Kirchlindach 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 ...

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

The name ''Lindenacho'' (for Kirchlindach) first appeared in writing on 2 October 1185, when

Pope Lucius III Pope Lucius III ( – 25 November 1185), born Ubaldo Allucingoli, reigned as head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1181 to his death in 1185. Born to an aristocratic family in Lucca, prior to being elected p ...

affirmed legal possession of the area to Erlach in a

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

. A number of

Hallstatt Hallstatt () is a small town in the district of Gmunden District, 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 Sa ...

grave mounds, a

La Tène period LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

grave with jewelry and a stone bowl all indicate prehistoric settlements in the area. During the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

there was a Roman estate near Muri-Alchenmatte between Oberlindach and Buchsacker. 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 ...

the most important land owner was the Lords of Bremgarten. In 1185, they granted some of their land in Kirchlindach to St. Johannsen Abbey in Erlach. By 1300, the Lords of Bremgarten lost the remainder of their lands and wealthy families in

became the main land owners. The low court was usually administered by Bern through the court of Herrenschwanden while the high court for Kirchlindach was held in the district capital of Zollikofen. Kirchlindach was home to several large country estates that were built by Bernese

patricians The patricians (from ) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 B ...

. In the 12th or 13th century the stone late-Romanesque country estate of Heimenhaus was built in the village. In the 18th century Werdt Matthey bought the old estate and remodeled and expanded it. Nüchtern estate was built at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1891 it became a health resort and in the late 20th century, a social therapy center. Sacker estate was built in 1727 and is now a farm house. The village church of St. George was built around 1200 and was first mentioned in 1275. It was built above a couple of earlier,

high medieval The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

churches including an 8th-century wooden building and a stone building from the 9th or 10th century. The building was renovated and rebuilt several times during its history. The tower was rebuilt in the 13th century, followed by the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

in the 14th century. In 1766 the main hall of the church was renovated. The 14th- and 15th-century wall paintings were restored in 1907 and the entire building was renovated in 1978–79. Halen 020

During the Middle Ages, Kirchlindach, Niederlindach, Oberlindach, Jetzikofen, Heimenhaus and Herrenschwanden were all farming villages. Beginning in the 18th century, the local farms switched from growing grain for local consumption to producing hay, milk, vegetables and fruit for the weekly market in Bern. The village was located on the Bern-

Aarberg Aarberg is a List of towns in Switzerland, historic town and a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Seeland (administrative district), Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Aarberg lies from Bern abov ...

highway after 1467, when the Neubrücke (New Bridge) was built over the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to i ...

river. Starting in the 1950s, the population grew in the villages surrounding Bern. However, in Kirchlindach, the old village centers remained mostly intact and new construction happened in detached settlements. In Herrenschwanden several pioneering large housing developments were built between 1957 and the 1970s. These "Holistic Building" designs featured integrated offices, studios and gardens in a compact mixed residential and commercial development. The first project was Halen (built 1957–61) above the Halen bridge. This was followed in the 1970s by the Hostalen, Thalmatt (I-II) and Möslimatt projects. The area around Halen is both a Swiss heritage site of national significance and on 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 ...

. Between 1950 and 1980, the population doubled, as commuters moved into the municipality. Despite jobs in agriculture and light industry, the majority of workers in Kirchlindach now commute to Bern for work.

Geography

Kirchlindach has an area of . Of this area, or 66.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 23.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 8.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data . Retrieved 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.2%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 52.9% is used for growing crops and 12.5% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 0.6% is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located in 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 agg ...

of Bern, on a terrace on the slopes of the Schüpberg above the right bank of the

river. It consists of the villages of Kirchlindach, Oberlindach and Herrenschwanden as well as

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

and individual farm houses. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Bern, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Bern-Mittelland.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
. Retrieved 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 ''Argent a Bar Gules between three Linden Leaves Vert.''

Demographics

Kirchlindach has a population () of . , 5.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
. Retrieved 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 5.2%. Migration accounted for 4.8%, while births and deaths accounted for 1.4%.
. Retrieved 9 July 2012 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 ...

(2,538 or 92.8%) as their first language, French is the second most common (61 or 2.2%) and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

is the third (18 or 0.7%). There are 5 people who speak Romansh. , the population was 47.6% male and 52.4% female. The population was made up of 1,282 Swiss men (45.0% of the population) and 75 (2.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,398 Swiss women (49.1%) and 94 (3.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 576 or about 21.1% were born in Kirchlindach and lived there in 2000. There were 1,302 or 47.6% who were born in the same canton, while 518 or 18.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 265 or 9.7% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 18.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 21%. , there were 1,107 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,352 married individuals, 136 widows or widowers and 141 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
. Retrieved 2 February 2011 , there were 313 households that consist of only one person and 75 households with five or more people. , a total of 1,083 apartments (92.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 76 apartments (6.5%) were seasonally occupied and 15 apartments (1.3%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
. Retrieved 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.8 new units per 1000 residents. 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:3200 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:400 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:464 text:"464" bar:1850 from:start till:1002 text:"1,002" bar:1860 from:start till:1024 text:"1,024" bar:1870 from:start till:1097 text:"1,097" bar:1880 from:start till:1174 text:"1,174" bar:1888 from:start till:1085 text:"1,085" bar:1900 from:start till:1133 text:"1,133" bar:1910 from:start till:1035 text:"1,035" bar:1920 from:start till:1131 text:"1,131" bar:1930 from:start till:1076 text:"1,076" bar:1941 from:start till:1077 text:"1,077" bar:1950 from:start till:1130 text:"1,130" bar:1960 from:start till:1307 text:"1,307" bar:1970 from:start till:1704 text:"1,704" bar:1980 from:start till:2273 text:"2,273" bar:1990 from:start till:2628 text:"2,628" bar:2000 from:start till:2736 text:"2,736" bar:2018 from:start till:3158 text:"3,158"

Heritage sites of national significance

The Halenbrücke (Halen bridge, shared with Bern), the Neubrügg (New bridge, shared with Bern) and the Siedlung Halen (Halen settlement) are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire Siedlung Halen is part of the

. File:Halenbrücke.jpg , Halenbrücke (Bridge) File:Neubrügg.JPG , Neubrügg (Bridge) File:Halen im Dezember1a.jpg, Siedlung Halen in December

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 25.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (18.8%), the BDP Party (14.2%) and the FDP (13.1%). In the federal election, a total of 1,485 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 66.0%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
. Retrieved 8 May 2012

Economy

, Kirchlindach had an unemployment rate of 1.67%. , there were a total of 676 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 122 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 40 businesses involved in this sector. 76 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 14 businesses in this sector. 478 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 77 businesses in this sector. there were a total of 499

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 90, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 71 of which 49 or (69.0%) were in manufacturing and 22 (31.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 338. In the tertiary sector; 74 or 21.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 17 or 5.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 40 or 11.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 7 or 2.1% were in the information industry, 26 or 7.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 36 or 10.7% were in education and 104 or 30.8% were in health care. , there were 330 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,139 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.5 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
. Retrieved 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 33.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 42.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 414 or 15.1% 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 1,793 or 65.5% 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 8 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.29% of the population), there were 2 individuals (or about 0.07% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 172 individuals (or about 6.29% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 4 individuals (or about 0.15% of the population) who were

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 39 (or about 1.43% 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 5 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 ...

, 2 individuals who were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and 3 individuals who belonged to another church. 323 (or about 11.81% 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 ...

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 52 individuals (or about 1.90% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Kirchlindach about 1,123 or (41.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 632 or (23.1%) 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 632 who completed tertiary schooling, 68.4% were Swiss men, 25.3% were Swiss women, 4.1% were non-Swiss men and 2.2% 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 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 ...

. During the 2009–10 school year, there were a total of 180 students attending classes in Kirchlindach. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 47 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 2.1% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 6.4% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 7 primary classes and 133 students. Of the primary students, 2.3% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 2.3% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
. Retrieved 4 January 2012 , there were 20 students in Kirchlindach who came from another municipality, while 208 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Crime

In 2014 the crime rate, of the over 200 crimes listed in the

Swiss Criminal Code The Swiss Criminal Code (SR/RS 311, , , , ) is a portion of the third part (SR/RS 3) of the Swiss law, internal Swiss law ("Private law - Administration of civil justice - Enforcement") that regulates the criminal code in Switzerland. The orig ...

(running from murder, robbery and assault to accepting bribes and election fraud), in Kirchlindach was 15.2 per thousand residents. This rate is much lower than average, only 22.1% of the rate in the district, 25.9% of the cantonal rate and 23.5% of the average rate in the entire country. During the same period, the rate of drug crimes was 1.4 per thousand residents. This rate is lower than average, only 7.0% of the rate in the district, 10.4% of the rate in the canton and only 14.1% of the national rate. The rate of violations of immigration, visa and work permit laws was 1.4 per thousand residents. This rate is only 36.8% of the rate in the district, 42.4% of the rate in the canton and 28.6% of the rate for the entire country.Statistical Atlas of Switzerland
Retrieved 5 April 2016

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern