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Brienz ( , , ) is a village and
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 ...
on the northern shore of Lake Brienz, at the foot of the Brienzer Rothorn mountain, and in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. Besides the village of Brienz, the municipality includes the settlements of Kienholz and Axalp. Politically, the municipality is located in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district of the
canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...
.


History

The first settlements date from the
neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...
and
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
s. In the 5th century BC, the
Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
settled in the alpine valleys among the sources of the Rhone, the
Rhine The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...
and the
Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , ...
, eventually stretching from the headwaters down to Vienna and Belgrade. At the end of 1st century BC the Romans conquered this area. The Roman settlements were destroyed by the
Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pr ...
in 259/60. They eventually settled in the area around 450. In any case, evidence has been found for a settlement by the Alamanni in the 7th century. Brienz is first mentioned in 1146 as ''Briens''. In 1528, after an eventful history, Brienz became part of the Canton of Bern. Lake Brienz has probably been in use as a transport route since pre-history, but the first steamship was introduced in 1839, operating a route between Interlaken and Brienz. In 1888, the metre gauge
Brünig railway Brünig or Bruenig may refer to: * The Brünig Pass, between the Bernese Oberland and Central Switzerland * The Brünig railway line, linking Interlaken and Lucerne in Switzerland * Elizabeth Bruenig Elizabeth Bruenig (' Stoker; born December 6, ...
opened between Brienz and Alpnachstad, on
Lake Lucerne __NOTOC__ Lake Lucerne (german: Vierwaldstättersee, literally "Lake of the four forested settlements" (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), french: lac des Quatre-Cantons, it, lago dei Quattro Cantoni) is a lake in central ...
. Brienz therefore became, for a while, a transfer point on a hybrid ship and rail route from Interlaken to
Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...
. By 1916 the Brünig railway had been extended to Interlaken along the north shore of the lake, and Brienz found itself simply an intermediate stop on a through rail route.


Geography

The municipality of Brienz includes a number of communities along the upper end of Lake Brienz, and stretches into the neighboring mountains. It includes the village of Brienz on the right shore, the mouth of the Aare and the village of Kienholz to the north and the settlements of Engi and Schwendi on the left bank. Heading away from the right shore the land rises to the Rotschalp, Planalp and Giebelegg before reaching the Brienzer Rothorn (). Heading away from the left shore it rises over the Brienzerberg and Giessbach Falls, Tschingelfeld, Hinterburg and Axalp until it reaches the Schwarzhorn (). The
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
of Brienz includes Oberried am Brienzersee, Schwanden bei Brienz, Hofstetten bei Brienz and Brienzwiler. Brienz has an area of . Of this area, or 38.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 33.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 4.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.1% is either rivers or lakes and or 22.2% 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 2.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, 29.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 7.2% is pastures and 30.5% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.3% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 8.6% is unproductive vegetation and 13.3% is too rocky for vegetation. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Interlaken, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Interlaken-Oberhasli.
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 the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visua ...
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 it ...
is ''Per bend sinister wavy Azure and Argent overall a Lion rampant counterchanged langued and vilene Gules.''


Demographics

Brienz has a population () of . , 8.8% 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 1.5%. Migration accounted for 2.2%, while births and deaths accounted for -1.6%.
accessed 8 March 2013
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 **Ger ...
(2,746 or 92.9%) as their first language,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
is the second most common (38 or 1.3%) and Albanian is the third (38 or 1.3%). There are 19 people who speak Italian and 2 people who speak Romansh. , the population was 49.0% male and 51.0% female. The population was made up of 1,333 Swiss men (44.7% of the population) and 129 (4.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,385 Swiss women (46.5%) and 134 (4.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 1,298 or about 43.9% were born in Brienz and lived there in 2000. There were 759 or 25.7% who were born in the same canton, while 461 or 15.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 340 or 11.5% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 21.6%. , there were 1,169 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,457 married individuals, 203 widows or widowers and 127 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 444 households that consist of only one person and 93 households with five or more people. , a total of 1,226 apartments (65.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 516 apartments (27.5%) were seasonally occupied and 134 apartments (7.1%) 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 0.7%. 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:3000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:600 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:120 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:799 text:"799" bar:1850 from:start till:1789 text:"1,789" bar:1860 from:start till:2280 text:"2,280" bar:1870 from:start till:2606 text:"2,606" bar:1880 from:start till:2757 text:"2,757" bar:1888 from:start till:2535 text:"2,535" bar:1900 from:start till:2580 text:"2,580" bar:1910 from:start till:2514 text:"2,514" bar:1920 from:start till:2474 text:"2,474" bar:1930 from:start till:2525 text:"2,525" bar:1941 from:start till:2637 text:"2,637" bar:1950 from:start till:2861 text:"2,861" bar:1960 from:start till:2864 text:"2,864" bar:1970 from:start till:2796 text:"2,796" bar:1980 from:start till:2759 text:"2,759" bar:1990 from:start till:2849 text:"2,849" bar:2000 from:start till:2956 text:"2,956"


Points of interests

*During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
a lake promenade was built along the village and the lake shore. It is highlighted by flower beds, tree plantings, and offers views unencumbered by traffic. *Ride the Brienz Rothorn Bahn, a steam train up the Brienzer Rothorn. *The Ballenberg open-air museum of nearly 100 original century-old buildings from all over Switzerland *wood carvings * Giessbach Falls with the Giessbachbahn, the oldest
funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite e ...
in Europe


Heritage sites of national significance

The abandoned medieval and early modern alpine village of Axalp and the Giessbach Hotel Complex are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The urbanized village of Brienz and the Hotel Giessbach are both part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. The latter were used as filming location for the 2001 TV series, ' Band of Brothers'.


Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 30.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (16.8%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (12.9%) and the FDP.The Liberals (12.3%). In the federal election, a total of 1,153 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 50.7%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012


Economics

Tourism and woodcarving are the main activities. The Cantonal Woodcarving School established in 1862 is well-known and respected in the trade. The Swiss firm Lötscher makes the only genuine Swiss cuckoo clocks in existence today in Brienz. All of the initial steps involved in building these clocks are done in its woodworking facility in Brienz, the rest of the manufacturing process continues in Zurich where the timepieces are assembled, checked and adjusted. , Brienz had an unemployment rate of 1.72%. , there were a total of 1,627 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 125 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 41 businesses involved in this sector. 484 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 54 businesses in this sector. 1,018 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 154 businesses in this sector. There were 1,500 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.1% of the workforce. there were a total of 1,325
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. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 78, of which 63 were in agriculture and 14 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 438 of which 199 or (45.4%) were in manufacturing, 6 or (1.4%) were in mining and 226 (51.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 809. In the tertiary sector; 156 or 19.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 91 or 11.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 293 or 36.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 23 or 2.8% were in the information industry, 21 or 2.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 37 or 4.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 49 or 6.1% were in education and 63 or 7.8% were in health care. , there were 596 workers who commuted into the municipality and 509 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.2 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010
Of the working population, 11.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 45.9% used a private car.


Religion

From the , 425 or 14.4% 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 letter ...
, while 2,000 or 67.7% belonged to the
Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 32 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.08% of the population), there were 3 individuals (or about 0.10% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 286 individuals (or about 9.68% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 57 (or about 1.93% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 4 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 ...
, 14 individuals who were Hindu and 10 individuals who belonged to another church. 152 (or about 5.14% of the population) belonged to no church, are
agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficie ...
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 116 individuals (or about 3.92% of the population) did not answer the question.


Climate

Between 1981 and 2010 Brienz had an average of 138.4 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 under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hai ...
. The wettest month was July during which time Brienz received an average of of rain or snow. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 13.7 days. The month with the most days of precipitation was June, with an average of 14.3, but with only of rain or snow. The driest month of the year was February with an average of of precipitation over 9.4 days., the Brienz weather station elevation is 567 meters above sea level.


