Lützelflüh 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 administrative district of

Emmental The Emmental (, ) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme and Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dairy farming. The ...

in the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

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 ...

History

Lützelflüh is first mentioned in 1225 as ''Lucelfluo''. The area around Lützelflüh was probably inhabited 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 ...

. However, only a single hoard of

coins A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

has been discovered, near the ruins of Brandis Castle. By the

High Middle Ages 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 ...

Lützelflüh and the surrounding area were home to several earthen strongholds, a

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

in the river valley and Brandis Castle, built around 1230. The

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

von Lützelflüh helped found

Trub Abbey Trub Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in the municipality of Trub in Bern Switzerland History In 1125 Thüring von Lützelflüh donated land around modern Trub to St. Blaise Abbey in the Black Forest to establish a monk's cell. A few ...

in 1125-1130, but nothing is known about the family's origin or the extent of their lands. The town of Lützelflüh developed out of this barons' seat. In 1230 the Freiherr of Brandis took the place of those of Lützelflüh and built themselves a castle between Lützelflüh and Rüegsau. In 1450, the Brandis' castle was sold to the nobility of

. It was then sold and inherited several times until it ended up in the hand of the city of Bern in 1607. The town then became a

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

of Bern. The last bailiff was Franz Ludwig May. On 14 April 1798, the castle burnt down and this was the end of the bailiwick of Brandis. The municipality Lützelflüh became part of the district Trachselwald. In 1881 the

railroad was built through the village, encouraging industry to settle in the municipality. A few years later, in 1886, the Emme river correction project reduced the risk of floods, built a major road through the valley and opened up additional farmland in Lützelflüh. The railroad and new Emmental road helped transform the village into a local industrial center. In 1898 an oat and barley mill opened, followed by metal and flooring factories as well as several cheese exporting firms. A civil defense training center also opened in the municipality. In 1831 the famous Swiss novelist Albert Bitzius, better known as

Jeremias Gotthelf Albert Bitzius (4 October 179722 October 1854) was a Swiss novelist, best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf. Biography Bitzius was born at Murten, where his father was pastor. The Bitzius family had once belonged to the Bernese patric ...

, settled in Lützelflüh as an assistant pastor. He later became 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 ...

priest and spent the remainder of his life in the municipality. Bitzius is buried in the local cemetery and a small Gotthelf museum opened in the village. In 1879 Lützelflüh and Goldbach built a secondary school.

Geography

Lützelflüh has an area of . As of the 2004/06 survey, a total of or 65.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 24.7% is forested. Of rest of the municipality or 9.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 27 August 2014 From the same survey, housing and buildings made up 4.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.3%. A total of 22.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 26.0% is used for growing crops and 37.2% is pasturage, while 2.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Lützelflüh lies in the lower

, right on the

Emme Emme may refer to: People: * Ivan Fyodorovich Emme (1763–1839), Russian lieutenant general in the Napoleonic Wars * Otto J. Emme, American politician and World War I veteran * Emme Gerhard (1872–1946), American photographer * Emme Rylan, Americ ...

between Langnau and Burgdorf. The Emme divides the village into the older part on the right shore and the younger part on the left shore. The exclaves Lauterbach and Oberried also belong to the municipality. The municipality is neighbored by

Rüegsau Rüegsau is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the Swiss canton of Bern. History Rüegsau is first mentioned in 1139 as ''Ruxow''. In 1229 it was mentioned as ''Ruchisowe''. The name comes from ''ruggere aue'', in mo ...

Sumiswald Sumiswald is a municipality in the district of the Emmental administrative district in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It is mostly known for being the manufacturing location of the Swiss railway clock. History Sumiswald is first me ...

Trachselwald Trachselwald is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Emmental (administrative district), Emmental in the Switzerland, Swiss cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern. History The name of t ...

Rüderswil Rüderswil is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Rüderswil is first mentioned in 1139 as ''Rüderswile''. The oldest trace of settlements in the area are three high medieva ...

, and

Hasle bei Burgdorf Hasle bei Burgdorf is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Emmental (administrative district), Emmental in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. History The settlement ...

. It consists of the villages of Lützelflüh, Ramsei and Grünenmatt, parts of the villages of Trachselwald, Goldbach and Ranflüh and the

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 ...

of Waldhus and Flüele and the

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

s of Oberried and Lauterbach. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Trachselwald, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
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 Bend wavy Argent and in a Chief of the first six Fir Trees Vert issuant from as many Mounts of the second.''

Demographics

Lützelflüh has a population () of . , 5.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Between the last 2 years (2010-2012) the population changed at a rate of -0.2%. Migration accounted for -0.7%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.3%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 5 December 2014 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 ...

