Vinelz 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 Seeland administrative district in the

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 ...

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

Vinelz is first mentioned in 1228 as ''Fenis''. The municipality was formerly known by its French name ''Fenil'', however, that name is no longer used. There were extensive

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

settlements along the shore of

Lake Biel __NOTOC__ Lake Biel or Lake Bienne (; ) is a lake in western Switzerland. Together with Lake Morat and Lake Neuchâtel, it is one of the three large lakes in the Jura region of Switzerland. It lies on the language boundary between German and F ...

, which stretch into Lüscherz. Inland an Early Bronze Age settlement has been discovered at Schattewil, while

Roman 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

settlements were found at Mieschzälg and Flachseren. During the Middle Ages it was part of the ''

Herrschaft The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...

'' of Erlach. In 1474 all the Erlach lands, including Vinelz, were acquired by

. Under Bernese rule it became part of the new

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 Erlach. In 1691, Emanuel Gaudard, a citizen of Bern, built the ''Landsitz'' (country manor house) Obere Budlei in the village. The village church of St. Mary's was first mentioned in 1228. It was probably founded by the

Counts of Fenis Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

, who ruled from the nearby Fenis or

Hasenburg Castle Asuel () is a village and a former municipality in the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in Switzerland. Since January 1, 2009 it is a part of the new municipality La Baroche La Baroche () is a municipalities of Switzerland, municip ...

. The church was decorated with

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s during the 14th century and rebuilt in 1484. Following the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

in 1528, the patronage rights over the church transferred to Bern. The Vinelz

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 ...

includes the nearby municipality of

Lüscherz Lüscherz is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Seeland (administrative district), Seeland administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. History Lüscherz is first menti ...

. In the 1960s new vacation and weekend homes changed the agricultural character of village. Restaurants, three campgrounds and a marina have changed Vinelz into a tourist center on Lake Biel.

Geography

Vinelz has an area of . Of this area, or 51.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 35.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 14.0% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.2% 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 9.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.8%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.5%. Out of the forested land, 34.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 39.8% is used for growing crops and 6.8% is pastures, while 5.0% is used for orchards or vine crops. The municipality is located on the right, upper end of

and stretches to the foot of Schaltenrain mountain. It consists of the village of Vinelz and the farm houses of Budlei. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Erlach, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Seeland.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 ''Azure a Sickle Argent bladed to sinister handled Or and a Ploughshare inverted of the second.''

Demographics

Vinelz 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 10.9%. Migration accounted for 10.9%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.3%.
accessed 15 November 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 ...

(677 or 92.1%) as their first language,

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), ...

is the second most common (39 or 5.3%) 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 (6 or 0.8%). , the population was 49.0% male and 51.0% female. The population was made up of 353 Swiss men (43.4% of the population) and 46 (5.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 389 Swiss women (47.8%) and 26 (3.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 208 or about 28.3% were born in Vinelz and lived there in 2000. There were 305 or 41.5% who were born in the same canton, while 142 or 19.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 68 or 9.3% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 21.9%. , there were 267 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 394 married individuals, 37 widows or widowers and 37 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 89 households that consist of only one person and 21 households with five or more people. , a total of 304 apartments (76.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 81 apartments (20.3%) were seasonally occupied and 14 apartments (3.5%) 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 1.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.83%. 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:740 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:236 text:"236" bar:1850 from:start till:580 text:"580" bar:1860 from:start till:546 text:"546" bar:1870 from:start till:500 text:"500" bar:1880 from:start till:447 text:"447" bar:1888 from:start till:434 text:"434" bar:1900 from:start till:462 text:"462" bar:1910 from:start till:430 text:"430" bar:1920 from:start till:411 text:"411" bar:1930 from:start till:413 text:"413" bar:1941 from:start till:393 text:"393" bar:1950 from:start till:418 text:"418" bar:1960 from:start till:445 text:"445" bar:1970 from:start till:433 text:"433" bar:1980 from:start till:530 text:"530" bar:1990 from:start till:629 text:"629" bar:2000 from:start till:735 text:"735"

World heritage site

It is home to the Strandboden prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlement that is part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

.UNESCO World Heritage Site - Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
/ref> The Standboden site was extensively occupied during the

period. Tree ring analysis has found settlements from 3160 BC, 2850 BC, 2820 BC, 2750-2690 BC and 2660-2620 BC. Strandboden and the nearby Ländti site were discovered and first excavated by E. von Fellenberg and V. Gross in 1881/82. The site was also explored in 1937, 1960, 1980, 1985/86 and 2005. One of the most interesting discoveries was a disc wheel from 2750 BC.

Heritage sites of national significance

HMB Bronzehalskette Vinelz Jungsteinzeit 2700 BC

The ''Ländti'', a Neolithic and

lakeshore settlement is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Vinelz is 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 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 28.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (25.4%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (14.5%) and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

(8.8%). In the federal election, a total of 336 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 53.9%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Vinelz had an unemployment rate of 1.46%. , there were a total of 140 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 40 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 42 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 8 businesses in this sector. 58 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 23 businesses in this sector. There were 407 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 45.7% of the workforce. there were a total of 107

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 29, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 39 of which 3 or (7.7%) were in manufacturing and 37 (94.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 39. In the tertiary sector; 8 or 20.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 5.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 7 or 17.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 7 or 17.9% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 10.3% were in education. , there were 65 workers who commuted into the municipality and 288 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 61.4% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 88 or 12.0% 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 578 or 78.6% 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 13 individuals (or about 1.77% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 7 (or about 0.95% 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. 49 (or about 6.67% 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 6 individuals (or about 0.82% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Vinelz about 318 or (43.3%) 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 121 or (16.5%) 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 121 who completed tertiary schooling, 66.9% were Swiss men, 25.6% were Swiss women, 4.1% were non-Swiss men. 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 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 64 students attending classes in Vinelz. There were no kindergarten classes in the municipality. The municipality had 3 primary classes and 64 students. Of the primary students, 4.7% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 9.4% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 18 students in Vinelz who came from another municipality, while 50 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern Populated places on Lake Biel Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern