Beinwil, Solothurn
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Beinwil 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 district of Thierstein in
Canton of Solothurn The canton of Solothurn or canton of Soleure (; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn. History The village of ''Salodurum'' was founded in the time of t ...
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

Beinwil is first mentioned in 1147 as ''Benwilre''. In 1156, it was mentioned as ''Beinwilare''.


Geography

Beinwil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 43.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 54.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 1.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.4% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built-up area, housing and buildings made up 0.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, 50.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.4% is used for growing crops and 26.3% is pastures and 16.2% is used for alpine pastures. The municipality is located in the Thierstein district. It consists of scattered farm houses and small settlement clusters without a village center. It is divided into the regions of Unterbeinwil and Oberbeinwil.


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 ''Sable two Bones Argent in bend sinister.''


Demographics

Beinwil has a population () of . , 2.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010
From 1999 to 2009, the population has changed at a rate of -4.7%. It has changed at a rate of -5.7% due to migration and at a rate of 3.5% due to births and deaths.
accessed 9 April 2011
Most of the population () speaks
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 ...
(303 or 97.4%), with
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), ...
being second most common (3 or 1.0%) 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 ...
being third (3 or 1.0%). , the gender distribution of the population was 52.2% male and 47.8% female. The population was made up of 153 Swiss men (49.0% of the population) and 10 (3.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 143 Swiss women (45.8%) and 6 (1.9%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 171 or about 55.0% were born in Beinwil and lived there in 2000. There were 53 or 17.0% who were born in the same canton, while 72 or 23.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 13 or 4.2% were born outside of Switzerland. In there were 3 live births to Swiss citizens and were 2 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 1 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man who immigrated back to Switzerland and 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 3 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 4 people. This represents a
population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...
of -2.3%. The age distribution, , in Beinwil is: 25 children or 8.0% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 61 teenagers or 19.6% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 19 people or 6.1% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 86 people or 27.7% are between 25 and 44, and 87 people or 28.0% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 24 people or 7.7% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 9 people or 2.9% who are over 80. , there were 149 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 135 married individuals, 21 widows or widowers and 6 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 101 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.9 persons per household. There were 21 households that consist of only one person and 15 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 105 households that answered this question, 20.0% were households made up of just one person and there was 1 adult who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 19 married couples without children, 49 married couples with children There were 8 single parents with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up of unrelated people and 4 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 34 single family homes (or 35.4% of the total) out of a total of 96 inhabited buildings. There were 7 multi-family buildings (7.3%), along with 46 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (47.9%) and 9 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (9.4%). Of the single family homes 7 were built before 1919, while 3 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (10) were built between 1961 and 1970.Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011
there were 115 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 36. There were 2 single room apartments and 52 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 100 apartments (87.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 8 apartments (7.0%) were seasonally occupied and 7 apartments (6.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1080 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:510 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1739 from:start till:385 text:"385" bar:1804 from:start till:407 text:"407" bar:1850 from:start till:506 text:"506" bar:1860 from:start till:430 text:"430" bar:1870 from:start till:451 text:"451" bar:1880 from:start till:465 text:"465" bar:1888 from:start till:403 text:"403" bar:1900 from:start till:435 text:"435" bar:1910 from:start till:450 text:"450" bar:1920 from:start till:481 text:"481" bar:1930 from:start till:410 text:"410" bar:1941 from:start till:432 text:"432" bar:1950 from:start till:447 text:"447" bar:1960 from:start till:387 text:"387" bar:1970 from:start till:359 text:"359" bar:1980 from:start till:335 text:"335" bar:1990 from:start till:334 text:"334" bar:2000 from:start till:311 text:"311"


Heritage sites of national significance

The Former
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
Beinwil Abbey is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire site of Beinwil Abbey 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 ...
. The abbey was founded around 1100, probably by the local nobility. It was first mentioned in 1147. After conflicts arising from the territorial claims of the towns of
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 ...
and
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 ...
against the Counts of Thierstein, who acted as the abbey's ''
Vögte An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...
'' (lords protectors), it was burnt down in 1445. After Beinwil had been taken over by Solothurn in 1519, the town authorities impounded much of the abbey's possessions. By the 16th century, only a few monks were left in the abbey, and it was formally dissolved in 1554. A small community remained, the care of which was assumed firstly by
Einsiedeln Abbey Einsiedeln Abbey () is a Catholic monastery administered by the Benedictine Order in the village of Einsiedeln, Switzerland. The Abbey of Einsiedeln is one of the most important baroque monastic sites and the largest place of pilgrimage in Swit ...
, in 1589, and then, from 1622, by
Rheinau Abbey Rheinau Abbey (Kloster Rheinau) was a Benedictine monastery in Rheinau in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, founded in about 778 and suppressed in 1862. It is located on an island in the Rhine. History The foundation of the abbey, on a strategi ...
. As no monastic revival could be achieved due to the remote location, it was decided to re-settle the community at
Mariastein Abbey Mariastein Abbey (Kloster Mariastein) is a Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Metzerlen-Mariastein in the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. Mariastein, after Einsiedeln Abbey, Einsiedeln, is the second most important place of pilgri ...
, a new foundation in a pilgrimage center, which took place in 1648. In anticipation of this, Mariastein became a member of the
Swiss Congregation The Swiss Congregation of the Benedictine Confederation is a grouping of Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monasteries in Switzerland or with significant historical Swiss connections. Foundation The congregation was founded, at the urging of t ...
, now part of the
Benedictine Confederation The Benedictine Confederation of the Order of Saint Benedict () is the international governing body of the Order of Saint Benedict. Origin The Benedictine Confederation is a union of monastic congregations that nevertheless retain their own aut ...
. From Mariastein, at the end of the 18th century, it was at length possible to revive Beinwil, and at that time the church and the monastic premises were rebuilt. The abbey was however suppressed in 1874 by
plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...
during the ''
Kulturkampf In the history of Germany, the ''Kulturkampf'' (Cultural Struggle) was the seven-year political conflict (1871–1878) between the Catholic Church in Germany led by Pope Pius IX and the Kingdom of Prussia led by chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Th ...
'', and the community of Mariastein went into exile. The abbey church, dedicated to Saint
Vincent of Saragossa Vincent of Saragossa (also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon), the Protomartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zaragoza, Church of Saragossa. He is the patron saint of Lisbon, Algarve, a ...
, was destroyed by fire in 1978. It has now been comprehensively restored and a high altar has been installed, dated about 1700, from
Bellwald Bellwald is a municipality in the district of Goms in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Bellwald was first used to refer to the nearby mountain 1273 ''Beliwalt'' and 1293 ''Belwalt''. The name then came to mean the main village be ...
. The former abbey was used as an
ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...
conference and retreat center from 1982 until 2018. It is now an Orthodox Monastery.


Politics

In the 2007 federal election, the most popular party was the FDP, which received 48.03% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (29.38%), the SVP (13.51%) 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 ...
(6.08%). In the federal election, a total of 185 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 79.1%.


Economy

, Beinwil had an unemployment rate of 0.9%. , there were 100 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 37 businesses involved in this sector. Nine 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 3 businesses in this sector. Thirty-one 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 10 businesses in this sector. There were 153 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.6% of the workforce. the total number of
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 was 98. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 70, of which 66 were in agriculture and 5 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 8 of which 7 or (87.5%) were in manufacturing and 1 was in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 20. In the tertiary sector; 2 or 10.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 20.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 3 or 15.0% were in education and 6 or 30.0% were in health care. , there were 15 workers who commuted into the municipality and 76 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, 9.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 41.8% used a private car.


Religion

From the , 218 or 70.1% 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 65 or 20.9% 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 three members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.96% of the population). There was one individual who belonged to another church. Nineteen (or about 6.11% 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 five individuals (or about 1.61% of the population) did not answer the question.


Education

In Beinwil, about 104 or (33.4%) 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 25 or (8.0%) 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 25 who completed tertiary schooling, 68.0% were Swiss men, 24.0% were Swiss women. During the 2010–2011 school year, there were a total of 38 students in the Beinwil school system. The
education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...
in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years 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 ...
. During that school year, there were six children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality, there were 32 students in primary school. The
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Beinwil attend their school in a neighboring municipality.Canton of Solothurn – School statistics
accessed 13 March 2011
, there were 33 students from Beinwil who attended schools outside the municipality.


References


External links

*
Kloster Beinwil website
{{Authority control Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Solothurn