Brenzikofen 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
Bern-Mittelland administrative district in 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 ...
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
Brenzikofen is first mentioned in 1236 as ''Brenzichovin''.
[
During the ]Late Middle Ages
The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...
Interlaken Monastery
Interlaken Monastery ( or ) was a convent of the Augustinian Canons Regular () from about 1133 until 1528 at Interlaken in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
History
The provost of the Mon ...
owned much of the land in the village. The remainder of the land was owned by wealthy citizens of the towns 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 ...
and Thun
Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...
. During the Middle Ages, Diessenberg Castle was built on Bürglen hill above the village. Little is known about the castle and today only portions of the wall and ditch
A ditch is a small to moderate trench created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ...
are still visible. Bern gradually acquired more rights in the village over the following centuries. In 1528, Bern adopted 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 ...
and secularized Interlaken Monastery and all of its land holdings, including Brenzikofen. Beginning in 1652, it was part of the district of Thun. Following the 1798 French invasion, under the Helvetic Republic
The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...
it became part of the district of Konolfingen. It has always remained part of the parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Oberdiessbach
Oberdiessbach is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Bern-Mittelland (administrative district), Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 ...
.[
The village was part of a school district with Herbligen until 1834. The district was reestablished in 1973, when a new school house was built. In 1898, the Burgdorf-Thun railroad built a station in Brenzikofen. In 1983, the central Army Catering Headquarters was established and became the major employer in the village.][
]
Geography
Brenzikofen has an area of . Of this area, or 54.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 8.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.7%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 28.6% is used for growing crops and 20.0% is pastures, while 5.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.[
The municipality is located at the foot of the Falkenfluh peak, and stretches to the Rothachengraben. It includes the village of Brenzikofen and the village sections of Boden and Bälliz as well as scattered individual farm houses.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Konolfingen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Bern-Mittelland.]
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 Lion rampant Or holding in dexter above his head a Sword of the same.''
Demographics
Brenzikofen has a population () of . , 2.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -2.3%. Migration accounted for -3%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.6%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 22 April 2013
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 ...
(480 or 99.0%) as their first language, Danish is the second most common (2 or 0.4%) and English is the third (1 or 0.2%).[
, the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. The population was made up of 259 Swiss men (48.8% of the population) and 5 (0.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 261 Swiss women (49.2%) and 6 (1.1%) non-Swiss women.][Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 153 or about 31.5% were born in Brenzikofen and lived there in 2000. There were 258 or 53.2% who were born in the same canton, while 54 or 11.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 13 or 2.7% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 64.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.7%.][
, there were 216 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 227 married individuals, 24 widows or widowers and 18 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 55 households that consist of only one person and 18 households with five or more people. , a total of 184 apartments (90.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 13 apartments (6.4%) were seasonally occupied and 7 apartments (3.4%) were empty.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.72%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 39.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (18%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (10.8%) 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 ...
(7.1%). In the federal election, a total of 217 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 52.3%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Brenzikofen had an unemployment rate of 1.14%. , there were a total of 118 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 25 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 10 businesses involved in this sector. 12 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 4 businesses in this sector. 81 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 263 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.0% of the workforce.
there were a total of 83 ]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 16, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 10 of which 9 were in manufacturing and 1 was in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 57. In the tertiary sector; 11 or 19.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 3 or 5.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 6 or 10.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 3.5% were in the information industry, 3 or 5.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 7.0% were in education and 1 was in health care.
, there were 82 workers who commuted into the municipality and 199 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 13.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.4% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 416 or 85.8% 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 ...
, while 17 or 3.5% 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 ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 24 individuals (or about 4.95% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was 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 29 (or about 5.98% 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 10 individuals (or about 2.06% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Brenzikofen about 209 or (43.1%) 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 54 or (11.1%) 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 54 who completed tertiary schooling, 72.2% were Swiss men, 27.8% 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 were 4 students in Brenzikofen who came from another municipality, while 37 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
Transportation
The municipality has a railway station, , on the Burgdorf–Thun line. It has regular service to and .
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern