Mühlethurnen is a former
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 in
Switzerland. On 1 January 2020 the former municipalities of
Kirchenthurnen,
Lohnstorf and Mühlethurnen merged to form the municipality of
Thurnen.
History
The first mention of the village is in the 14th century when the von Blankenburg family owned land in it and in neighboring
Kirchenthurnen. The family donated their lands and rights in 1343 and 1362 to
Interlaken Abbey
, order = Augustinians
, established = by 1133
, disestablished = 1528
, mother =
, dedication =
, diocese = Lausanne
, churches =
, founder = B ...
. In 1528,
Bern accepted the new faith of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
and forcefully secularized the Abbey and all its lands. The village became part of the district and
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 Thurnen.
The
Gürbe river correction projects from 1855 until 1911 drained the swampy valley floor and opened up additional farm land. In 1901 the Gürbetal railroad built a station in the municipality and connected it to the rest of the Swiss rail network. In the 1970s the population began to grow as Mühlethurnen became a regional center in the Gürbe valley. Today the residents work in agriculture, produce