Gurzelen

This article describes a municipality in the canton of Bern. Gurzelen is also a village in the municipality of Ried bei Kerzers in the canton of Friborg. The football stadium in Biel is described under Stadion Gurzelen .

Gurzelen
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Bern (BE)
Administrative district :	Tuna
BFS no. :	0867
Postal code :	3663
Coordinates :	607020  /  181047 coordinates: 46 ° 46 '50 "  N , 7 ° 31' 50"  O ; CH1903:  607020  /  181047
Height :	591  m above sea level M.
Height range :	566–732 m above sea level M.
Area :	4.52  km²
Residents:	840 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	186 inhabitants per km²
Website:	www.gurzelen.ch
Gurzelen
Location of the municipality

Gurzelen is a municipality in the Thun administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland .

geography

Gurzelen lies at 591  m above sea level. M. , 8 km west-northwest of the city of Thun (linear distance). The farming village extends in the valley of the Müsche shortly before it enters the wide Gürbetal plane , in the hilly landscape of the Thuner Westamt.

The area of ​​the 4.5 km² municipal area comprises a section of the broad Aare valley between Bern and Thun. Almost the whole area is of the drumlin taken that the glacial Aargletschers had left in Thun West office. In the middle lies the plain of the moss ( 625  m above sea level ), which is drained through the muesy to the north to the Gürbe . The moss is bounded in the north by the height at Widerhueb ( 673  m above sea level ), in the east by Steinhölzli and the Dihebüel , in the south by the Längenbüelwald (mostly outside the municipal area of ​​Gurzelen) and in the west by Riedwald and Riedhubel , where at 728  m above sea level M. the highest elevations of Gurzelen lie. To the south, the municipality extends over the Geisthubel ( 707  m above sea level ) into the hollow of the Geistsee . In the northwest, the area has a share of the agriculturally intensively used plains of the Gürbe valley ( 580  m above sea level ). In 1997, 6% of the municipal area was accounted for by settlements, 12% for forests and woodlands and 82% for agriculture.

Gurzelen includes the hamlet of Obergurzelen ( 635  m above sea level ) slightly elevated on the northern edge of the Moos, the Hof group Geist ( 680  m above sea level ) on the saddle between Riedwald and Geisthubel as well as various other farm groups and individual farms. Neighboring communities of Gurzelen are Seftigen , Uetendorf , Forst-Längenbühl , Wattenwil and Burgistein .

history

The community area of ​​Gurzelen was settled very early, which could be proven by means of individual finds from the Neolithic , graves from the Hallstatt period and Roman settlement remains. The place was first mentioned in a document in 1231 under the name Gurcellun . Later, the names Gurzillon (1254), Gurzelon (1259), Corzellon (1272) and Gurzelen (1337) appeared. The place name goes back to the Latin word corticella (small courtyard).

Since the Middle Ages , Gurzelen formed its own rule, which was at times split into two parts. This lordship saw numerous changes of ownership over the years and from 1542 until the end of the Ancien Régime was two-thirds owned by the von Wattenwyl family on Burgistein, one third under direct Bernese authority. The high level of jurisdiction lay with the Seftigen district court, but in 1783 it was transferred to the Thun office.

After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798), Gurzelen belonged to the district of Thun during the Helvetic Republic and from 1803 to the Oberamt Seftigen, which received the status of an official district with the new cantonal constitution of 1831.

population

With 840 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018), Gurzelen is one of the smaller communities in the canton of Bern. 97.9% of the residents speak German, 1.1% speak French and 0.7% speak Albanian (as of 2000). The population of Gurzelen was 605 in 1850 and 603 in 1900. During the 20th century, the population always fluctuated between 660 and 760 people. In 1990 there were 703 inhabitants.

politics

The voting shares of the parties at the 2015 National Council election were: SVP 48.9%, SP 10.6%, BDP 9.7%, EDU 7.8%, glp 5.5%, GPS 4.7%, EVP 4.6 %, FDP 4.0%, CVP 1.3%, Alpine Parliament 1.1%.

economy

Gurzelen was a predominantly agricultural village until the second half of the 20th century . Even today, agriculture and vegetable growing on the fertile soils of the Gürbe valley, as well as dairy farming and cattle breeding, have an important place in the income structure of the population. Further jobs are available in local small businesses and in the service sector. In Gurzelen today there are companies in the building trade, wood processing, mechanical engineering, gardening shops and mechanical workshops. In the last few decades the village has developed into a residential community. Many employees are therefore commuters who mainly work in the larger towns in the area and in the Thun area.

traffic

The community is located off the main thoroughfares on a connecting road from Wattenwil to Uetendorf . The closest connection to the A6 motorway (Bern-Thun) is around 7 km from the town center. However, the Seftigen station on the Gürbetalbahn from Bern via Belp to Thun is easy to reach . Since December 2004 a post bus has been driving from Uetendorf to Gurzelen.

Attractions

Twin beeches in Gurzelen

See also : List of cultural assets in Gurzelen

The village church, mentioned as early as the 13th century, received its present form when it was rebuilt in 1710. The baroque hall church has a renaissance pulpit from the 17th century, a baptismal font and coats of arms from the time it was built. The rectory, originally from 1560, was rebuilt from 1705 to 1709. 1823 was the post and the schoolhouse built. In the town center and in the hamlets, numerous characteristic farmhouses in the Bernese style from the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved.

The Schlingmoos country estate, which was built in 1740 as a widow's residence for the von Wattenwyl family, stands on a hill. There is a remarkable colonnade of columns in the park. Remains of the former Festi Castle are visible on a ledge on the edge of the Gürbetal plane.

Personalities

• Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918), citizen of Gurzelen, Swiss painter
• Hector Hodler (1887–1920), citizen of Gurzelen, son of the Swiss painter, founder of the World Esperanto Federation in Geneva (1908)

Web links

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

• Official website of the municipality of Gurzelen
• Anne-Marie Dubler : Gurzelen (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. ^ Results of the community of Gurzelen. State Chancellery of the Canton of Bern, October 18, 2015, accessed on October 30, 2016 .