Chexbres ( ) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Lavaux-Oron. Chexbres is a wine-growing village and enjoys a good selection of local vintages. It also enjoys notable views of Lake Geneva, and therefore is nicknamed "Balcon du Léman" in French.
History
thumb|left|Aerial view from 800 m by [[Walter Mittelholzer (1919)]]
The municipality of Chexbres was already inhabited in Roman times, and a single wall remains and coins have been found. The first written mention of the place appeared in 1139 under the name Chexbres.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 15.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 15.4%. Out of the forested land, 10.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 9.8% is used for growing crops and 24.8% is pastures, while 16.8% is used for orchards or vine crops.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, on a cross Or five Roses Gules.
Demographics
Chexbres has a population () of . , 19.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 4.1%. It has changed at a rate of 12.8% due to migration and at a rate of -8.5% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (1,766 or 86.5%), with German being second most common (109 or 5.3%) and Portuguese being third (36 or 1.8%). There are 34 people who speak Italian.
, there were 774 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 947 married individuals, 184 widows or widowers and 136 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 887 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household.
there were 1,012 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 310. There were 74 single room apartments and 223 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 846 apartments (83.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 141 apartments (13.9%) were seasonally occupied and 25 apartments (2.5%) were empty.
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Economy
thumb|250px|right|Townhall of Chexbres
Chexbres was until the early 20th century, a primarily agricultural village. Even today, the vineyards in the sunny slopes of the Lavaux cover about 25 hectares and arable and livestock farming in the uplands has a certain role in the employment structure of the population. More jobs however are available in the local small businesses and especially in the service sector. The trade of Chexbres is principally with daily consumer goods and to provide for tourists. There are also several wine shops. Chexbres also features a heated swimming pool. Through the construction of numerous single-family homes in the last decades, the village has developed into a residential community. Many workers though are commuters who work mainly in Lausanne and in the Vevey-Montreux region.
, Chexbres had an unemployment rate of 3.8%. , there were 38 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 66 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 18 businesses in this sector. 534 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 67 businesses in this sector.
, there were 379 workers who commuted into the municipality and 712 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.9 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 12.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 64.3% used a private car.
Transport
The community has well-developed transport links. It lies on the main road from Vevey to Moudon. The A9 motorway opened in 1974 and connects Lausanne to Sion. It crosses the municipal area, approximately 1 km from the town center.
On 2 May 1904 a railway station was established on the line from Vevey to Puidoux. Today, the route runs on the Train des vignes. Only a little outside the municipal area is the Puidoux-Chexbres station on the main line from Lausanne to Bern (inaugurated on September 4, 1862). A bus service also serves the route from Cully.
World heritage sites
Part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces is located in Chexbres.
Landmarks
thumb|right|Le Rocher house (Saint-Saphorin municipality)
thumb|right|A house in Chexbres
The Church of Chexbres was built in 1888 on the site of a former chapel. It has a neo-Gothic tower, remarkable stained glass by Jean Prahins (1988) and an organ in the French Romanticism style, installed in 1905. The De Crousaz Castle was built in the 15th century. The present building, however, comes from a reconstruction following a fire shortly after 1600. From the 18th century is the townhall, the Maison Wyttenbach. In the old center and some characteristic farmer houses from the 17th to 19th century are preserved.
Notable people
- The Swedish arts patron and collector Theodor Ahrenberg (1912–1989) settled in with his family in 1962 in the villa "Le Rocher" near Chexbres (Saint-Saphorin municipality), where he continued his collecting activities. With numerous young artists who later formed the Classical Modern, Ahrenberg invited them to stay several months of work at his villa. In this way, was created in the next 25 years, a comprehensive collection, known as the Ahrenberg collection .
- Chexbres also gained popularity through numerous landscapes of the Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler, known for his paintings of the south-facing slopes of the Lavaux and Lake Geneva. The best known of these paintings, "The Lake Geneva from Chexbres", which was created in 1911, is currently in the possession of the famous auction house Christie's in London, England.
- Raymond Abellio lived in Chexbres from 1947 to 1950.
- Madeleine Albright attended a finishing school in Chexbres.
Religion
From the , 550 or 26.9% were Roman Catholic, while 1,023 or 50.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 82 members of an Orthodox church (or about 4.02% of the population), and there were 70 individuals (or about 3.43% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish, and 16 (or about 0.78% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 216 (or about 10.58% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 112 individuals (or about 5.49% of the population) did not answer the question. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 665 children of which 232 children (34.9%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 114 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 101 students in those schools. There were also 1 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
, there were 146 students in Chexbres who came from another municipality, while 177 residents attended schools outside the municipality.