Metzerlen-Mariastein 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 Dorneck in the canton 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 ...

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 ...

. The present name of the municipality dates from 2003, it being previously known as ''Metzerlen''. The nearby

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 ...

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 ...

is an important place of pilgrimage.

History

Metzerlen is first mentioned in 1194 as ''Mezherlon''. Until 2002 the official name was ''Metzerlen''.

Geography

Metzerlen-Mariastein has an area, , of . Of this area, or 47.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 45.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 7.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.1% 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 4.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.4%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 27.3% is used for growing crops and 14.7% is pastures, while 4.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the Dorneck district, at the north foot of the Blauen mountain in the upper Birsig and Leimen valleys. It consists of the S-shaped

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

of Metzerlen 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 Mariastein around the monastery.

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 ''Or a Fess Sable''.

Demographics

Metzerlen-Mariastein has a population () of . , 7.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 11%.
accessed 23-March-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 ...

(789 or 96.6%), with English being second most common (6 or 0.7%) and

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 third (5 or 0.6%). Of the population in the municipality 319 or about 39.0% were born in Metzerlen-Mariastein and lived there in 2000. There were 79 or 9.7% who were born in the same canton, while 309 or 37.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 89 or 10.9% were born outside of Switzerland. In there were 8 live births to Swiss citizens and were 8 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens remained the same while the foreign population remained the same. There were 3 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 4 non-Swiss men and 1 non-Swiss woman who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 21 and the non-Swiss population increased by 5 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 2.9%. , there were 340 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 409 married individuals, 31 widows or widowers and 37 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 317 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 81 households that consist of only one person and 25 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 328 households that answered this question, 24.7% were households made up of just one person and there were 1 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 113 married couples without children, 100 married couples with children There were 19 single parents with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up of unrelated people and 11 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 194 single family homes (or 71.9% of the total) out of a total of 270 inhabited buildings. There were 27 multi-family buildings (10.0%), along with 32 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (11.9%) and 17 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.3%). Of the single family homes 33 were built before 1919, while 45 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (42) were built between 1971 and 1980.Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 there were 325 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 98. There were 8 single room apartments and 155 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 303 apartments (93.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 13 apartments (4.0%) were seasonally occupied and 9 apartments (2.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.26%. 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:820 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1739 from:start till:290 text:"290" bar:1798 from:start till:339 text:"339" bar:1850 from:start till:482 text:"482" bar:1860 from:start till:484 text:"484" bar:1870 from:start till:541 text:"541" bar:1880 from:start till:519 text:"519" bar:1888 from:start till:487 text:"487" bar:1900 from:start till:522 text:"522" bar:1910 from:start till:545 text:"545" bar:1920 from:start till:570 text:"570" bar:1930 from:start till:581 text:"581" bar:1941 from:start till:589 text:"589" bar:1950 from:start till:619 text:"619" bar:1960 from:start till:610 text:"610" bar:1970 from:start till:661 text:"661" bar:1980 from:start till:720 text:"720" bar:1990 from:start till:743 text:"743" bar:2000 from:start till:817 text:"817"

Heritage sites of national significance

The

Mariastein Abbey with its library is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Metzerlen and the Mariastein Abbey site 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 ...

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 28.12% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (26.68%), the FDP (17.35%) and the SP (17.18%). In the federal election, a total of 344 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 49.7%.

Economy

, Metzerlen-Mariastein had an unemployment rate of 1.8%. , there were 63 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 21 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 7 businesses in this sector. 176 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 31 businesses in this sector. There were 448 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.9% 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 203. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 42, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 18 of which 4 or (22.2%) were in manufacturing and 14 (77.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 143. In the tertiary sector; 32 or 22.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 2.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 45 or 31.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 2.8% were in the information industry, 7 or 4.9% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 2.8% were in education and 3 or 2.1% were in health care. , there were 111 workers who commuted into the municipality and 314 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 19.8% of the workforce coming into Metzerlen-Mariastein are coming from outside Switzerland.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 19.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 54.5% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 541 or 66.2% 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 103 or 12.6% 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 5 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.61% of the population), and there were 7 individuals (or about 0.86% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 (or about 0.24% 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 FALSE4 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 8 individuals who belonged to another church. 127 (or about 15.54% 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 20 individuals (or about 2.45% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Metzerlen-Mariastein about 342 or (41.9%) 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 122 or (14.9%) 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 122 who completed tertiary schooling, 64.8% were Swiss men, 31.1% were Swiss women, 4.1% were non-Swiss men. During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 78 students in the Metzerlen-Mariastein 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 23 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 55 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 Metzerlen-Mariastein attend their school in a neighboring municipality.Canton of Solothurn - School statistics
accessed 13 March 2011 , there were 2 students in Metzerlen-Mariastein who came from another municipality, while 67 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

Official website

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