Alterswil

This article describes the municipality in the canton of Friborg; for other locations see Alterswil (definition of terms) .

Alterswil FR
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Freiburg (FR)
District :	Scythe
BFS no. :	2291
Postal code :	1715
Coordinates :	586 404  /  182633 coordinates: 46 ° 47 '41 "  N , 7 ° 15' 38"  O ; CH1903:  586404  /  182633
Height :	758  m above sea level M.
Height range :	616–905 m above sea level M.
Area :	16.14  km²
Residents:	2028 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	126 inhabitants per km²
Website:	www.alterswil.ch
Location of the municipality

Alterswil (in local dialect Auterschwüu [ ˌɑwtəɾʒ̊ˈʋyw ]; formerly also called Juchschrot ) is a street village and a political municipality in the Sense district of the Swiss canton of Friborg .

geography

Historic aerial photo by Werner Friedli from 1958

Alterwil Church

Alterswil lies at 758  m above sea level. M. , 8 km east of the canton capital Friborg (beeline). The street village stretches from a panoramic location on the northern slope of the Galternbach , in the undulating hilly landscape of the eastern Freiburg Central Plateau .

The area of ​​the 16.1 km² large municipal area comprises a section of the Molasse hill country between the river valleys of Saane and Sense . The southern municipal boundary runs along the Galtera , which flows in a valley that is slightly cut into the hill country. From here, the municipality extends north over the plateau and the gently rising slope from Alterswil to the heights of Äschberg (in Seliholz 805  m above sea level ) and Grossholz (up to 820  m above sea level ). Between these two heights is the Seligraben , a valley in the upper catchment area of ​​the Taverna . To the northwest of the Äschberg, the community ban extends to the edge above the steep slope of the Brunnenbergrain ( 783  m above sea level ).

The south-eastern part of the municipality includes the wide valley basin of the Fulbächli and extends over the clover wood to the height of Ober Maggenberg, which is 903  m above sea level. M. represents the highest elevation of Alterswil, as well as to the slopes below Brünisried. This highland slopes steeply to the east to the Sensegraben, a gorge cut deep into the molasse layers and difficult to access, which is flanked on both sides by striking sandstone rocks . In 1997, 6% of the municipal area was in settlements, 16% in forests and woodlands, 77% in agriculture and a little less than 1% was unproductive land.

In addition to the main village, Alterswil includes a number of hamlets, farm settlements and individual farms. The most important of these are (from northwest to southeast):

• Galteren, 700  m above sea level M. , on the southwest slope of the Äschberg, above the Galtern valley
• Seeli, 748  m above sea level M. , on the southwest slope of the Äschberg
• Muren, 758  m above sea level M. , on the southern slope of the Äschberg
• Wolgiswil, 717  m above sea level M. , on a knoll north of the Galtern valley
• Beniwil ( Bennenwil ), 750  m above sea level M. , on a knoll northwest of Alterswil
• Geriwil, 753  m above sea level M. , on the northern slope of the Galternbach, east of Alterswil
• Heimberg, 805  m above sea level M. , on a ledge north of the valley basin of the Fulbächli
• Hergarten, 835  m above sea level M. , at the height between Fulbächli and Sensegraben
• Ober Maggenberg, 899  m above sea level M. , on a meadow west of the Sense Trench
• Wengliswil, 804  m above sea level M. , on the eastern slope of the Galternbach
• Wilersgut, 846  m above sea level M. , at the height between Galterntal and Sensegraben

Neighboring communities of Alterswil are Plaffeien , Brünisried , Sankt Ursen , Tafers and Sankt Antoni on Freiburg soil and Schwarzenburg and Guggisberg in the canton of Bern .

population

With 2028 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018), Alterswil is one of the medium-sized communities in the canton of Friborg. 93.8% of the residents speak German, 2.6% speak Albanian and 2.3% speak French (as of 2000). The dialect spoken in the Sense District is called " Senslerdeutsch " and belongs to the Highest Alemannic . The population of Alterswil was 1002 inhabitants in 1850 and 1365 inhabitants in 1900. In the course of the 20th century the population fluctuated in the range between 1500 and 1660 inhabitants. Since 1980 (1538 inhabitants) a significant increase in population has been recorded.

economy

Alterwil was a predominantly agricultural village until the second half of the 20th century . The hydropower of the Galtera was previously used to operate mills and sawmills. In the 18th century, straw weaving was also widespread. Even today, dairy farming , cattle breeding , arable farming and fruit growing have an important place in the income structure of the population.

Numerous other jobs are available in local small businesses and in the service sector. Today, there are companies in the construction and transport industry, mechanical engineering (including agricultural equipment), horticulture and several carpentry and cheese factories based in Alterswil. The place has a kindergarten and a primary school . Further educational opportunities exist in Tafers (orientation school) and Freiburg (secondary schools and university). There is also an observatory in the village. In the last few decades, Alterswil has also developed into a residential community thanks to its attractive location. Many workers are therefore commuters who mainly work in the Friborg and Bern regions.

traffic

The community is very well developed in terms of transport. It is located on the main road from Düdingen to Plaffeien . Alterwil is connected to the public transport network by the Transports publics fribourgeois bus route , which runs from Freiburg via Tafers to Schwarzsee .

history

The earliest evidence of the presence of people in the municipality of Alterswil date from the Bronze Age . During the Roman era, there was a villa in what is now the hamlet of Heimberg. The first reliable documentary mention of the place as Vilar Altri comes from 1228; the assignment of a document Alterihcwilere from 1148 is uncertain. The place name consists of the basic word rom. Villar / ahd. Wîlâri and an Old High German personal name Alther , Altarich or similar.

Since the 12th century the village belonged to the territory of the Knights of Maggenberg and later came to the Velga family from Freiburg. Parts of today's municipality were owned by the Counts of Thierstein. The Cluniac priory in Rüeggisberg maintained a priory in Alterswil in the 13th century. In 1442 the village came under the rule of Freiburg through purchase and was assigned to the Old Landscape (Aupanner). The rights of the Rüeggisberg priory were also sold to Freiburg in 1486. From then on, Alterswil was administered by the parish of Tafers and formed the so-called Juchschrot , one of the four parishes of Tafers.

After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798), Alterswil belonged to the district of Freiburg during the Helvetic and the following period and from 1831 to the German district of Freiburg, before it was incorporated into the newly created Sense district in 1848 with the new cantonal constitution. It was not until 1831 that the Juchschrot was politically separated from the parish of Tafers. Since then, Alterswil has been an independent political municipality, and since 1894 it has also formed its own parish.

Attractions

See also : List of cultural assets in Alterswil

The parish church of St. Nicholas was built between 1872 and 1877 in the neo-Gothic style. A comprehensive restoration was carried out in 1978. Some characteristic farmhouses from the 17th to 19th centuries have been preserved in the town center and in the hamlets. From the former Maggenberg Castle on a ledge high above the Sensegraben, some remains of the keep are still visible.

Web links

Commons : Alterswil  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the municipality of Alterswil
• Jean-François Steiert : Alterswil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Aerial views of the village

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Permanent and non-permanent resident population by year, canton, district, municipality, population type and gender (permanent resident population). In: bfs. admin.ch . Federal Statistical Office (FSO), August 31, 2019, accessed on December 22, 2019 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} Andres Kristol: Alterswil FR (Sense) in: Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses - Lexicon of Swiss community names - Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS | LSG). Center de dialectologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld / Stuttgart / Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7193-1308-5 and Éditions Payot, Lausanne 2005, ISBN 2-601-03336-3 , p. 85.