Meikirch 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 Bern-Mittelland in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

History

Meikirch is first mentioned in 1208 as ''Mönchilcha''. Evidence of prehistoric settlements in Meikirch include rich

Hallstatt Hallstatt ( , , ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammergut ...

sites in Grächwil and a

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 ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

estate with wall paintings in Meikirch. The modern village was first settled and owned by the Monastery of Frienisberg. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the village was owned by the Bernburg family of Bolligen. During the 16th century, it was owned by the hereditary Schultheiss family of

Aarberg Aarberg is a historic town and a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Aarberg lies 20 kilometers from Bern above the river Aare. With an area of , Aarberg borders Bargen, Kappelen, Lyss, Rad ...

, the Aebischers. In 1555 the Aebischer family sold the village to the city of Bern. The village church was first mentioned in 1275, but was built in the 7th and 8th century on top of the ruins of a Roman villa. Portions of the

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 ...

and medieval churches have been preserved in spite of later alterations. The church tower is from the 12th century. In 1528, after 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 in ...

, the church came under the authority of Bern. After the 1798 French invasion, it became part of the District of

Zollikofen Zollikofen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is a suburb of the city of Bern. It is home to the Swiss College of Agriculture (SHL). Geography Zollikofen has an area of . Of th ...

. Five years later, after the collapse of the Helvetic Republic, it was placed in the District of Aarberg. The municipality was on the old Bern-Frienisberg-Aarberg road and during the 18th and 19th centuries was part of the postal route between those towns. In 1851-52 a new road was built between Wohlen and Frieswil which bypassed Meikirch. The population began to decline after 1850 and the rate increased after World War I. During this time, the local farms changed from grain farming to cattle and dairy farming, which required fewer people and drove villagers away from Meikirch. The decline stopped with improved transport infrastructure, including the 1948

Postauto PostAuto Switzerland, PostBus Ltd. (known as in Swiss Standard German (), in Swiss French (), in Swiss Italian (), and in Romansh () is a subsidiary company of the Swiss Post, which provides regional and rural bus services throughout Sw ...

route to Bern. The population began to increase when, in 1960, a new road to Bern was completed. The old village houses were rebuilt and the new developments of Schützenrain, Weissenstein and Neu-Grächwil were built to provide housing for new residents. The Meikirch secondary school was founded in 1974.

Geography

Meikirch has an area, , of . Of this area, or 63.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 26.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 9.4% is settled (buildings or roads).Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2018 data accessed 26 July 2020 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.3%. Out of the forested land, nearly all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 47.5% is used for growing crops and 14.6% is pastures, while 1.8% is used for orchards or vine crops. The municipality is a distant part of the

agglomeration Agglomeration may refer to: * Urban agglomeration, in standard English * Megalopolis, in Chinese English, as defined in China's ''Standard for basic terminology of urban planning'' (GB/T 50280—98). Also known as " city cluster". * Economies of ag ...

of Bern on the south-eastern edge of the Frienisberg plateau. It consists of the villages of Meikirch, Ortschwaben (first mentioned in 1185 as ''Nortsuaben'') and Wahlendorf, 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 Grächwil, Weissenstein and Äzikofen as well as scattered farms.

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 ''Azure a Church Argent roofed Gules in chief sinister a Mullet of the second.'' The church (german: Kirche) makes this an example of

canting arms Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus. French heralds used the term (), as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial all ...

Demographics

Meikirch has a population () of . , 5.8% 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 -5.1%. Migration accounted for -4.9%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.9%.
accessed 8 May 2012 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 ...

(2,368 or 95.4%) as their first language, French is the second most common (24 or 1.0%) 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 (19 or 0.8%). , the population was 48.0% male and 52.0% female. The population was made up of 1,047 Swiss men (44.6% of the population) and 79 (3.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,162 Swiss women (49.6%) and 57 (2.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 631 or about 25.4% were born in Meikirch and lived there in 2000. There were 1,153 or 46.5% who were born in the same canton, while 445 or 17.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 196 or 7.9% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 18.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.3%. , there were 999 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,297 married individuals, 103 widows or widowers and 83 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 239 households that consist of only one person and 91 households with five or more people. , a total of 958 apartments (94.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 33 apartments (3.3%) were seasonally occupied and 21 apartments (2.1%) 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 1.3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 4.48%. 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:2500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:398 text:"398" bar:1850 from:start till:1059 text:"1,059" bar:1860 from:start till:1001 text:"1,001" bar:1870 from:start till:971 text:"971" bar:1880 from:start till:941 text:"941" bar:1888 from:start till:979 text:"979" bar:1900 from:start till:997 text:"997" bar:1910 from:start till:959 text:"959" bar:1920 from:start till:858 text:"858" bar:1930 from:start till:849 text:"849" bar:1941 from:start till:823 text:"823" bar:1950 from:start till:949 text:"949" bar:1960 from:start till:1031 text:"1,031" bar:1970 from:start till:1405 text:"1,405" bar:1980 from:start till:1911 text:"1,911" bar:1990 from:start till:2178 text:"2,178" bar:2000 from:start till:2482 text:"2,482"

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 24.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (17.7%), the BDP Party (16.5%) and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

(12.4%). In the federal election, a total of 1,173 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 62.0%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Meikirch had an unemployment rate of 1.47%. , there were a total of 492 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 87 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 29 businesses involved in this sector. 155 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 26 businesses in this sector. 250 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 53 businesses in this sector. the total number of

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 was 376. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 58, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 135 of which 20 or (14.8%) were in manufacturing and 116 (85.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 183. In the tertiary sector; 24 or 13.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 45 or 24.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 19 or 10.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 22 or 12.0% were in the information industry, 12 or 6.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 28 or 15.3% were in education and 9 or 4.9% were in health care. , there were 202 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,031 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, 31.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 47.9% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 314 or 12.7% 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 1,749 or 70.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 9 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.36% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 155 individuals (or about 6.24% 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 32 (or about 1.29% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 3 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 3 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 ...

. 217 (or about 8.74% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 73 individuals (or about 2.94% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Meikirch about 979 or (39.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 514 or (20.7%) 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 514 who completed tertiary schooling, 66.7% were Swiss men, 27.4% were Swiss women, 3.7% were non-Swiss men and 2.1% 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 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 2009–10 school year, there were a total of 214 students attending classes in Meikirch. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 35 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 11.4% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 11.4% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 6 primary classes and 93 students. Of the primary students, 7.5% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 5.4% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 4 lower secondary classes with a total of 81 students. There were 8.6% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 4.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2009/10 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 4 students in Meikirch who came from another municipality, while 149 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern