Burgistein

This article deals with the municipality of Burgistein. For the noble family see Burgistein (noble family) .

Burgistein
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Bern (BE)
Administrative district :	Tuna
BFS no. :	0863
Postal code :	3664
Coordinates :	604 798  /  181470 coordinates: 46 ° 47 '4 "  N , 7 ° 30' 5"  O ; CH1903:  six hundred and four thousand seven hundred ninety-eight  /  181470
Height :	751  m above sea level M.
Height range :	553–981 m above sea level M.
Area :	7.53  km²
Residents:	1096 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	146 inhabitants per km²
Website:	www.burgistein.ch
Burgistein Castle
Location of the municipality

Burgistein is a municipality in the Thun administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland . The seat of the municipal administration is in Burgiwil.

geography

Burgistein lies at 763  m above sea level. M. , 10 km west-northwest of the city of Thun (linear distance). The scattered settlement without actual village center extends in a promising location west of the Gürbe valley in the transition area from Längenberg to Gurnigel .

The 7.5 km² municipal area covers a section of the pre-alpine hill country west of the Aare valley . The smaller eastern part of the municipality lies in the almost 2 km wide, agriculturally intensively used valley plain on both sides of the central Gürbe . From here the municipality extends westward over the slope of Burgistein, which is subdivided by several valleys (including the Fellgraben ) and hill projections ( Schönegg , Schlossberg), to the heights of Egghölzli ( 871  m above sea level ), Muttlen ( 905  m above sea level ) and Holiebi (at 982  m above sea level the highest point in Burgistein). The western part of the community is drained by the Halbbach in a high valley towards Riggisberg. In the far west the area extends to the slope of the Gibelegg . In 1997, 9% of the municipal area was accounted for by settlements, 12% for forests and woodlands and 77% for agriculture; just over 1% was unproductive land.

Burgistein consists of various settlements, hamlets, groups of farms and individual farms. The most important of these are:

• Weierboden ( 763  m above sea level ) in a hollow northwest of the castle hill
• Niederschönegg ( 740  m above sea level ) on the slope above the Gürbetal
• Äbnit ( 709  m above sea level ) on the slope above the Gürbetal
• Oberschönegg ( 783  m above sea level ) on a saddle south of the Egghölzli
• Elbschen ( 774  m above sea level ) on the Halbbach at the eastern foot of the Gibelegg
• Grossmatt ( 580  m above sea level ) at the foot of the slope on the edge of the Gürbetal plane
• Burgiwil ( 575  m above sea level ) at the foot of the slope on the edge of the Gürbetal plane
• Pfandersmatt ( 567  m above sea level ) in the valley of the Gürbe

The neighboring communities of Burgistein are Riggisberg , Thurnen , Kirchdorf (BE) , Seftigen , Gurzelen and Wattenwil .

history

Litter finds from the Neolithic and Roman times indicate an early settlement of the municipality of Burgistein. The place was first mentioned in a document in 1266 under the name Burgstein . Later the names Burgenstein (1271), Borcestey (1287) and Burgistein (1379) appeared.

The Burgistein lordship was founded around 1260 by Jordan I from the von Thun ministerial family after he had bought various free floats and goods or exchanged them with the Interlaken monastery and had a castle built on the site of the present-day castle. His son Jordan II and his descendants called themselves von Burgistein from then on . This castle, which was under the sovereignty of the Counts of Kyburg , was destroyed by the Bernese in 1340 because the Lords of Burgistein had fought against Bern in the Laupenkrieg . According to the chronicle of Konrad Justinger , the shooter Ryffli is supposed to target the knight Jordan III with a targeted shot. von Burgistein killed. He is said to have carelessly appeared at a window during the siege of his castle by the Bernese. The Bernese Ryffli Fountain is named after the legendary shooter .

The castle was rebuilt under Bernese sovereignty. The lordship of Burgistein belonged to the barons of Burgistein in the 15th century, came to the von Wattenwyl family in 1493 and to the von Graffenried family in 1717, who still own the castle today. The Seftigen district court had high jurisdiction over the area. After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798), Burgistein belonged to the Seftigen district during the Helvetic Republic and from 1803 to the Seftigen District Office, which received the status of an official district with the new cantonal constitution of 1831.

population

With 1,096 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018), Burgistein is one of the smaller communities in the canton of Bern. 97.9% of the residents speak German, 0.5% speak English and 0.3% speak French (as of 2000). The population of Burgistein was 1089 in 1850 and 972 in 1900. In the course of the 20th century, the population decreased to 882 people by 1980. Since then, a slight population decrease has been recorded again.

politics

The voting shares of the parties in the 2015 National Council election were: SVP 47.0%, SP 15.8%, BDP 12.1%, GPS 6.0%, EVP 4.5%, FDP 3.7%, EDU 3.4 %, glp 3.2%, CVP 1.4%.

economy

Until the second half of the 20th century, Burgistein was a village dominated by agriculture . Even today, arable farming and vegetable growing on the fertile soils of the Gürbe valley, as well as dairy farming and cattle breeding in the elevated areas, have an important role in the income structure of the population. Further jobs are available in local small businesses and in the service sector. Today in Burgistein there are companies in the building trade, timber trade and timber construction, mechanical workshops, a sauerkraut factory, a blind factory, a transport company and a car company. In the last few decades the village has developed into a residential community thanks to its attractive location. Many employed people are therefore commuters who work mainly in the larger towns in the area, in the Thun area and in the agglomeration of Bern .

traffic

The community is located on a connecting road from Wattenwil to Riggisberg . On August 14, 1901, the railway line from Bern to in was Pfandersmatt railway station Burgistein-Wattenwil put into operation, about a year later, on November 1, 1902, the opening was the continuation of the route to Thun. Since December 2010 the station has only been called Burgistein, especially since the former bus line to Wattenwil now has its starting point in Seftigen. The upper part of the municipality is connected to the public transport network by a bus line, which runs from Wattenwil to Riggisberg Monday to Friday. Overall, however, only around a quarter of the more than 400 households have access to public transport within a reasonable distance.

Attractions

See also : List of cultural assets in Burgistein

The Burgistein Castle stands on a protrusion of the slope , which was given its current appearance during a renovation and new building in the 16th century in the Renaissance style . The mighty west building has a high hipped roof and is visible from afar. The village church was built in 1959 near Niederschönegg. On a ledge near Äbnit, a few remains of the wall of Blankenburg on Schönegg, which was abandoned in the 14th century, have been preserved.

Personalities

• Christian Grünig (1858–1925), farmer, pietist and supporter of the sanctification movement
• Regina Fuhrer-Wyss (* 1959), City Councilor and Grand Councilor (SP)

Web links

Commons : Burgistein  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the municipality of Burgistein
• Anne-Marie Dubler : Burgistein. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Aerial views of the village

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. ^ Results of the Burgistein community. State Chancellery of the Canton of Bern, October 18, 2015, accessed on October 30, 2016 . 
3. ↑ 2012 timetable for bus line 56 (PDF; 103 kB)