Payerne (; ) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the district of Payerne, and is now part of the district of Broye-Vully. The German name Peterlingen for the town is out of use.
History
thumb|left|upright|A tower of the old city wall
The earliest traces of settlements near Payerne include Neolithic objects and traces of a Bronze Age settlement. There are also burial mounds from the Hallstatt and Latène cultures, including gold necklaces which were found at Le Bois de Roverex. There was a Celtic bridge and a Roman era road in the area of Les Aventuri. There were Roman buildings within and outside the city walls, Roman cemeteries, and a dedicatory inscription of Publius Graccius Paternus. During the Early Middle Ages, the village of Payerne first appeared. In 587, Bishop Marius built the villa Paterniacum and a Chapel to St. Mary in the village. The chapel later developed into a parish church. The present Gothic building was built in the 14th century over Roman foundations. It was renovated in the 1990s. In the 10th century, the Cluniac Payerne Priory was founded. In 1033, Emperor Conrad II was crowned as the King of Burgundy in the priory church.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 11.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.1% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.8%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 52.2% is used for growing crops and 6.7% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
It consists of the town of Payerne and four hamlets including Vers-chez-Perrin.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Party, argent and gules.
Demographics
thumb|Town hall and central plaza in town
thumb|[[Patrouille Suisse F-5 from Payerne Air Base]]
thumb|upright|Houses in Payerne
Payerne has a population () of . , 32.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 15.4%. It has changed at a rate of 14.6% due to migration and at a rate of 1.7% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (6,061 or 83.1%), with Portuguese being second most common (339 or 4.6%) and German being third (251 or 3.4%). There are 219 people who speak Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, there were 2,798 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 3,517 married individuals, 583 widows or widowers and 396 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 3,271 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household.
, there were 3,862 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 1,306. There were 268 single room apartments and 716 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 3,221 apartments (83.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 421 apartments (10.9%) were seasonally occupied and 220 apartments (5.7%) were empty.
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bar:1803 from:start till:2002 text:"2,002"
bar:1850 from:start till:3078 text:"3,078"
bar:1860 from:start till:3085 text:"3,085"
bar:1870 from:start till:3249 text:"3,249"
bar:1880 from:start till:3568 text:"3,568"
bar:1888 from:start till:3636 text:"3,636"
bar:1900 from:start till:5224 text:"5,224"
bar:1910 from:start till:5364 text:"5,364"
bar:1920 from:start till:5305 text:"5,305"
bar:1930 from:start till:4951 text:"4,951"
bar:1941 from:start till:5178 text:"5,178"
bar:1950 from:start till:5649 text:"5,649"
bar:1960 from:start till:6024 text:"6,024"
bar:1970 from:start till:6899 text:"6,899"
bar:1980 from:start till:6713 text:"6,713"
bar:1990 from:start till:7393 text:"7,393"
bar:2000 from:start till:7294 text:"7,294"
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Heritage sites of national significance
The Payerne Abbey church and former convent buildings, the Ancien Tribunal, the Swiss Reformed Church of Notre-Dame and the Fountain du Banneret are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old city of Payerne is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
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File:Payerne Abtei.jpg | Abbey Church and Former Convent Buildings
File:Picswiss VD-49-28.jpg | Catholic Church of Notre-Dame
File:Picswiss VD-49-08.jpg | Fountain du Banneret
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Twin Town
Payerne is twinned with
{| class="wikitable"
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- Paray-le-Monial, France
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Government
Payerne Airport is home to the air investigation division of the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (formerly the Swiss Accident Investigation Board). Previously this was the head office of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, before its 2011 merger into the SAIB.
Payerne is also the home of a major airbase of the Swiss Air Force.
Culture
Payerne sausage
The Payerne sausage () is local variant on the regional Boutefas or Saucisson vaudois sausage. It is a cold smoked pork sausage in a natural casing and has been a traditional dish since the mid-19th century. The IGP protected Saucisson Vaudois IGP and the partly AOC protected Boutefas sausage are made from pigs that foraged for acorns in Vaud or Fribourg woods and drank local water. While the Payerne sausage is not a protected name, the pigs usually come from the same region and eat the same diet. The major difference between Payerne sausage and other local varieties is that the lees from wine or other alcohol and cooked, chopped rind or pork skin is added to the mixture.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 27.72% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (22.86%), the FDP (22.74%) and the LPS Party (9.05%). In the federal election, a total of 1,790 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 40.0%.
Economy
thumb|Train station in Payerne
, Payerne had an unemployment rate of 7.5%. , there were 113 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 39 businesses involved in this sector. 728 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 86 businesses in this sector. 4,270 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 389 businesses in this sector.
, there were 2,512 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,573 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.6 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 9.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 61.6% used a private car. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 155 children of which 83 children (53.5%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 585 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 500 students in those schools. There were also 17 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
Payerne is home to 1 museum, the Musée de l'aviation militaire. In 2009 it was visited by 8,000 visitors (the average in previous years was 11,008).
, there were 332 students in Payerne who came from another municipality, while 165 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Établissement secondaire de Payerne et Environs serves secondary students from Payerne and other close towns. It has 4 separate buildings.
Établissement primaire de Payerne-Corcelles et Environs serves primary students from Payerne and other close towns. It has 6 separate buildings, which one is in Corcelles-près-Payerne, and another one in Grandcour, Buses are available to children unable to go to these places.
Climate
Between 1991 and 2020 Payerne had an average of 111.7 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was July during which time Payerne received an average of of rain or snow. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 10.0 days. The month with the most days of precipitation was May, with an average of 11.3, but with only of rain or snow. The driest month of the year was February with an average of of precipitation over 7.8 days.
|source 2 = MeteoSwiss
|date=August 2010
Transportation
The municipality has a railway station, on the Palézieux–Lyss and Fribourg–Yverdon lines. It has regular service to , , , and .
Notable people
140px|thumb|Antoine-Henri Jomini
- Frédéric-Louis Allamand (1736 in Payerne – 1809) a Swiss botanist, he moved to Leiden, Netherlands in 1749
- Antoine-Henri, Baron Jomini (1779 in Payerne – 1869) a Swiss officer who served as a general in the French and later in the Russian service
- Daniel Rapin (1799 in Payerne – 1882) a Swiss pharmacist and botanist
- Charles Estoppey (1820 in Payerne – 1888) was a Swiss politician, in 1875 he was elected to the Swiss Federal Council
- Hélène Monastier (1882 in Payerne – 1976) a Swiss peace activist
- Léon Savary (1895–1968), a Swiss writer and journalist
- Jacques Chessex (1934 in Payerne – 2009) a Swiss author and painter
- Mat Rebeaud (born 1982 in Payerne) a Swiss freestyle motocross rider
- Charles-André Doudin (born 1986 in Payerne) a Swiss professional footballer