Murten () or Morat (; ) is a bilingual municipality and a city in the See district of the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.

It is located on the southern shores of Lake Morat (also known as Lake Murten). Morat is situated between Neuchâtel and Fribourg and is the capital of the See/Lac District of the canton of Fribourg. It is one of the municipalities with a majority (about 75%) of German speakers in the predominantly French-speaking Canton of Fribourg.

On 1 January 1975 the former municipality of Burg bei Murten merged into the municipality of Murten. It was followed on 1 January 1991 by the former municipality of Altavilla and on 1 January 2013 by the former municipality of Büchslen. On 1 January 2016 the former municipalities of Courlevon, Jeuss (Jentes), Lurtigen (Lourtens) and Salvenach (Salvagny) merged into Morat (Murten). On 1 January 2022 the former municipalities of Galmiz, Gempenach and Clavaleyres (Canton of Bern) merged into the municipality of Murten.

History

The oldest archaeological traces of a settlement in the perimeter are from the Mesolithic (8200-5500 BC). The Mesolithic finds are mostly small flint shards for use in weapons or tools. These flints were produced mostly in the swampy lowlands east of the city at Murten-Combette and Murten-Ober Prehl. While many of these flint objects are in museums, the exact discovery sites were not properly documented and have been lost or covered by later excavations. Several other sites were discovered during construction of the A1 motorway in 1976–95. These settlements are from the Neolithic (5500-2500 BC) and the Bronze Age (2300-800 BC). Murten Pré de la Blanc was used in the Neolithic and middle Bronze Age, while the sites Murten-Lowenberg, Murten-Ober Prehl and Chantemerle 1 are from the Late Bronze Age. The cemetery at Lowenberg was used for more than a millennium, from the middle Bronze Age to the La Tène period. The nearby necropolis holds a number of Hallstatt era graves. The remains of a large Roman villa from the end of 1st or early 2nd century BC and a piece of a Roman road have also been found. of Zähringen or Landri de Durnes, the Bishop of Lausanne

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.6% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 9.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.1%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 40.4% is used for growing crops and 9.5% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

Demographics

In December 2020 Morat had a population of . In 2008 19.3% of the population consisted of resident foreign nationals. From 2000 to 2010 the population increased at a rate of 11%. Migration accounted for 9.1%, while births and deaths accounted for 2.5%.

In 2000 most of the population spoke German (4,269 or 76.5%) as their first language, French was the second most common (716 or 12.8%) and Italian the third (108 or 1.9%). There were five residents who spoke Romansh. Of the population in the municipality, 1,315 or about 23.6% were born in Murten and lived there in 2000. There were 881 or 15.8% who were born in the same canton, while 2,088 or 37.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,109 or 19.9% were born outside of Switzerland.

In 2000, there were 2,394 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.3 new units per 1000 residents.

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bar:1880 from:start till:2601 text:"2,601"

bar:1888 from:start till:2737 text:"2,737"

bar:1900 from:start till:2645 text:"2,645"

bar:1910 from:start till:2418 text:"2,418"

bar:1920 from:start till:2530 text:"2,530"

bar:1930 from:start till:2570 text:"2,570"

bar:1941 from:start till:2736 text:"2,736"

bar:1950 from:start till:3106 text:"3,106"

bar:1960 from:start till:3610 text:"3,610"

bar:1970 from:start till:4512 text:"4,512"

bar:1980 from:start till:4657 text:"4,657"

bar:1990 from:start till:4718 text:"4,718"

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Heritage sites of national significance

The farm house at Erli 2, Murten's city walls, the Grosshaus at Hauptgasse 43, the Rathaus or town council house, Löwenberg Castle and the Old School House in Valvenach are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old city of Murten's and the village of Lurtigen are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

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File:Farm_Erli_2_Murten_Aug_2011.jpg| Farm House at Erli 2

File:Murten die Stadtmauer.jpg| City Walls

File:Murten Altstadt.jpg|View over the compact old city

File:Hauptgasse_43_Murten_Aug_2011.jpg| Grosshaus at Hauptgasse 43

File:Murten Rathaus.JPG|Rathaus (Town council house)

File:Löwenberg_Castle_Apr_2011.jpg| Löwenberg Castle

File:Old School Salvenach Jul 2011.jpg|Old school house building

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World heritage site

An area of the prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlement at Segelboothafen is part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Segelboothafen (sail boat haven/harbour) site is located along the lake shore at the foot of the old town's hill. The site dates to the Middle and Final Neolithic period. Some of the piles were dendrochronologically dated to the late Cortaillod Middle Neolithic around 3552 BC and the Final Neolithic around 2534 BC. The site was first excavated in 1883–84 by Süsstruck. Later excavations found one or two strata that are up to thick and a field of wooden piles. Archeological finds included pottery, stone tools, wooden objects and animal bones.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election, the most popular party was the SPS which received 22.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (20.1%), the SVP (19.7%) and the Green Liberal Party (9.1%).

The SPS improved their position in Murten rising to first, from third in 2007 (with 21.6%) The FDP retained about the same popularity (24.0% in 2007), the SVP moved from first in 2007 (with 24.1%) to third and the Grünliberale moved from below fourth place in 2007 to fourth. A total of 2,145 votes were cast in this election, of which 27 or 1.3% were invalid.

Economy

thumb|Monolith in Lake Morat for the [[Expo.02]]

, Murten had an unemployment rate of 3.1%. , there were 105 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 25 businesses involved in this sector. 1,374 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 71 businesses in this sector. 2,263 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 364 businesses in this sector.

, there were 2,235 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,649 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.4 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 11.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 53% used a private car.

Education

About 2,116 or (37.9%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 807 or (14.5%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 807 who completed tertiary schooling, 63.8% were Swiss men, 22.9% were Swiss women, 9.0% were non-Swiss men and 4.2% were non-Swiss women.

During the 2010–11 school year, there were a total of 1,402 students attending 73 classes. A total of 972 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There were 9 kindergarten classes with a total of 178 students in the municipality. The municipality had 29 primary classes and 601 students. During the same year, there were 34 lower secondary classes with a total of 623 students. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 96 upper Secondary students and 97 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there were 2 non-university Tertiary students and 17 specialized Tertiary students who attended classes in another municipality.

Notable people

  • Jeremias Gotthelf (1797 in Murten – 1854) aka Albert Bitzius, a Swiss novelist.
  • Gaston Mullegg (1890 in Murten – 1958) president of the International Rowing Federation from 1949
  • Teddy Stauffer (1909 in Murten – 1991) a Swiss bandleader, musician, actor, nightclub owner and restaurateur
  • Nuno Reis (born 1991 in Murten) a Portuguese professional footballer

References

  • Official website
  • The panorama of the battle of Morat
  • Murten Panorama Digital Twin Scanning Project - "the making of"
  • Photo Gallery from Morat