Oberwil bei Büren 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' ...
in the
Seeland administrative district in the
canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative divisions
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and entertainment
* Canton (band), an It ...
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 ...
in
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 ...
.
History
Oberwil bei Büren is first mentioned in 1236 as ''Oberwile''.
[
Various ]neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
, Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
and Roman
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 Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
items have been found around the municipality. During the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
it was part of the Strassberg ''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 ...
''. Between 1388 and 1393, the entire Strassberg lands were acquired by 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 ...
. Oberwil bei Büren became part of the newly created Bernese bailiwick
A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ.
In English, the original French combi ...
of Büren.[
The Church of St. Mauritius was first mentioned in 1275, but it stands on the foundations of earlier churches. The first was an ]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 to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of Europ ...
wooden church from the 7th or 8th century. The first brick church was built on the site in the 9th or 10th century. Four further churches were built before the choir
A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
was completely rebuilt in 1506-07. The most recent renovation of the church was in the 17th century.[
Throughout its history the village has remained a rural, agricultural place. Since there are very few jobs in the municipality about two-thirds of the working population commute. Many of which have very long commutes to Bern or ]Zurich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
.[
]
Geography
Oberwil bei Büren has an area of . Of this area, or 56.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 35.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 8.5% is settled (buildings or roads).[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.8%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 40.6% is used for growing crops and 14.6% is pastures.[
The municipality is located on the western side of the Bucheggberg plateau.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Büren, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Seeland.]
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 ''Azure a Harrow Or ringed Argent.''
Demographics
Oberwil bei Büren has a population () of . , 6.3% 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 6.1%. Migration accounted for 3.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 2.8%.
accessed 21-August-2012German
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 ...
(750 or 97.9%) as their first language, French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
is the second most common (7 or 0.9%) and Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
is the third (4 or 0.5%). and 1 person who speaks Romansh.[
, the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 370 Swiss men (46.3% of the population) and 31 (3.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 380 Swiss women (47.5%) and 19 (2.4%) non-Swiss women.][
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16%.][
, there were 294 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 390 married individuals, 47 widows or widowers and 35 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 84 households that consist of only one person and 17 households with five or more people. , a total of 310 apartments (93.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 9 apartments (2.7%) were seasonally occupied and 12 apartments (3.6%) 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 2.5 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.06%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Sights
The entire village of Oberwil bei Büren is designated as 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 SVP which received 40.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the BDP Party (26.7%), the SPS (10.1%) and the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
(5.6%). In the federal election, a total of 294 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 46.7%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Oberwil bei Büren had an unemployment rate of 0.67%. , there were a total of 198 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 73 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 24 businesses involved in this sector. 84 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 13 businesses in this sector. 41 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 19 businesses in this sector.[
there were a total of 159 ]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 50, of which 47 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 77 of which 57 or (74.0%) were in manufacturing, 13 or (16.9%) were in mining and 8 (10.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 32. In the tertiary sector; 5 or 15.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 10 or 31.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 4 or 12.5% were in education.
, there were 65 workers who commuted into the municipality and 330 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 8.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 61.3% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 35 or 4.6% 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 651 or 85.0% 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 2 individuals (or about 0.26% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 30 individuals (or about 3.92% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 8 (or about 1.04% of the population) who were Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. There were 3 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 ...
. 33 (or about 4.31% of the population) belonged to no church, are 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 ...
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 19 individuals (or about 2.48% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Oberwil bei Büren about 333 or (43.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education
Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education.
Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
, and 83 or (10.8%) 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 83 who completed tertiary schooling, 81.9% were Swiss men, 14.5% were 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 ...
.[Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document]
accessed 4 January 2012
, there was one student in Oberwil bei Büren who came from another municipality, while 28 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
Einwohnergemeinde Oberwil b. Büren
—Official site
Burgergemeinde Oberwil
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberwil Bei Buren
Municipalities of the canton of Bern