Büren on the Aare

Büren on the Aare
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Bern (BE)
Administrative district :	Zealand
BFS no. :	0383
Postal code :	3294
Coordinates :	594 971  /  220 987 coordinates: 47 ° 8 '23 "  N , 7 ° 22' 20"  O ; CH1903:  five hundred ninety-four thousand nine hundred seventy-one  /  220987
Height :	435  m above sea level M.
Height range :	426–597 m above sea level M.
Area :	12.60  km²
Residents:	3583 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	284 inhabitants per km²
Mayor :	Rolf Wälti ( FDP )
Website:	www.bueren.ch
Wooden bridge
Location of the municipality

Büren an der Aare (French: Buron sur Aar ) is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland .

geography

Büren an der Aare is - as the name suggests - on the Aare river , around 15 kilometers east of Biel / Bienne and 20 kilometers west of Solothurn . The community now extends north and south of the river, with the old town on the right south bank.

The river crossing is formed by a wooden bridge, which connects the municipality of Lengnau to the north with Hauptstrasse 22 (Solothurn – Lyss), which runs south of the Aare through Büren. Since 2002 the bridge has also served as a feeder to the Lengnau motorway junction .

In the northwest, the municipality includes the area in a former loop of the Aare with the nature reserve in Häftli, with the Häftli observation tower , and in the northeast an area on the left side of the river. It borders on Meienried , Safnern , Meinisberg , Rüti bei Büren , Lengnau BE , Grenchen, Oberwil bei Büren , Schnottwil , Diessbach bei Büren and Dotzigen .

The highest point of the municipality is located in the southwest on a mountain 596  m above sea level. M. The Bürener speak of Stedtiberg , while for the residents of Dotzigen it is the Dotzigenberg .

history

Aerial photo, Walter Mittelholzer (1932)

See also : List of mayors from Büren

Büren was founded in the 12th century by the barons of Strassberg . The first documentary mention goes back to the year 1185. In 1260 the place received city rights, which were confirmed again in 1288.

Thanks to its convenient location, Büren quickly became an important location as a crossing over the Aare. The historic core ( Stedtli) , which still exists today, was gradually built. In 1375, the last Count of Nidau , Rudolf IV, died in Büren an der Aare while defending the city against the Guglers . With his inheritance, the area on the Aare passed to the Counts of Kyburg . In 1388 Bern conquered the place.

The Rütithor was removed in the 1840s and the Dotzigenthörlein followed in 1906 . In 1911 the previously independent municipality of Reiben merged with Büren an der Aare.

In 1921 and 1925, two city fires led to the last major redesign of the historic townscape.

Büren wooden bridge

A wooden bridge has been connecting historic Büren with the district of Reiben north of the Aare since the 13th century. Since then, the wooden structure has been destroyed eight times by floods, ice or fire. Among other things by the Bernese troops when the French invaded in 1798. It was rebuilt in 1821.

In the course of the Jurassic conflict , Büren, as the capital of the then still existing administrative district of Büren, was the scene several times. In November 1987, alleged Béliers carried out an arson attack on the wooden bridge, which however failed.

Another arson attack led to the complete destruction of the bridge on April 5, 1989. Shortly after 4 a.m. the historic river crossing was in full fire. In order to delay the fire brigade, the locks in the fire brigade magazine were glued with glue by strangers. 150 emergency services from Büren and the surrounding communities fought the full fire, but were ultimately only able to save the soil structure, so that shortly after the fire at least a pedestrian walkway could be built over the destroyed bridge. The arsonists were never caught, but due to the similarity to the attack in 1987 they are most likely also part of the Béliers . In 1991 the new building, the ninth bridge, was opened to traffic.

Internment camp Büren a. A.

See also : Internment camp Büren an der Aare

During the Second World War , from 1940 to 1946, Büren an der Aare was the largest internment camp in Switzerland, which was set up as a result of the German occupation of southern France for members of a Polish division of the 45th French Army Corps. The Büren an der Aare internment camp was designed for 5,000 to 6,000 inmates. The Aare flowed around it on all sides and was out of the town.

The camp with its 120 barracks, a commandant's office, camp offices, material magazines as well as accommodations for the guard and care personnel was surrounded by a barbed wire fence and machine-gun-equipped watch towers. After March 1942, the camp was no longer needed for interning military personnel. The Swiss army later looked after Jewish refugees, Italian military refugees and escaped Soviet forced laborers.

Pilgrimage Church of Oberbüren

In Oberbüren, a part of the municipality of Büren, there was a pilgrimage church in the Middle Ages . It was a so-called sanctuaires à répit , a resurrection shrine . Stillborn children were "brought to life" by warming just long enough to be baptized. This arose from the necessity of baptism for salvation . After the Reformation the Marian shrine was abolished, the church demolished and in 1534 the pilgrimage was violently suppressed.

population

Population development
year	1764	1850	1880	1900	1930	1950	1980	1990	2000
Residents	579	1419	1643	1963	2119	2171	2761	3125	3077

politics

In addition to the political community, there is also a civic community in Büren . Families who have lived in the area for generations include the Stotzer, Sutter, Kocher, Kuster, Maeschi, Witschi, Gribi, Chiti, Schmalz and Scheurer. 15% of all eligible voters in the political community are also citizens of Büren an der Aare.

A community meeting is held regularly in Büren .

Büren an der Aare is recorded in the electoral archive of the Canton of Bern together with the municipality of Meienried .

The voting shares of the parties in the 2019 National Council election were: SVP 33.7%, SP 12.8%, BDP 10.9%, FDP 9.4%, glp 12.0%, GPS 9.5%, EPP 5.2 %, CVP 0.7%, EDU 1.3%, DU 0.8%.

traffic

Street

Büren is located on Hauptstrasse 22 , which bypasses the historic core to the south. The Grenchen motorway connection can be reached via this.

From the historic center, connecting roads lead over the wooden bridge to Lengnau and to the Lengnau motorway exit of the A 5 .

Public transport

Büren an der Aare is on the Lyss – Solothurn railway line . In 1994, rail traffic was discontinued on the Büren an der Aare – Solothurn section and replaced by bus services. Since then, there has been a terminus station in Büren an der Aare , from which trains depart every hour in the direction of Busswil and Lyss , with connections to Biel / Bienne and Bern .

Since 1952, Büren an der Aare has also been connected to Solothurn and Biel by a shipping line.

Attractions

See also : List of cultural assets in Büren an der Aare

Büren has a well-preserved old town. The city fortifications were almost completely demolished in the 19th and 20th centuries. The former castle of the Bernese bailiffs, today the seat of the district administration, is located on Hauptgasse.

The covered wooden bridge over the Aare, built in 1821, was rebuilt in 1991 after an arson attack in 1989.

The Reformed Church (city church) is important.

In Büren an der Aare there is a grain mill built in 1684.

Impressions

• 

  City Church

• 

  lock

• 

  Hauptgasse

• 

  dig

• 

  The old wooden bridge in its original condition

• 

  Landti

• 

  Old Mill

regional customs

Büre-Nöijoor on 1st / 2nd January: a custom that is over 400 years old and constantly changing, one of the first carnivals in Switzerland with a “ Chesslete ” and a costumed parade of the “young boys”; on January 2nd, the figure of «Nimmerselig», symbol of winter, is burned on the market square.

Personalities

• Hans Beutler (1913–1994), artist, came from Büren and helped save Jews from the Holocaust in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon during the war .
• Ronald Kocher (* 1929), the painter, graphic artist, sculptor and non-fiction author was born in Büren.
• Markus Raetz (1941–2020), painter, sculptor and photographer. Raetz grew up in Büren in an art-friendly family. Even as a schoolboy he assisted the local artist Peter Travaglini during the holidays. Raetz is one of the most renowned Swiss contemporary artists.
• Peter Travaglini (1913–1994), painter, sculptor, sculptor and graphic artist. From the early 1970s he was President of the Old Town Commission Büren an der Aare for 20 years and worked as a restorer. In 1991 he was also responsible for the redesign of the wooden bridge and the color plan of the old town facades in Büren from 1975. In 2019, Travaglini-Platz was inaugurated in his honor with two of his granite sculptures at the train station in Büren an der Aare.

literature

• Hornerblätter , the Association for Home Care Büren, ZDB -ID 2363985-4 .
• Max Gribi: Büren on the Aare. Small town in Zealand. Haupt, Bern 1988, ISBN 3-258-03963-1 ( Berner Heimatbücher 138).

Web links

Commons : Büren an der Aare  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Büren in the Topographia Helvetiae, Rhaetiae et Valesiae (Matthäus Merian)  - sources and full texts

• Official website of the municipality of Büren an der Aare
• swisstopo aerial photo from 3 July 1937 of Büren an der Aare
• Anne-Marie Dubler : Büren on the Aare. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Kathrin Utz Tremp : Oberbüren (BE). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Permanent resident population from STAT-TAB of the BfS , municipalities see also regional portraits 2020 on bfs.admin.ch, accessed on May 29, 2020
2. ^ Ernst Theodor Gaupp : German city rights in the Middle Ages, with legal-historical explanations . Second volume, Breslau 1852, p. 116, online.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Zeisiger, A .: The Red Rooster in Büren a / A . In: Leaves for Bernese history, art and antiquity . tape 21 , no. 3 . Bern 1925.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Grenchner Stadt-Anzeiger: The bridge with seven lives. Retrieved April 18, 2019 . 
5. ^ Aare bridge, Büren an der Aare (BE) | Swiss Timber Bridges. Retrieved April 18, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Valérie Wacker, Valérie Wacker: 28 years ago today: the bridge in Büren an der Aare burned down. Swiss Radio and Television SRF, April 5, 2017, accessed on April 18, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Kathrin Utz Tremp : Oberbüren (BE). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
8. ↑ Results of the municipality of Büren and Meienried. State Chancellery of the Canton of Bern, October 20, 2019, accessed on August 5, 2020 . 
9. ↑ Felix Ackermann, Walter E. Meyer: The city church Büren on the Aare. Swiss Art Guide Series 97, No. 964, Ed. Society for Swiss Art History , Bern 2015