(3,805 or 96.2%) as their first language,

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 second most common (35 or 0.9%) and

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

is the third (31 or 0.8%). There are 14 people who speak

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), ...

and 2 people who speak Romansh. , the population was 48.8% male and 51.2% female. The population was made up of 1,868 Swiss men (45.8% of the population) and 121 (3.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,991 Swiss women (48.8%) and 99 (2.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 1,408 or about 35.6% were born in Lützelflüh and lived there in 2000. There were 1,824 or 46.1% who were born in the same canton, while 366 or 9.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 243 or 6.1% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.5%. , there were 1,663 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,910 married individuals, 263 widows or widowers and 121 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 543 households that consist of only one person and 138 households with five or more people. , a total of 1,488 apartments (86.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 165 apartments (9.6%) were seasonally occupied and 69 apartments (4.0%) 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 7.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.4%. In 2012, single family homes made up 42.2% of the total housing in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:40 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:4100 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:800 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:160 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:1691 text:"1,691" bar:1850 from:start till:3433 text:"3,433" bar:1860 from:start till:3254 text:"3,254" bar:1870 from:start till:3336 text:"3,336" bar:1880 from:start till:3429 text:"3,429" bar:1888 from:start till:3413 text:"3,413" bar:1900 from:start till:3444 text:"3,444" bar:1910 from:start till:3644 text:"3,644" bar:1920 from:start till:3705 text:"3,705" bar:1930 from:start till:3764 text:"3,764" bar:1941 from:start till:3766 text:"3,766" bar:1950 from:start till:4042 text:"4,042" bar:1960 from:start till:3960 text:"3,960" bar:1970 from:start till:3842 text:"3,842" bar:1980 from:start till:3770 text:"3,770" bar:1990 from:start till:3826 text:"3,826" bar:2000 from:start till:3957 text:"3,957" bar:2010 from:start till:3990 text:"3,990"

Economy

, Lützelflüh had an unemployment rate of 2.24%. , there were a total of 1,674 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 366 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 127 businesses involved in this sector. 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 ...

employs 572 people and there were 56 businesses in this sector. 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 ...

employs 736 people, with 173 businesses in this sector. There were 2,072 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.5% of the workforce. there were a total of 1,216

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 249, of which 246 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 513 of which 242 or (47.2%) were in manufacturing, 8 or (1.6%) were in mining and 264 (51.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 454. In the tertiary sector; 118 or 26.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 46 or 10.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 49 or 10.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 13 or 2.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 28 or 6.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 44 or 9.7% were in education and 71 or 15.6% were in health care. , there were 620 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,262 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 809 workers (56.6% of the 1,429 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Lützelflüh.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 13.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 52.7% used a private car. In 2013 the average church, local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Lützelflüh making 150,000 CHF was 12.0%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 18.5%. For comparison, the median rate for all municipalities in the entire canton was 11.7% and 18.1%, while the nationwide median was 10.6% and 17.4% respectively. In 2011 there were a total of 1,500 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 379 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 10 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Lützelflüh was 110,188 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 136,785 CHF. In 2011 a total of 4.5% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

Heritage sites of national significance

The former mill at Mühlegasse 29 (now known as the Kulturmühle and used for concerts and events) and the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

at Rainbergliweg 2 are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire villages of Lützelflüh and Trachselwald and the

of Flüelen, Schufelbüel and Waldhaus are 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 ...

Main sights

*The church of Lützelflüh was built in 1505 and renovated in 1962. The graves of the ''3 poets of Lützelflüh'':

, Simon Gfeller and Emanuel Friedli are located on the south side of the church. *The Gotthelf-Museum named after the poet is located near the church.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 41.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (17.0%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (10.9%) and the Evangelical People's Party (EVP) (7.0%). In the federal election, a total of 1,503 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 47.7%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Religion

From the , 3,249 or 82.1% 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 215 or 5.4% 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 12 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.30% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 127 individuals (or about 3.21% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 42 (or about 1.06% of the population) who were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. There were 4 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 ...

, 50 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 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 150 (or about 3.79% 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 105 individuals (or about 2.65% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Lützelflüh about 57.5% 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 15.3% 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 361 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 74.0% were Swiss men, 23.0% were Swiss women, 1.4% were non-Swiss men and 1.7% 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 2012-13 school year, there were a total of 444 students attending classes in Lützelflüh. There were a total of 57 students in the German language kindergarten classes in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 10.5% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 8.8% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality's primary school had 243 students in German language classes. Of the primary students, 3.7% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 5.3% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, the lower secondary school had a total of 144 students. There were 5.6% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 6.3% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Datei der Gemeinde- und Schultabellen
accessed 23 July 2014 , there were a total of 390 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 296 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 94 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 305 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Tourism

Tourism in Lützelflüh is small but not unimportant. Several inns typical for the region offer rooms and it is also possible to vacation in the local farms.

References

External links

Official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lutzelfluh Municipalities of the canton of Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern