Burgdorf (; ; High Alemannic: Bùùrdlef) is the largest city in the Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It was the capital of the district of the same name until 2010, when it became part of the new Emmental district.

Name

The city is named Burgdorf in German, and Berthoud in French (which is not a literal translation of Burgdorf). The city is named Berthoud in memorial of Berchthold V. Duke of Zähringen who added a plaque to the city entrance for his victory against the Burgundese. The Zähringen dukes built a city (upper-west city section) around the castle in the last quarter of the 12th century. After the extinction of the Zähringen line, Burgdorf passed to the Counts of Kyburg. They expanded the city in 1278 with the upper-east section and between 1278 and 1300 absorbed the Holzbrunnen settlement which became the lower town. By 1300 the city had expanded to fill the town walls. Starting in 1323 there was a ban on construction within the walls, which marked the border of the city until 1800. Under the Kyburg or Neu-Kyburg Counts, Burgdorf Castle was the capital of the county, and the Counts were the mayors of Burgdorf town.

In the 14th century, the Neu-Kyburgs became increasingly indebted. On 11 November 1382, Count Rudolf II of Neu-Kyburg, launched a raid against the city of Solothurn to try and force the city to forgive his debts. For the city of Bern, this attack on an allied city represented an excellent opportunity for the city to break its ties with the Neu-Kyburgs. In March 1383 the Bernese-Solothurn army marched on Burgdorf. This army was supported with troops from the Forest Cantons, Lucerne, Zürich, Neuchâtel and Savoy and were armed with catapults and primitive guns. Because Count Rudolf II had died before the war began, Burgdorf was defended by Rudolf's uncle, Berchtold I. Under Berchtold, Burgdorf withstood a 45-day siege. An attempt to negotiate a cease-fire on 21 April 1383, between Bern and the citizens of Burgdorf against the Neu-Kyburgs was also unsuccessful. Beset by the enormous burdens of war and civil unrest at home, the Bernese Council sought Confederation mediation to end the war. On 5 April 1384, the Neu-Kyburgs agreed to sell the towns and castles of Burgdorf and Thun to Bern for 37,800 guilders.

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File:Burghoff Matthaeus Merian 1650.jpg|Coloured version of Burgdorff by Merian 1650

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As part of the peace treaty, Bern acknowledged the rights and privileges that the Kyburgs had granted to Burgdorf. Burgdorf enjoyed a unique amount of autonomy compared to the other cities in the Bernese city-state. The town had its own mayor, council and high and low courts. Starting in 1394 the town began to buy courts, land and forests from the impoverished nobility. It began to acquire the surrounding villages and towns as well. In 1394 Rütschelen came under Burgdorf's authority. This was followed in 1395 by Grasswil, 1400 by Wil (now part of Rütschelen), 1402 by Inkwil (until 1720), 1423 by Niederösch, 1429 by Bettenhausen, 1429 and 1509/10 Thörigen, 1431 by Gutenburg and Lotzwil, 1435 by Kleindietwil and at the start of the 16th century Oberösch. The city created the bailiwicks of Grasswil (Grasswil, Ösch, Heimiswil) and Lotzwil (Thörigen, Lotzwil) under the administration of an alderman.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 15.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.2%. 39.8% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 16.6% is used for growing crops and 7.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.

Demographics

thumb|Old City of Burgdorf

Burgdorf has a population () of . , 12.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 5.2%. Migration accounted for 6.6%, while births and deaths accounted for -1.1%.

Most of the population () speaks Swiss-German (13,088 or 88.9%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (402 or 2.7%) and Albanian is the third (219 or 1.5%). There are 116 people who speak French and 8 people who speak Romansh. Of the population in the municipality, 4,260 or about 29.0% were born in Burgdorf and lived there in 2000. There were 5,462 or 37.1% who were born in the same canton, while 2,176 or 14.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2,352 or 16.0% were born outside of Switzerland.

, there were 6,637 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.5 new units per 1000 residents.

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{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"

! colspan="10" | Historic population data

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File:Burgdorf-02.jpg|Altstadt, Medieval and Early Modern City and Castle

File:Hohengasse_19_and_21_Burgdorf_Oct_2011.jpg|Former Grosse Apotheke and Diesbacher House

File:Mädchenschule_Burgdorf_Oct_2011.jpg|Former Mädchenschule (Girls' School)

File:Burgdorf_Niederspital_Frontseite.jpg|Former Niederspital (Hospital)

File:Hohengasse_4_Burgdorf_Oct_2011.jpg|Grosshaus (Large House)

File:Burgdorf_Haus_zum_Ochsen.jpg|House zum Ochsen

File:Burgdorf Kant Technikum Haupteingang.jpg|Kantonales Technikum (College)

File:Burgdorf museum-franz-gertsch 171008 03.jpg|Museum Franz Gertsch

File:StadtkircheBurgdorf 8688.jpg|Swiss Reformed City Church

File:Kapellenweg_2_and_5_Burgdorf_Oct_2011.jpg|Quarantine House and Chapel

File:Villa_Roth_Burgdorf_Oct_2011.jpg|Villa Roth

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Points of interest

thumb|upright=1.4|Interior of the Late Gothic Stadtkirche<br>(City Church)

  • The old town centre, with alleyways, squares and many historical buildings
  • Late Gothic church 1471/1490
  • Burgdorf Castle
  • The "Badi" (which means public swimming pool)
  • Museum Franz Gertsch
  • Kornhaus (cornhouse)
  • Burgdorf Flüeh (4 huge rocks) and the river Emme
  • Burgdorf Schützematte, a big field, meeting point of peoples

Twin towns

Burgdorf is twinned with the towns of

{| class="wikitable"

|- valign="top"

|

  • Burgdorf, Hanover, Germany

||

  • Zugló, Hungary

||

  • Gabrovo, Bulgaria

||

  • San Pellegrino Terme, Italy

|}

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SPS which received 24.95% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (23.02%), the FDP (16.48%) and the Green Party (15.53%). In the federal election, a total of 5,046 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 46.8%.

Economy

thumb|Burgdorf train station

thumb|Trains at Burgdorf Station, Switzerland

, Burgdorf had an unemployment rate of 4%. , there were 40 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 4,027 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 137 businesses in this sector. 7,538 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 691 businesses in this sector.

, there were 7,353 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,254 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.3 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 22.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 37.9% used a private car. However, these local, small breweries closed during the 20th Century. In 1999, a brewery was opened, which brewed a local Burgdorf beer. This beer has won a number of awards at Beerdays in Solothurn.

Religion

thumb|upright|Protestant City Church of Burgdorf

From the , 1,993 or 13.5% were Roman Catholic, while 9,275 or 63.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 211 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.43% of the population), there were 14 individuals (or about 0.10% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 1,337 individuals (or about 9.09% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 individuals (or about 0.02% of the population) who were Jewish, and 865 (or about 5.88% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 39 individuals who were Buddhist, 224 individuals who were Hindu and 13 individuals who belonged to another church. 986 (or about 6.70% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 413 individuals (or about 2.81% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

thumb|New building at the Kantonales Technikum

In Burgdorf about 5,950 or (40.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 1,918 or (13.0%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 1,918 who completed tertiary schooling, 65.9% were Swiss men, 25.1% were Swiss women, 5.0% were non-Swiss men and 4.0% were non-Swiss women.

During the 2009–10 school year, there were a total of 1,767 students attending classes in Burgdorf. There were 14 kindergarten classes with a total of 247 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 13.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 23.5% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 49 primary classes and 924 students. Of the primary students, 12.3% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 23.5% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 30 lower secondary classes with a total of 548 students. There were 9.9% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 21.2% have a different mother language than the classroom language.

, there were 1,152 students in Burgdorf who came from another municipality, while 239 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Transportation

The municipality has four railway stations: , , , and . The first of these is a major railway junction, served by three different lines; the other three are located north and south of it on the Solothurn–Langnau line. Between them there is regular service to Zürich Hauptbahnhof, , , , , , and .

Notable people

140px|thumb|Emil Theodor Kocher, 1909

140px|thumb|Christa Markwalder,

; early times

  • Jean Maritz (1680 in Burgdorf – 1743), a Swiss inventor, invented the vertical drilling machine
  • Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733 in Burgdorf – 1794), a landscape artist, worked in oils and watercolours
  • Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827) used to live and teach in Burgdorf Castle.

; 19th C

  • Johann August Sutter (1803–1880), Californian pioneer, left Burgdorf for America in 1834
  • Karl Eduard Aeschlimann (1808 in Burgdorf – 1893), an architect, court architect of the Russian royal family
  • Jacques Burkhardt (1808–1867), scientific illustrator and associate of Louis Agassiz
  • Max Schneckenburger (1819 – 1849 in Burgdorf), a poet, lived and died in Burgdorf
  • John Augustus Sutter Jr. (1826 in Burgdorf – 1897), founder and planner of Sacramento, California
  • Emil Theodor Kocher (1841–1917), a Swiss physician and medical researcher, received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, grew up im Burgdorf
  • Ferdinand Schiess VC, (1856 in Burgdorf – 1884), Swiss Victoria Cross recipient at Rorke's Drift

; 20th C

  • Franz Schnyder (1910 in Burgdorf – 1993), a Swiss film director and screenwriter
  • Hermann Haller (1914 in Burgdorf – 2002), a Swiss composer
  • Lisa della Casa (1919 in Burgdorf – 2012), a Swiss soprano
  • Fritz Hofmann (1924 – 2005 in Burgdorf), a Swiss politician
  • John Mbiti (born 1931 in Kenya – 2019), an African theologian and philosopher, parish minister in Burgdorf
  • Willy Michel, (born 1947 in Burgdorf), co-founder of Museum Franz Gertsch
  • Annemarie Buchmann-Gerber (1947 in Burgdorf – 2015), a Canadian artist, worked with textiles and fiber materials
  • Res Ingold (born 1954 in Burgdorf), a contemporary Swiss artist
  • Christine Brand (born 1973 in Burgdorf), a Swiss writer and journalist
  • Christa Markwalder (born 1975 in Burgdorf), a Swiss politician, former President of the National Council

140px|thumb|Simone Niggli-Luder, 2006

; Sport

  • Martin Gerber (born 1974 in Burgdorf), a Swiss former professional ice hockey goaltender
  • Nuri Seferi (born 1976), a professional boxer, brought up and lives in Burgdorf
  • Simone Niggli-Luder (born 1978), a Swiss Orienteering World Champion, brought up in Burgdorf
  • Martina Moser (born 1986 in Burgdorf), a Swiss footballer, played 126 games for Swiss national team
  • Alain Berger (born 1990 in Burgdorf), a Swiss professional ice hockey forward

Special events

  • Solätte – #1 event in Burgdorf, old tradition child event (last Monday of June)
  • Gymfest – big party organized by a group of students of Gymnasium Burgdorf (January)
  • Pogoschütz – an openair concert on the Schützenmatte (September)
  • Cinete – an openair movie theater, every year during summer
  • Kalter Märt – the largest fair in Burgdorf; every year 10,000 people come to shop in the old city of Burgdorf (cold winter time)
  • Burgdorfer Stadtlauf – Burgdorf running race through the city of Burgdorf

References

  • https://web.archive.org/web/20170210040554/http://www.burgdorf.ch/
  • http://www.schloss-burgdorf.ch