Bettlach SO

SO is the abbreviation for the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and is used to avoid confusion with other entries of the name Bettlach .

Bed laugh
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Solothurn (SO)
District :	Livers
BFS no. :	2543
Postal code :	2544
Coordinates :	598 968  /  228136 coordinates: 47 ° 12 '15 "  N , 7 ° 25' 30"  O ; CH1903:  598968  /  228136
Height :	479  m above sea level M.
Height range :	426–1395 m above sea level M.
Area :	12.19  km²
Residents:	4911 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	403 inhabitants per km²
Website:	www.bettlach.ch
Bettlach from the north with the Aare in the background
Location of the municipality

Bettlach (in the local dialect Bettlä ; French Bâche ) is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland . Bettlach consists of the districts Bettlach Dorf, Allmend, Ried, Büelen, Witi, Bischmatt, Zelg, Bruech, Tannlimatt, Ischlag, Kastels, Burg, Bettlachberg and Bettlachstock.

geography

Bettlach is 489 m above sea level. M., 2.5 km east of the district capital Grenchen and 8 km west of Solothurn (linear distance). The village stretches along the foot of the Jura east of Giglerbachs , on the edge of Aareniederung and on a glacial moraine , in the Solothurn Central Plateau .

The area of ​​the 12.2 km² municipal area comprises a section of the southern slopes of the Solothurn Jura . The southern border runs along the winding course of the Aare (428 meters above sea level). From here, the municipality extends northwards over the up to 2 km wide and intensely agriculturally used Aareniederung ( Witi ) to the Jura slope. At the foot of the Jura is the Büelen hill , on the slope of which the town center is located. This hill, which continues towards Solothurn, consists of moraine rubble that was deposited here by the Ice Age Rhone glacier during a prolonged stagnation in the retreat phase.

The southern slope of the Jura is relatively gently sloping in its lower section near Bettlach and covered with meadows. Above about 650 m above sea level. M. begins the steep forest slope, which is crisscrossed by rocks in various places. The area extends to the Wandflue , the landmark of Bettlach, on the 1399 m above sea level. M. the highest elevation of the community is reached. The rock edge of the Wandflue was given its shape by a large rock fall, which occurred when the Rhone Glacier retreated at the end of the last Ice Age , after the slope-stabilizing effect of the ice mass was no longer present. At the foot of the slope, in the western part of the municipality, a cone of rubble formed, which was modulated by the erosion of the Giglerbach.

The municipal area includes the entire catchment area of ​​the Giglerbach, which rises in the Bettlachberg basin on the slopes of the Wandflue and the Bettlachstockes (1299 m above sea level) to the south . In the northwest the area extends to the heights of the Grenchenberg on the anticline of the first Jura chain. The eastern border runs for long stretches along the Brügglibach , a left tributary of the Aare. In 1997, 12% of the municipal area was in settlements, 39% in forests and woodlands, 47% in agriculture and just over 2% was unproductive land. Of the 12.193 km² municipal area, 0.2 km² are flowing water (primarily the Aare) and only 0.002 km² are standing water (Erlimoosweiher on the border with Selzach).

Bettlach includes the Allmend settlement (approx. 570 m above sea level) on the slope above the village as well as various individual farms in the Witi.

population

Population development
year	Residents
1181	~ 100
1430	~ 190
1666	338
1788	517
1850	596
1900	935
1910	1477
1930	1912
1950	2061
1960	2796
1970	4046
1980	3851
1990	4114
2000	4721
2010	4864
2011	4816
2012	4850

The first information about the population in Bettlach can be found in the same document in which the village was mentioned for the first time in 1181. Later, old land registers allow many conclusions. It also records the ownership and taxes of various properties. In addition to the oldest families in Bettlach, you can also find long-forgotten field names.

Between 1900 and 1910, Bettlach was at the top of the Swiss population statistics. During this time the village was able to record the highest percentage growth rate of inhabitants. This was the result of the good economic situation and the emerging watch factories in the community.

Another marked increase was seen during the 1960s, before the clock crisis of the 1970s resulted in a slight population decline. Since 1990 the population has increased again, which is due to the construction of new residential areas. The settlement area of ​​Bettlach has now merged seamlessly with that of Grenchen in the area of ​​Diebold-Schilling-Strasse and Jurastrasse.

With currently 4,850 inhabitants spread over 2,254 households, Bettlach is one of the medium-sized communities in the canton of Solothurn. Of these 4,850 people, 773 are of foreign origin. With regard to the languages ​​used, the 2000 census showed the following picture: 88.3% spoke German, 3.2% Italian, 1.7% French and 1.3% Serbian or Croatian.

economy

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Bettlach was a village dominated by agriculture . The water power of the Giglerbach has been used to operate sawmills since the 16th century. From around 1890, the place experienced rapid industrialization through the establishment of several watch factories. Numerous jobs were lost due to the crisis in the watch industry in 1973. In the period that followed, there was a strong diversification of the industry, which had previously concentrated almost exclusively on the watch industry and suppliers.

Today Bettlach offers around 2000 jobs. With 5% of the workforce who are still employed in the primary sector, agriculture only has a minor role in the employment structure of the population. Around 69% of the workforce is employed in the industrial sector, while the service sector accounts for 26% of the workforce (as of 2001).

The primary sector focuses on arable farming , vegetable growing and fruit growing in the Aare plain as well as on animal husbandry and forestry in the upper parts of the municipality. The larger industrial and commercial areas of Bettlach extend along the main road from Solothurn to Grenchen and near the train station. The most important employer in the community today is Mathys AG, which specializes in the manufacture of surgical implants. The former watch industry lives on in the production of quartz watches. There are also numerous small and medium-sized companies in the fields of mechanical engineering, metal construction, construction, electronics, horticulture, cabinet making, measurement technology and mechanical workshops.

Thanks to its attractive location, the village has also developed into a residential community in recent decades. Extensive new residential quarters have been built since 1980 on the slope west of the old town center and the Giglerbach, so that the former meadow between Bettlach and Grenchen is largely built over today. Above the village square, in the Allmend and also on the Büelen, numerous new buildings in the form of one and two-family houses have been built in recent years. In addition, several new apartment blocks are being built on Dorfstrasse and Bahnhofstrasse. In addition to numerous commuters, many workers are commuters who work mainly in Grenchen, but also in the Solothurn and Biel regions.

Bettlach, industry, railway line

traffic

The community is very well developed in terms of transport. It is located on the old main road T5 from Solothurn to Biel . The next connection to the A5 motorway , which was opened in 2002 and relieved the village of through traffic, is around 5 km from the town center.

On June 1, 1857, the railway line from Solothurn to Biel was put into operation. However, the Bettlach train station was not set up until 1906. In 1970/71 a new station building was built. However, this was dismantled 30 years later. The village is connected to the SBB network by regional trains that run every half hour to Biel and Solothurn every day.

The village is also connected to the bus network by several bus routes operated by the Grenchen and environs . The larger train stations in Grenchen with direct connections to Basel , Geneva and Zurich can also be reached by public transport. The bus network has been steadily expanded in recent years. Since 2010, a total of four bus routes have been running every day and one bus route from Bettlach to Grenchen late at night. Since December 2005, an urban line has also been connecting Bettlach station with the northern part of the municipality of Allmend. The offer of this line was changed several times in the early years. The line is currently used 18 times by minibus on a working day. On Friday / Saturday and Saturday / Sunday nights, Moonliner buses run between Solothurn and Biel with a stop in Bettlach.

history

Glaciation

In the last great ice age, the Rhone glacier advanced through the Aare valley to the Solothurn region. The Bettlacher Büelenhügel is the last memory of this time. The former lateral moraine of the glacier rises in the village center east of the community center. In the late glacial period (10,000–9,000 BC) the Rhone glacier slowly retreated as a result of global warming. The Jura elevation lacked the supportive hold of the glacier in the area between the Grenchner Vorberg and the Bettlachstock. The result: The unstable limestone began to slide and caused a massive landslide . The landslide, one of the major landslides in Switzerland, created the landmark Bettlachs, the Wandfluh, with its demolition point . All the rubble of the fall is today's gentle elevation between the Hofacher and the Aare, which can be seen particularly well from the air. On it are parts of the city of Grenchen and Bettlach.

Interesting for hikers is the so-called insight into prehistoric times , with various information stands distributed throughout the canton. Two of these boards with text and images are also in the Bettlacher municipality near the Berghof "Bützen" (approx. 15 minutes east of the Untergrenchenberg restaurant) and at the upper entrance to the Engloch, directly on the crest of the Wandflue (approx. 25 minutes on the Grenchenberg pass road from the Untergrenchenberg restaurant). The first information stand deals with the glaciation of the Solothurn Aare valley and the latter with the large Jura Sea, from whose seabed the Jura Mountains later formed.

First evidence of settlement

Bettlach was inhabited very early. Traces of settlement that belong to the Bronze Age (1050–750 BC) were found in the municipality. About 100 BC BC Celts settled in the Bettlach region, coming from southern Germany. This Celtic tribe, called the Helvetians, broke in 58 BC. Continued to Gaul. After the Battle of Bibracte, however, the Roman governor Julius Caesar forced them to return to Switzerland. In the same period of time, the Romans occupied Switzerland from the south.

Paetiliacum

A large manor named Paetiliacum (Court of Paetilius), which was excavated west of the Protestant church, testifies to the subsequent presence of the Romans in Bettlach. A second manor on the eastern Büelenhügel is also suspected to this day. However, its existence is unclear.

The Bettlach municipality crossed two Roman roads between Petinesca (Studen b. Biel / Bienne) and Salodurum (Solothurn), one of them via the so-called "Römerbrüggli" in Bettlacher Witi.

For several centuries, the majority of the Celtic-Roman population lived in peace on the southern slopes of the Jura. In AD 260 the Alemanni invaded the region. The Roman estate of Bettlach was probably destroyed during this time.

How Betelacho became Bettlach

In 1181 Bettlach is mentioned for the first time in an official document under the name Betelacho . In addition to information about the neighboring municipality of Selzach, there is also an area for Betelacho in the above document. We are talking about 70 Jucharten (25.2 hectares). Compared to the current area of ​​the village (12.2 km²) it is only a fraction. Tracing back to tree finds in the Witi, it can be assumed that the Bettlacher Forest then extended much further into the Aare plain than it does today. Only after clearing was there a tree-free area for agricultural use. Eight huts are also mentioned in this document. This suggests that our village had around a hundred inhabitants.

In 1214 Bettlach is mentioned again under the name Betelahe . The name of a villager appears for the first time in this parchment. His name was Burkhard von Bettlach (Burcardus de Betelahe).

In 1279 and 1329 Bettlach is mentioned again with Bettelage or Betlach . There are no further references or conclusions to the village in these two documents.

Bettlach often changed his affiliation. After the Grenchen family died out, the Counts of Strassberg inherited the land. Politically, the village belonged in 1309 together with Selzach and the seat of the Grenchner lords, Grenchen Castle, to the Altreu dominion . At the same time it was ecclesiastically Grenchen, and thus subordinated to the rule of Büren. The place of jurisdiction was Selzach. After numerous other changes of ownership and partitions, the Solothurn citizen Rudolf Sefried sold the Altreu estate to the city of Solothurn for 1400 guilders in 1389 because of money problems. Bettlach came to the city of Solothurn and the place of jurisdiction also changed to today's canton capital.

industrialization

Historical aerial photo from a height of 300 m by Walter Mittelholzer from 1925

After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798), Bettlach belonged to the Solothurn administrative district during the Helvetic and from 1803 to the Lebern district. As early as the 18th century, a few small clock workshops were set up in the village. The actual economic boom began in 1890 with the establishment of several watch factories, which were also connected to the watch industry in neighboring Grenchen. Around 1900 the population increased rapidly and factory houses were built for the workers.

During the Second World War

The outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939 took the population by surprise. The German attack on Poland was unexpected for all of Switzerland. After a first orientation of the students about the incidents in the north, the schools were temporarily closed. With the mobilization of the entire army on the following day, September 2, 1939, many residents of Bettlachs also had to enter.

The new war situation caused the establishment of the local defenses , which could be called up in an emergency. Bettlach recruited 62 men who were armed with rifles from the 1889 generation . The task was to monitor the railway tracks between Grenchen and Selzach and to control the corridors, as the theft of vegetables increased.

Between November 1940 and September 1944 the whole village had to be darkened. No more social events took place during this time. Food and fuel also became scarce, so a car ban was introduced.

In order to produce more food, the community was instructed to expand the acreage. This arrangement also fell victim to the old soccer field east of the St. Urs and Viktor inn, which had to give way to a potato field.

Bettlach was not directly affected by the war. However, units of the cavalry or infantry were often quartered in the village. Towards the end of the Second World War, Allied bombers also flew over Bettlach on their way to Italian armaments centers.

When the end of the war was announced on May 8, 1945, the factories in the village closed out of joy and the village priest let the church bells ring.

Attractions

Catholic Church of Saint Clement

See also : List of cultural assets in Bettlach

building

The Catholic Church of St. Klemenz was built in an exposed concrete design between 1965 and 1969 according to plans by the architect Walter Maria Förderer . Sponsors built eight churches in this design. The St. Klemenz Church, a listed building since 2011, stands in the same place as its predecessor, right next to the parish hall. A Klemenz chapel at the same location was first mentioned in documents as early as 1359. The church was extensively renovated in 2013.

The reformed St. Mark's Church dates from 1959. It has a free-standing, white bell tower. The Markuskirche was designed by the architect Kleiber. The colored glass windows of the building come from Max Brunner.

The Zänteschür , mentioned among other things in the years 1608, 1611 and 1740, was renovated by the Zänteschür-Verein from 1977 to 1980 and made accessible to the public. Formerly used as a barn for the so-called tithing, the Zänteschür is now a common room with a kitchen that can be rented for a wide variety of occasions. In the periods between the Bettle Festival , which takes place every three years, the Zänteschürfest takes place.

To the north of the building is a wayside cross from 1638.

There are three storehouses nearby: The Stellihofspycher , at the kindergarten of the same name, dates from 1687 and belonged to the Stellihof . Adam-Spycher from 1714, located fifty meters north-west, belongs to the Adamhaus , which, built in 1771, is now the second oldest residential building in Bettlach and has been used for cultural exhibitions since its renovation in 2006. There is also a warehouse belonging to the Bätzischopf ("Restaurant Marti").

hikes

Wandflue, in the foreground the Bettlachberg restaurant

Yard on the bed salmon

In addition to several interesting buildings, Bettlach also offers excellent hiking trails in summer and winter. All of these trails are marked white-red-white. At practically every junction there is a yellow hiking trail sign with information on the place, direction and time. First you have to get from the shooting range in Bettlach either via Hofacher-Weiden or Bettlachbergstrasse to the mountain restaurant Bettlachberg (approx. 60 minutes). From there, paths lead in all directions to the Obergrenchenberg, the Bütze, the Bettlachstock or Brüggli.

Some beautiful hiking trails above Bettlach are described here:

• The Bettleschloss , officially the Grenchen ruin, is located above the village on a rock in front of the mountain restaurant Bettlachberg. Despite the geographical affiliation to Bettlach, the castle is mostly called Grenchnerburg. This can be traced back to the Lords of Grenchen, who lived in the castle all their lives. After the gentlemen left the castle, the wooden part of the complex rotted away for a long time. It is possible that the castle was partially destroyed in the Basel earthquake . The final fate was sealed by the council in Solothurn in 1583 when it decided to build a prison tower in Grenchen. The stones from the burgstalls for burg ob Bettlach were allowed to be used as building material . Therefore, only the remains of the wall have survived until today. Nevertheless, a hike from Bettlach through the pastureland "Hofacher" to Schlossfluh is worthwhile, because the ruins offer an excellent view of the Aare valley, the Emmental and the Alps. The ascent on foot is signposted and takes about 55 minutes from the shooting range.
• Another attraction is the Wandflue . As described above, it is the real symbol of bed salmon. It is around 50 meters high. From the Bettlachberg you can walk up the narrow hole (made of stone and artificial stairs). This path is only recommended for sure-footed people who are free from giddiness. After climbing the 150 or so steps, hikers can enjoy a sensational view of the Aare valley and, if the weather is good, as far as the Alps.
• Another beautiful vantage point on the Bettlachstock is the "Heimwehflüeli". This is located on a slightly hidden, offshore rock about 100 meters above the pit. This fireplace is accessible with a sensational view first over Bettlachbergstrasse, then over a cart path to Bettlachstock (signposted). At the Stockmätteli weather station, the right-hand path must be taken. After about 200 meters there is a short descent to the Flüehli on the valley side.
• The panorama path from Bettlachberg to Brüggli is also well worth seeing. This high trail leads from the Bettlachberg mountain restaurant first towards Engloch. At the junction below the Wandflue, hike on the right path over the municipal border at the watershed behind the Bettlachstock into Obere Brüggli in the Selzach municipality. This path is also recommended in winter with snowshoes.

In addition to such hiking routes, a sleigh ride from the Bettlachberg restaurant via Bettlachbergstrasse to the shooting range is worthwhile in winter when the snow conditions are good. This descent (470 meters in altitude, about 7 km) takes a good 15 minutes.

Culture

Between 1999 and 2012, a talent show took place regularly in Bettlach, long before other TV broadcasting formats. Here young people were given the opportunity to pursue the hobby of music under professional conditions and, above all, to be able to choose the songs that suited them. During 3 months, these young artists were prepared for the show by vocal coaches. On this talent show day, they then compete in front of a competent jury, made up of show stars from Switzerland. This event took place for the last time in 2012.

Exhibitions take place regularly in the renovated Adamhaus on Jurastrasse. The exhibitions deal with the history of the village, so between June and October 2008 a collection of coins was on public display for the first time, which had been found in 1929 on the Schlossflue in the Bettleschloss in the quarter of the residential tower.

Partnerships

• Lütschental , Bern
• Bettlach , Alsace

coat of arms

Blazon

In silver a red cross with a pointed trunk

Personalities

• Franz Pfeiffer (1815–1868), Germanist and philologist
• Eduard Kummer (1845– ??), watch patron
• Erwin Ballabio (1918–2008), football player
• Josef Biedermann (1929–2002), officer (division general)
• Ernst Burren (* 1944), dialect writer
• Ueli Sutter (* 1947), racing cyclist
• Bernhard Röthlisberger (* 1969), clarinetist

literature

• Edgar Leimer: Bettlach - history and stories. Residential community Bettlach (Ed.), 1981.
• RM Kully: Solothurn place names. 2003, pp. 196-199.

Web links

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

• Official website of the community of Bettlach
• Urs Zurschmiede: Bettlach. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Grenchen Castle

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. ^ Community figures for Bettlach. As of December 31, 2012.
3. ^ Architecture Guide Switzerland, Artemis - Verlag für Architektur . 1978, p. 78.
4. ↑ WM sponsors. In: arch INFORM ; accessed on August 13, 2012., section «Projects by Walter Maria Förderer»
5. ^ Culture and club houses of the community of Bettlach , accessed on March 16, 2013
6. ↑ [1]
7. ^ Website of the museum society for the coin exhibition in the Adamhaus. ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.