Education

In Brienz about 1,264 or (42.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory
upper secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...
, and 247 or (8.4%) 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. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
or a ''
Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied ar ...
''). Of the 247 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.3% were Swiss men, 19.0% were Swiss women, 4.9% were non-Swiss men and 4.9% 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 cent ...
, 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 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 363 students attending classes in Brienz. There were 3 kindergarten classes with a total of 43 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 9.3% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 7.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 9 primary classes and 177 students. Of the primary students, 6.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 9.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 8 lower secondary classes with a total of 143 students. There were 7.7% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 7.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012
, there were 59 students in Brienz who came from another municipality, while 51 residents attended schools outside the municipality.


Transport

Brienz railway station is the main public transport hub in the village. The station itself is served by trains on the Brünig line of the Zentralbahn railway company. Both InterRegio and Regio trains stop, combining to provide two trains per hour to Interlaken and Meiringen, and one train per hour to
Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...
.
Brienz West railway station Brienz West railway station is a Swiss railway station in the municipality of Brienz and the canton of Bern. Brienz West is a stop on the Brünig line, owned by the Zentralbahn, that operates between Interlaken and Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High ...
lies to the west of the village, but within the municipality, and is served only by the hourly Regio trains between Interlaken and Meiringen. The lower terminal station of the
Brienz–Rothorn rack railway The Brienz Rothorn Railway (, BRB) is a tourist rack railway in Switzerland, which climbs from Brienz, at the eastern end of Lake Brienz, to the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn. The railway is 7.6 kilometres (4.7 mi) long, is built to 800 ...
is located across the street from the main Brünig line station, and provides summer only service to the summit of Brienzer Rothorn mountain. Unusually for a Swiss railway, most trains are operated by
steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomo ...
. Also in summer only, a quay adjacent to Brienz railway station is also served by BLS AG shipping services, which operate on Lake Brienz serving various points between Interlaken and Brienz. One of these stops, which is also within the Brienz municipality, is at the lower station of the Giessbach Funicular, which gives access to the Giessbach Falls. Several PostBus Switzerland services connect Brienz village to other local places, and call at the forecourt of the main Brienz station. Amongst other destinations, buses link to the
Ballenberg open-air museum Ballenberg is an open-air museum in Switzerland that displays traditional buildings and architecture from all over the country. Located near Brienz in the municipality of Hofstetten bei Brienz, Canton of Bern, Ballenberg has over 100 original buil ...
.


Twin town — sister city

Brienz is
twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...
with: * Shimada, Shizuoka, Japan * Tryavna, Bulgaria


Notable people

* Oswald Wirth (1860–1943) occultist, artist and author; studied
esotericism Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...
and symbolism * Heinrich Federer (1866–1928), Catholic priest and writer *
Rosa Neuenschwander Rosa Neuenschwander (1883-1962) was a Swiss feminist who was a pioneer in vocational education and counseling. Biography Neuenschwander was born in Brienz, Switzerland, on 3 April 1883. She became the first vocational counselor in Bern. She was ...
(1883–1962), vocational education pioneer and feminist *
Fritz Abplanalp Fritz Abplanalp (1907–1977) was a Swiss woodcarver. Life Born in Brienz, Switzerland, at 18 years of age, after completing a three-year curriculum in woodcarving, he answered an advertisement to work on the interior of the Episcopalian Conv ...
(1907–1977) a Swiss woodcarver. *
Anita Studer Anita Studer (born February 26, 1944) is a Switzerland, Swiss-born accountant, ornithology, ornithologist, conservationist and ecologist. Ever since 1980, Anita has been actively engaged in saving a forest in northeastern Brazil. She was born in B ...
(born 1944) accountant, ornithologist, conservationist and ecologist; is saving a forest in northeastern Brazil. * Martina Schild (born 1981) alpine downhill skier, silver medallist at the 2006 Winter Olympics. * Ilira Gashi (born 1994), known as ''Ilira'', a Swiss singer and songwriter.


References


External links


Brienz website
*
Brienz wood carvings
{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern Lakeside resorts in Switzerland Populated places on Lake Brienz Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern