jura The Republic and Canton of Jura (officially in ), less formally the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura ( ; ), is the newest (founded in 1979) of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital is Delémont. It shar ...

; the decision however is not immediately operative and entails a lengthy process of transfer of competences between cantonal authorities. It is currently the largest town in Jura bernois.

History

Moutier is first mentioned in 1154 in the phrase ''datum Monasterii''. In 1181, it was mentioned as ''apud Monasterium'' ('at the Abbey'). The German name for the town is ''Münster (BE)'', but it is not frequently used. The area was lightly settled even before the founding of

Moutier-Grandval Abbey Moutier-Grandval Abbey was a Benedictine abbey near the villages of Moutier and Grandval in today's Bernese Jura, Canton of Bern in Switzerland. It was founded around 640, when Grandval already existed; Moutier grew up around the abbey. Histor ...

around 640. Much of the early history of the village is closely connected with the Abbey. Between 1049 and 1150, the Abbey was granted a

stift The term (; ) is derived from the verb (to donate) and originally meant 'a donation'. Such donations usually comprised earning assets, originally landed estates with serfs defraying dues (originally often in kind) or with vassal tenants of noble ...

or land donation to support the

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

of canons. The stift allowed the Abbey to grow into a major landholder and a regional power. The village church of Saint-Pierre, which eventually became a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

, was probably built during the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

. In the 12th century, another monastery was founded in Moutier, but it was destroyed in a fire in 1269. In addition to the Church of Saint-Pierre, the

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

of Saint-Germain and Saint-Randoald was built in Moutier during the 12th century. Everything changed in Moutier after the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

was accepted by

in 1531. The Abbey closed and the college of canons relocated to

Delémont Delémont (; ; , ) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The city has approximately 12,000 inhabitants . History The area of the municipality was already settled in the middle Bronze Age. Fifteen urn burials have been discovered in the ...

. The church of Saint-Germain and Saint-Randoald was closed while the church of Saint-Pierre converted to the new faith and was expanded. A fire destroyed the church of Saint-Germain and Saint-Randoald in 1571 though in 1860–63 a

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

church was built on the site. The church of Saint-Pierre was demolished in 1873. Today Moutier has both German and French speaking churches. After the college of canons of the Abbey moved to Delémont, the Abbey's properties in and around Moutier fell under the

Prince-Bishop A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to '' Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the ...

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. The Bishop appointed a

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

to manage the Abbey's estates and around the end of the 16th century, built the Provost's Castle. The provost remained in Moutier until 1797. After the 1797 French victory and the

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The trea ...

, Moutier became part of the French

Département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

Mont-Terrible Mont-Terrible () was a department of the First French Republic, with its seat at Porrentruy. The Mont Terrible for which the department was named is now known as , a peak of near Courgenay (now in the canton of Jura, Switzerland). The toponym ...

. Three years later, in 1800, it became part of the Département of

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (); Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; , . is a department in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine; its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less pop ...

. After

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's defeat and the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, Moutier was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815. Two years later, in 1817, the Canton of Bern acquired the castle and used it as the seat of the district governor. During the 19th century and early 20th century, Moutier developed into a transportation hub. In 1876, a railway opened between

and Moutier. This first railroad was followed by a route to

Biel Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; German language, German: ''Biel'' ; French language, French: ''Bienne'' ; Bernese German, locally ; ; ; ) is a bilingual city in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. With over 55,000 residents, it is the ...

through the

Tavannes Tavannes is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Jura bernois (administrative district), Jura bernois administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French- ...

valley in 1877 and then to

Solothurn Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) 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 Weissenstein Jura mountains. The town is ...

in 1908. In 1915, the long Grenchenberg tunnel connected Moutier and

Grenchen Grenchen () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lebern (district), Lebern in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains betwee ...

. The extensive road and railroad network encouraged Moutier to industrialize, with three industries, glass-making, watchmaking, and automatic

lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the w ...

s, gaining international recognition for Moutier. In 1842, Célestin Châtelain founded the Verrerie de Moutier glass factory. They became the most important window glass manufacturer in Switzerland and by the 1970s produced 250 tons of glass per month to meet Swiss domestic demand. The conversion from glass rolling to

float glass Float glass is a sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal of a low melting point, typically tin, although lead was used for the process in the past. This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and a very flat surfa ...

spelled the end of the old Moutier glass factory, it closed in 1978. However, a subsidiary, Verres Industriels SA, had been created in 1955 and they began producing glass with the new process. Today, Verres Industriels employs about 200 people. Watchmaking first spread throughout the Jura region as a

cottage industry The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work, like a tailor. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the p ...

during the 19th century. In the late 19th century, the Grande Fabrique was built in Moutier and by 1880 employed about 500 workers. A number of watchmakers opened factories in the town, of which Léon Lévy & Frères and Louis Schwab were some of the largest. However, many of Moutier's independent watchmakers went bankrupt and were forced to close during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Those that survived this period were generally absorbed by

ETA SA ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse (ETA SA Swiss Watch Manufacturer) designs and manufactures quartz watches and both hand-wound and automatic-winding mechanical and movements. Commonly referred to as ETA, the company is headquartered in Grenc ...

in the 1950s. In 1883, Nicolas Junker founded the Junker & Cie company to manufacture automatic lathes with a moveable headstock. After a bankruptcy and several name changes the company became Usines Tornos, Fabrique de machines Moutier SA in 1918. In 1968, Tornos bought the Pétermann SA company to become Tornos Pétermann. They then merged in 1974 with Bechler SA to become Moutier Machines Holding, which became Tornos-Bechler SA in 1981. It was renamed to Tornos SA in 2001. Over its nearly a century in operation, Usines Tornos built workers' housing, provided jobs and vocational training and helped drive Moutier's growth. At its peak in 1974, the company employed about 3,000 people. Between 1980 and 2000, the company acquired and sold off several companies and reduced its headcount to about 1300 in 2001. In 2010, the company employed 855 people, including 655 in Moutier. In 1950, Moutier became a city and a number of construction projects followed. A swimming pool opened in that same year. In 1955 a second primary school opened along with a new building for the secondary school. A new train station opened in 1961. In 1962 the old secondary school was converted into a town hall. A primary school in Chantemerle opened in 1973 and a new district hospital was built in 1976. There are two museums in town, the villa Bechler with the Jurassic Museum of Arts and the villa Junker with the Museum of Automatic Lathes. Politically, the issue of

Jura separatism Jura separatism () is a regionalism (politics), regionalist Autonomism (political doctrine), autonomist movement in the Bernese Jura of Switzerland. The "Jura question" (; ) is the question of secession of the Jura region from canton of Bern, ...

is a major issue in Moutier. In 1974, a plebiscite voted to remain part of Bern by a margin of only 70 votes. This led to acts of vandalism on 16 March 1974 and on 7 September 1975 an armed standoff at the Hôtel de la Gare which was broken up by an elite team of Bernese police on the following day. Two other plebiscites also came down on the side of remaining in the Canton of Bern, including one in 1998 which passed with a thin majority of 41 votes. In 2013, a third plebiscite ended with the majority of residents choosing to remain in Bern, though a majority of residents of Moutier wanted to join Jura. On 18 June 2017, the municipality held a referendum, asking citizens 'Do you want the city of Moutier to belong to the Republic and Canton of Jura?' The result of the referendum was 51.7% of the citizenry voting in favour of Moutier joining the Canton of Jura. The vote has since been declared invalid. On 28 March 2021, a repeated referendum saw 54.9% of Moutier voters once again vote in favour of seceding from Bern to join Jura. The process was declared valid, and as such, the transfer process began and is expected to take around 5 years. A fourth district for Moutier will be created in the Canton of Jura once the transfer is complete. File:Picswiss BE-97-06 Le Château de Moutier (Préfecture et le Tribunal de district).jpg, Moutier Provost's Castle File:Grenchbergtunnel Nordportal 02 10.jpg, Grenchenberg tunnel File:ETH-BIB-Moutier v. W. aus 400 m-Inlandflüge-LBS MH01-006674.tif, Aerial view from 400 m by

Walter Mittelholzer Walter Mittelholzer (2 April 1894 – 9 May 1937) was a Swiss aviation pioneer. He was active as a pilot, photographer, travel writer, as well as of the first aviation entrepreneurs. Life Mittelholzer was born on 2 April 1894 in St. Gallen, th ...

(1931)

Geography

Moutier has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 29.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 55.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 13.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.9% is either rivers or lakes, and or 0.6% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 During the same year, industrial buildings made up 1.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.5%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.5% of the area. Out of the forested land, 52.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.7% is used for growing crops, 14.1% is used as pastures, and 11.6% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The area around Moutier is called the ''Prévôté''. It is a valley crossed by a river called the

Birs The Birs (French: ''Birse'') is a long river in Switzerland that flows through the Jura region and ends as a tributary to the Rhine between Basel and Birsfelden. It is the most important river of the Swiss Jura. Course The Birs has its sour ...

. It covers the area from

Court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

Gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

to Moutier Gorge and includes some scattered farm houses on the ''Montagne de Moutier'' (Moutier Mountain). On 31 December 2009, the District de Moutier, of which it was the capital, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois.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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Gules a Monastery Argent.''

Demographics

Moutier has a population () of . , 23.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001–2011) the population has changed at a rate of 0.2%. Migration accounted for 0%, while births and deaths accounted for −0.2%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 25 June 2013 Most of the population () speaks French (6,658 or 86.5%) as their first language,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

is the second most common (303 or 3.9%) and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

is the third (275 or 3.6%). There are 2 people who speak Romansh. , the population was 49.0% male and 51.0% female. The population was made up of 2,777 Swiss men (37.2% of the population) and 885 (11.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 2,940 Swiss women (39.4%) and 864 (11.6%) non-Swiss women.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 2,793 or about 36.3% were born in Moutier and lived there in 2000. There were 1,252 or 16.3% who were born in the same canton, while 1,808 or 23.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,605 or 20.8% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.6%. , there were 2,925 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 3,800 married individuals, 564 widows or widowers and 412 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 1,239 households that consist of only one person and 186 households with five or more people. , a total of 3,369 apartments (87.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 286 apartments (7.4%) were seasonally occupied and 198 apartments (5.1%) 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 0.9 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 3.59%. In 2011, single family homes made up 51.4% of the total housing in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:35 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:8800 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1800 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:360 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1500 from:start till:342 text:"342" bar:1850 from:start till:917 text:"917" bar:1860 from:start till:1570 text:"1,570" bar:1870 from:start till:1946 text:"1,946" bar:1880 from:start till:2111 text:"2,111" bar:1888 from:start till:2320 text:"2,320" bar:1900 from:start till:3088 text:"3,088" bar:1910 from:start till:4164 text:"4,164" bar:1920 from:start till:4631 text:"4,631" bar:1930 from:start till:4704 text:"4,704" bar:1941 from:start till:5165 text:"5,165" bar:1950 from:start till:5916 text:"5,916" bar:1960 from:start till:7472 text:"7,472" bar:1970 from:start till:8794 text:"8,794" bar:1980 from:start till:7959 text:"7,959" bar:1990 from:start till:7860 text:"7,860" bar:2000 from:start till:7701 text:"7,701"

Heritage sites of national significance

The chapel and cemetery De Chalière is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire urbanized village of Moutier is part of the

Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. Sites of national importance Types The types are based on t ...

Politics

In the 2011 federal election, the most popular party was the Social Democratic Party (SP) which received 23.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Swiss People's Party (SVP) (22.7%), the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP) (17.7%) and another local party (15.1%). In the federal election, a total of 1,898 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 38.2%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

The area has many factories that produce high-precision

machine tools A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. All ...

, particularly CNC &

CAD/CAM CAD/CAM refers to the integration of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Both of these require powerful computers. ''CAD'' software helps designers and draftsmen; ''CAM'' "reduces manpower costs" in the manufacturi ...

machining Machining is a manufacturing process where a desired shape or part is created using the controlled removal of material, most often metal, from a larger piece of raw material by cutting. Machining is a form of subtractive manufacturing, which util ...

centers, including Tornos Bechler SA & Schaublin Machines SA. , Moutier had an unemployment rate of 2.71%. , there were a total of 3,916 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 46 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 17 businesses involved in this sector. 2,121 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 114 businesses in this sector. 1,749 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 ...

, with 262 businesses in this sector. There were 3,845 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.4% of the workforce. there were a total of 3,437

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement 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 use ...

jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 33, of which 31 were in agriculture and 2 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2,022 of which 1,744 or (86.3%) were in manufacturing and 246 (12.2%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 1,382. In the tertiary sector; 306 or 22.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 53 or 3.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 74 or 5.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 17 or 1.2% were in the information industry, 56 or 4.1% were the insurance or financial industry, 127 or 9.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 102 or 7.4% were in education and 344 or 24.9% were in health care. , there were 2,315 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,241 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.9 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. A total of 2,603 workers (53.9% of the 4,825 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Moutier. About 4.0% of the workforce coming into Moutier are coming from outside Switzerland.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 13.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.9% used a private car. In 2011, the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Moutier making 150,000 CHF was 13.2%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 19.4%. For comparison, the rate for the entire canton in the same year, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide rate was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively. In 2009, there were a total of 3,307 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 929 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 39 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Moutier was 108,914 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF. In 2011, a total of 7.5% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

Religion

From the , 3,684 or 47.8% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 2,201 or 28.6% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 50 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.65% of the population), there were 11 individuals (or about 0.14% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 415 individuals (or about 5.39% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were three individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who were

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and 266 (or about 3.45% of the population) who were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. There were 15 individuals who were

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, two who were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and three individuals who belonged to another church. A total of 766 (9.95%) residents belonged to no church, were

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

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 ...

. Finally, 285 individuals (3.70%) did not answer the question. Moutier railway station

Transport

Moutier sits at the junction of three railway lines: Basel–Biel/Bienne, Solothurn–Moutier, and Sonceboz-Sombeval–Moutier. It is served by regional and long-distance trains at

Moutier Moutier () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Switzerland. Currently, the town belongs to the Jura bernois (administrative district), Jura bernois administrative district of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Ber ...

Climate

Between 1981 and 2010 Moutier had an average of 136 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

. The wettest month was May during which time Moutier received an average of of rain or snow. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 13.5 days. The driest month of the year was February with an average of of precipitation over 10.4 days., the Moutier weather station elevation is 579 meters above sea level.

Education

In Moutier about 48.6% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 14.8% have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Of the 721 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 61.4% were Swiss men, 22.9% were Swiss women, 8.6% were non-Swiss men and 7.1% 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 cen ...

, 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 potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

. During the 2011–12 school year, there were a total of 918 students attending classes in Moutier. There were 8 kindergarten classes with a total of 144 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 27.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 22.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 27 primary classes and 456 students. Of the primary students, 32.9% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 15.6% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 17 lower secondary classes with a total of 318 students. There were 29.2% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 27.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2011/12 pdf document
accessed 9 May 2013 , there were a total of 1,207 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 930 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 277 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 204 residents attended schools outside the municipality. Moutier is home to the ''Bibliothèque régionale'' library. The library has () 21,262 books or other media, and loaned out 50,805 items in the same year. It was open a total of 249 days with average of 17.3 hours per week during that year.
accessed 14 May 2010

Notable people

John Bost Jean Antoine Bost (March 4, 1817 in Moutier-Grandval, canton of Bern-1 November 1881) was a French-Swiss Calvinist pastor and musician. His father, Ami Bost, was also a pastor. He learned the piano with Franz Liszt. In 1840, he gave up his mu ...

(1817–1881) a Swiss Calvinist pastor, musician and social pioneer * Jean-Claude Wicky (1946–2016) photographer and filmmaker * Jean-Claude Schindelholz (born 1940) 1966 FIFA World Cup footballer *

Charles Kleiber Charles Kleiber (9 December 1942 – 13 January 2025) was a Swiss government official who served as a state secretary. Life and career Educated as an architect at EPFL (1968), he worked as a consultant in hospital architecture during the 1970s. ...

(born 1942) a former Swiss state secretary * Mauro Poggia (born 1959) a Swiss-Italian politician and lawyer * Romain Crevoisier (born 1965) a retired Swiss football goalkeeper * Sébastien Schneeberger (born 1973) a Canadian politician, emigrated aged 10 * Lionel Friedli (born 1975) a Swiss jazz percussionist *

Cyndie Allemann Cyndie Allemann (born 4 April 1986 in Moutier) is a Switzerland, Swiss racing driver. She is the daughter of former Swiss karting champion Kurt Allemann and the sister of fellow racing driver Ken Allemann. After beginning her career in Kart raci ...

(born 1986) a Swiss racing driver * Paul-Otto Bessire (1880-1958), historian

References

External links

Moutier Official WebsiteTornos Official WebsiteSchaublin Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Switzerland Municipalities of the canton of Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern