Grandson, Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Grandson is a municipality
in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton
of Vaud
in Switzerland
.
During the Burgundian Wars
, Charles the Bold was defeated near here in the Battle of Grandson
on 2 March 1476.
weighing about three tons and about 3.4 m (11.2 ft) tall in Les Echâtelards. The monolith now stands in the vicinity of the discovery site. Grandson, however, is better known for its prehistoric lake side settlements. The site at Corcelettes became well known after 1854, when Frederic Louis Troyon introduced the author Ferdinand Keller to the Corcelettes site in which numerous piles for stilt houses as well as vases were found. By 1930 seven lake front settlements were identified. They included: in Corcelettes a large Bronze Age
site and a smaller one from the Neolithic
period, in Les Buttes two more from the Neolithic period, and in Le Repuis, Le stand and Les Tuileries three others that were probably from the Neolithic. At the last three sites, no artifacts were discovered that could be used to definitively date them. In 1995 at the Bellerive campsite a Late Neolithic settlement dating from 2741-2488 BC was discovered.
The most important stilt house
settlement is at Corcelettes. The first Jura water correction
of 1876 led to the drainage of a large part of the marshy field where the prehistoric village had been. The Federal Archaeology and History Museum in Lausanne seized the opportunity and started excavations in the following year which dragged on until 1880. Corcelettes is probably the one Swiss village that supplied the most metal objects from the Bronze Age to different museums and private collections around the world. In 1881, the stilt field was 300 by in size. In 1900 it was declared a Swiss heritage site of national significance
. While it legally protected from looting, several thousand square meters of archaeologically important material has been lost due to erosion. Nevertheless, Corcelettes is one of the best preserved and largest lakeside settlements on Lake Neuchâtel.
In 1983 a system of trenches and banks were built to protect the site from weathering. Between 1983-88 approximately 2,000 wood pieces, of which 14 were from the period 1123-878 BC, were recorded and measured. Several investigations of the, up to 0.6 m (2 ft) thick, artifact layers have found not only pottery and some bronze objects, but also organic material (threads, bark, wood, leaves, seeds, etc.) and burnt traces of house walls of wattle.
The findings from Corcelettes spread over the whole Bronze Age, but with a clear accumulation at the end of this period in the 9th century BC. The pottery is often decorated with paintings, tin bands or white incrustation. Some of the objects include; a small pig sculpture, a coil and terracotta horns, a flute and two sickle wooden handles, horse bits, three bronze vessels (including a basin in a northern Europe style), a broken brooch, a wheel made of ash wood, wheat bread, a bone plate made from pieces of about fifteen human skulls and a dugout canoe made of wood. A copper bar, hammer, small tools and molds indicate that there was a metal processing and manufacturing shop in the village.
It appears that the village had declined by the Iron Age
. The only Iron Age object was a Certosa type brooch. From the Roman era
only a few bricks and walls have been discovered in the area of the municipality.
and its owner, the lords of Grandson. The family came to power around 1000. The small settlement is first mentioned around 1100, but is certainly older than that. Either by 1146 or at least before 1178 the Grandson family supported the foundation of the Benedictine
Priory
of Saint-Jean, which belonged to the abbey of La Chaise-Dieu in Auvergne
. The family gave the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste to the priory. At the same time, they rebuilt the church, with monolith
ic columns topped with roman capitals
. The choir
was enlarged between 1300–08 and was damaged in a fire in 1378. It was part of the parish
of Giez
until 1438 when the priory's church received the rights of a parish church
.
By 1300, the entire town, except on the lake side, was surrounded by walls. The nearby villages of Provence, Bonvillars, Fiez, Concise and Yvonand were responsible for the maintenance of the walls. Otto I of Grandson
rebuilt the old castle and enlarged it in 1277-1281. The castle was expanded again in the beginning of the 14th Century.
A large fire (probably in 1378, but first documented in 1397) destroyed the castle roof and a large portion of the courtyard. A Bürgergemeinde
is first mentioned in 1293, and before 1328 Otto I granted a charter to the town. On the north side of the church a covered market was built. In the village of Le Revelin, outside the city walls and close the Giez gate, butchers shops opened. Otto I promoted the mendicant orders
and allowed the Franciscans to build a monastery at the western entrance of the town in 1289. Today only the church tower and some remains of the convent building are visible. A hospital was built in the second half of the 14th century in today's Rue Basse, near the Gey gate tower, which was destroyed in 1837. In 1420 the hospital came under the auspices of the town of Grandson.
In the late 15th Century, Grandson castle belonged to Jacques de Savoie, an ally of Charles the Bold. In 1475 the castle was taken by the Swiss Confederation
. In late February 1476, Charles the Bold brought a large mercenary
army with him together with many heavy cannon
s. An army was organized to come to the garrison's relief. A boat approached the garrison with the news that an army was coming to its relief, but the vessel was unable to approach the fortress closely for fear that it would be hit by Burgundian cannons. The men in the boat gestured to the defenders in the fortress to inform them that help was on the way, but their gestures were misunderstood, and the garrison decided to surrender.
Swiss sources are unanimous in stating that the men only gave up when Charles assured them they would be spared. The historian Panigarola, who was with Charles, claimed that the garrison had thrown themselves on the mercy of the duke, and it was up to his discretion of what to do with them. He ordered all 412 men of the garrison to be executed. In a scene Panigarola described as "shocking and horrible" and sure to fill the Swiss with dread, all the victims were led past the tent of Charles on 28 February 1476 and hanged from trees, or drowned in the lake, in an execution that lasted four hours.
The Swiss had no news of the fate of the garrison and assembled their forces in the hope of lifting the siege. This army numbered a little over 20,000 men without artillery and probably slightly outnumbered the Burgundians. On 2 March 1476 the Swiss army approached the forces of Charles near the town of Concise
. Poor reconnaissance left Charles uninformed as to the size and deployment of the Swiss, and he believed that the Swiss vanguard was the entire force sent against him. The Burgundian knights soon surrounded the Swiss vanguard, but then Charles made a serious mistake. After brief skirmishing, Charles ordered his cavalry to pull back so the artillery could reduce the Swiss forces before the attacks were renewed. At this time, the main body of the Swiss emerged from a forest which had hitherto obscured their approach. The Burgundian army, already pulling back, soon became confused when the second, and larger, body of Swiss troops appeared. The withdrawal soon turned into a rout when the Burgundian army broke ranks and ran.
Few casualties were suffered on either side: the Swiss did not have the cavalry necessary to chase the Burgundians far. At insignificant cost to themselves, the Swiss had humiliated the greatest duke in Europe, defeated one of the most feared armies, and taken a most impressive amount of treasure. The booty Charles carried with him was most impressive, and included jewellery, silver and gold plate, tapestries and much of Charles' artillery. The Swiss initially had little idea of its value. What is probably a small surviving part of this fantastic booty is on display in various Swiss museums today, whilst a few remaining artillery pieces can be seen in the museum of La Neuveville
, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
After the battle, the Swiss troops came upon the bodies of their countrymen still hanging from trees. An eyewitness, Peterman Etterlin, described the scene: "There were found sadly the honorable men still freshly hanging on the trees in front of the castle whom the tyrant had hanged. It was a wretched, pitiable sight. There were hung ten or twenty men on one bough. The trees were bent down and were completely full. There hanged a father and a son next to each other, there two brothers or other friends. And there came the honorable men who knew them; who were their friends, cousins and brothers, who found them miserably hanging. There was first anger and distress in crying and bewailing. ..."
in Grandson included the coup of Guillaume Farel, who had destroyed the altars of the Franciscan church in 1531, and the sermons of the French priest Jean Le Comte. However, it wasn't until 1554 that the full Reformation spread from Bern to Grandson. The monastery and property of the Franciscans were divided between Grandson and the cities of Bern and Fribourg
. After the secularization the cloister
housed a cemetery until the beginning of the 19th. The buildings of the Priory of Saint-Jean became the City Hall and school buildings.
Under Bernese rule, the town was administered by a 24-member council, with the first 12 forming a court.
-Biel
railway line. The lake's water level fell in 1879 with the Jura water correction. The medieval harbor at the west entrance to the town, no longer connected to the lake. At the end of the 19th Century, new docks were built along with magnificent houses on the new bank including the estate and astronomic observatory of the Vautier family. The expansion of the main road and their connection with the surrounding road network led to the 1848-55 straightening and widening of the Rue Basse which forced about thirty houses to move back. On the Palace Square, one of the most remarkable churches of the Evangelical Free Church of the Canton of Vaud was consecrated in 1898.
The income of the residents of Grandson came from agriculture, particularly from livestock raising on slopes of the Jura Mountains
, but also from fishing. The wine production was widespread in the late 19th Century but decreased significantly with the emergence of parasitic diseases. The major industry in the 19th Century was tobacco processing. The main tobacco procession company was Vos, Decoppet. & Cie., which was headquartered in the castle. In 1831, it was taken over by the H. Vautier & Cie. company. The wealthy Vautier family were closely involved in local politics and between 1899 and 1914, they held the mayor's office. Their factory at the west entrance of the city was closed in 1972. In addition, there were various companies in the construction industry (Herren Frères & Cie., Beati Frères SA), Transport, Civil engineering (1896 Landi, 1920 Cand, merged in 1974 into Cand-Landi SA) and construction materials (Les Sables La Poissine Graviers & SA) in town. Today the automotive prototyping company Ateliers d'études de construction automobile Sàrl is headquartered in Grandson.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 10.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.9% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.3%. Out of the forested land, 7.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 55.2% is used for growing crops and 7.0% is pastures, while 2.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams.
Grandson lies at an elevation of 447 m (1,466.5 ft), at a distance of 3 km (1.9 mi) north of Yverdon-les-Bains
.
The municipality was the capital of the Grandson District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Grandson became part of the new district of Jura-Nord Vaudois.
The town is built on moraine
s on the west side of the Lake of Neuchâtel near where the Gransonnet brook flows into the lake. It is at the foot of the Jura Mountains in the northern-central part of the canton of Vaud.
The territory of the municipality rises quite steeply from the shores of the lake to about 500 m (1,640.4 ft) on the plateau. Là Outre is the highest point in the municipality at an elevation of 540 m (1,771.7 ft).
The Arnon forms the northern boundary. In the southwest, it reaches to where the Brine flows into the lake.
Grandson includes the villages of Les Tuileries-de-Grandson and Corcelettes. The surrounding municipalities are Montagny-près-Yverdon
, Valeyres-sous-Montagny
, Giez
, Fiez
, Champagne
, and Bonvillars
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Azure, a Sun in his Spendour over a Crescent both Or.
Most of the population speaks French
(2,464 or 89.3%), with German
being second most common (109 or 4.0%) and Italian
being third (45 or 1.6%).
Of the population in the municipality 537 or about 19.5% were born in Grandson and lived there in 2000. There were 1,084 or 39.3% who were born in the same canton, while 529 or 19.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 516 or 18.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 26 live births to Swiss citizens and 5 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 27 deaths of Swiss citizens and 2 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 1 while the foreign population increased by 3. There were 3 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland and 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 9 non-Swiss men and 9 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 35 and the non-Swiss population increased by 32 people. This represents a population growth rate of 2.3%.
The age distribution, , in Grandson is; 302 children or 10.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 375 teenagers or 12.4% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 363 people or 12.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 424 people or 14.1% are between 30 and 39, 501 people or 16.6% are between 40 and 49, and 412 people or 13.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 312 people or 10.4% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 188 people or 6.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 116 people or 3.8% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 21 people or 0.7% who are 90 and older.
, there were 1,138 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,232 married individuals, 183 widows or widowers and 206 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.61 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 40.2% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 1,134 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 403 households that consist of only one person and 66 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 1,171 households that answered this question, 34.4% were households made up of just one person and there were 4 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 313 married couples without children, 335 married couples with children There were 64 single parents with a child or children. There were 15 households that were made up of unrelated people and 37 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 378 single family homes (or 56.6% of the total) out of a total of 668 inhabited buildings. There were 146 multi-family buildings (21.9%), along with 99 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (14.8%) and 45 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.7%). Of the single family homes 69 were built before 1919, while 41 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (77) were built between 1981 and 1990. The most multi-family homes (56) were built before 1919 and the next most (23) were built between 1919 and 1945. There were 11 multi-family houses built between 1996 and 2000.
there were 1,282 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 385. There were 58 single room apartments and 341 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 1,101 apartments (85.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 147 apartments (11.5%) were seasonally occupied and 34 apartments (2.7%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.77%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
Grandson Castle and the Swiss Reformed
Church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance
. The entire town of Grandson is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
the most popular party was the SP
which received 22.92% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
(19.15%), the SVP
(18.43%) and the LPS Party
(12.55%). In the federal election, a total of 870 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 45.1%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 1,058. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 22, of which 20 were in agriculture and 1 was in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 285 of which 89 or (31.2%) were in manufacturing, 18 or (6.3%) were in mining and 176 (61.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 751. In the tertiary sector; 77 or 10.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 171 or 22.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 64 or 8.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 15 or 2.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 32 or 4.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 218 or 29.0% were in education and 135 or 18.0% were in health care.
, there were 953 workers who commuted into the municipality and 942 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.0 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 6.0% of the workforce coming into Grandson are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 11.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 66.5% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 27 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 0.98% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 103 individuals (or about 3.73% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
, and 78 (or about 2.83% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 5 individuals who were Buddhist
and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 375 (or about 13.59% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 145 individuals (or about 5.26% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 374 who completed tertiary schooling, 58.0% were Swiss men, 26.2% were Swiss women, 12.6% were non-Swiss men and 3.2% were non-Swiss women.
In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 371 students in the Grandson school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 578 children of which 359 children (62.1%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 183 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 183 students in those schools. There were also 5 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
Grandson is home to 1 museum, the Fondation du Château de Grandson. In 2009 it was visited by 54,510 visitors (the average in previous years was 57,723).
, there were 326 students in Grandson who came from another municipality, while 159 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
During the Burgundian Wars
Burgundian Wars
The Burgundian Wars were a conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, later involving the Old Swiss Confederacy, which would play a decisive role. Open war broke out in 1474, and in the following years the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the...
, Charles the Bold was defeated near here in the Battle of Grandson
Battle of Grandson
The Battle of Grandson, took place on 2 March 1476, was part of the Burgundian Wars, and resulted in a major defeat for Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.- Siege of Grandson, February 1476 :...
on 2 March 1476.
History
The Grandson family is first mentioned in the second half of the 11th Century as Grancione. The town was first mentioned around 1100 as de castro Grancione. Around 1126 it was mentioned as castri Grandissoni and in 1154 it was called apud Grantionem.Prehistoric settlements
In May 1895 a farmer discovered a buried underground MenhirMenhir
A menhir is a large upright standing stone. Menhirs may be found singly as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. Their size can vary considerably; but their shape is generally uneven and squared, often tapering towards the top...
weighing about three tons and about 3.4 m (11.2 ft) tall in Les Echâtelards. The monolith now stands in the vicinity of the discovery site. Grandson, however, is better known for its prehistoric lake side settlements. The site at Corcelettes became well known after 1854, when Frederic Louis Troyon introduced the author Ferdinand Keller to the Corcelettes site in which numerous piles for stilt houses as well as vases were found. By 1930 seven lake front settlements were identified. They included: in Corcelettes a large Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
site and a smaller one from the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
period, in Les Buttes two more from the Neolithic period, and in Le Repuis, Le stand and Les Tuileries three others that were probably from the Neolithic. At the last three sites, no artifacts were discovered that could be used to definitively date them. In 1995 at the Bellerive campsite a Late Neolithic settlement dating from 2741-2488 BC was discovered.
The most important stilt house
Stilt house
Stilt houses or pile dwellings or palafitte are houses raised on piles over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding, but also serve to keep out vermin...
settlement is at Corcelettes. The first Jura water correction
Jura water correction
The correction of the waters of the Swiss Jura consisted in a wide series of hydrological undertakings carried out in Switzerland in the region of the three lakes: Lake Morat connected to Lake Neuchâtel by the Broye canal, the latter connected to Lake of Bienne by the Thielle canal, an area so...
of 1876 led to the drainage of a large part of the marshy field where the prehistoric village had been. The Federal Archaeology and History Museum in Lausanne seized the opportunity and started excavations in the following year which dragged on until 1880. Corcelettes is probably the one Swiss village that supplied the most metal objects from the Bronze Age to different museums and private collections around the world. In 1881, the stilt field was 300 by in size. In 1900 it was declared a Swiss heritage site of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
. While it legally protected from looting, several thousand square meters of archaeologically important material has been lost due to erosion. Nevertheless, Corcelettes is one of the best preserved and largest lakeside settlements on Lake Neuchâtel.
In 1983 a system of trenches and banks were built to protect the site from weathering. Between 1983-88 approximately 2,000 wood pieces, of which 14 were from the period 1123-878 BC, were recorded and measured. Several investigations of the, up to 0.6 m (2 ft) thick, artifact layers have found not only pottery and some bronze objects, but also organic material (threads, bark, wood, leaves, seeds, etc.) and burnt traces of house walls of wattle.
The findings from Corcelettes spread over the whole Bronze Age, but with a clear accumulation at the end of this period in the 9th century BC. The pottery is often decorated with paintings, tin bands or white incrustation. Some of the objects include; a small pig sculpture, a coil and terracotta horns, a flute and two sickle wooden handles, horse bits, three bronze vessels (including a basin in a northern Europe style), a broken brooch, a wheel made of ash wood, wheat bread, a bone plate made from pieces of about fifteen human skulls and a dugout canoe made of wood. A copper bar, hammer, small tools and molds indicate that there was a metal processing and manufacturing shop in the village.
It appears that the village had declined by the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
. The only Iron Age object was a Certosa type brooch. From the Roman era
Switzerland in the Roman era
The history of Switzerland in the Roman era encompasses the roughly six centuries during which the territory of modern Switzerland was a part of the Roman Republic and Empire...
only a few bricks and walls have been discovered in the area of the municipality.
Medieval Grandson
The development of Grandson town is closely tied to the castleGrandson Castle
Grandson Castle is a medieval castle in the Swiss municipality of Grandson in the canton of Vaud. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-History:...
and its owner, the lords of Grandson. The family came to power around 1000. The small settlement is first mentioned around 1100, but is certainly older than that. Either by 1146 or at least before 1178 the Grandson family supported the foundation of the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
Priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
of Saint-Jean, which belonged to the abbey of La Chaise-Dieu in Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
. The family gave the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste to the priory. At the same time, they rebuilt the church, with monolith
Monolith
A monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument...
ic columns topped with roman capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
. The choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
was enlarged between 1300–08 and was damaged in a fire in 1378. It was part of the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Giez
Giez
Giez is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:Giez has an area, , of . Of this area, or 58.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 35.2% is forested...
until 1438 when the priory's church received the rights of a parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
.
By 1300, the entire town, except on the lake side, was surrounded by walls. The nearby villages of Provence, Bonvillars, Fiez, Concise and Yvonand were responsible for the maintenance of the walls. Otto I of Grandson
Otton de Grandson
Otto de Grandson was a medieval Savoyard knight long in the service of the English crown under Edward I. He was the closest personal friend of Edward, his exact contemporary, and shared the king's many interests....
rebuilt the old castle and enlarged it in 1277-1281. The castle was expanded again in the beginning of the 14th Century.
A large fire (probably in 1378, but first documented in 1397) destroyed the castle roof and a large portion of the courtyard. A Bürgergemeinde
Bürgergemeinde
The Bürgergemeinde is a statutory corporation in public law in Switzerland...
is first mentioned in 1293, and before 1328 Otto I granted a charter to the town. On the north side of the church a covered market was built. In the village of Le Revelin, outside the city walls and close the Giez gate, butchers shops opened. Otto I promoted the mendicant orders
Mendicant Orders
The mendicant orders are religious orders which depend directly on the charity of the people for their livelihood. In principle, they do not own property, either individually or collectively , believing that this was the most pure way of life to copy followed by Jesus Christ, in order that all...
and allowed the Franciscans to build a monastery at the western entrance of the town in 1289. Today only the church tower and some remains of the convent building are visible. A hospital was built in the second half of the 14th century in today's Rue Basse, near the Gey gate tower, which was destroyed in 1837. In 1420 the hospital came under the auspices of the town of Grandson.
Battle of Grandson
Old Swiss Confederacy
The Old Swiss Confederacy was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland....
. In late February 1476, Charles the Bold brought a large mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
army with him together with many heavy cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
s. An army was organized to come to the garrison's relief. A boat approached the garrison with the news that an army was coming to its relief, but the vessel was unable to approach the fortress closely for fear that it would be hit by Burgundian cannons. The men in the boat gestured to the defenders in the fortress to inform them that help was on the way, but their gestures were misunderstood, and the garrison decided to surrender.
Swiss sources are unanimous in stating that the men only gave up when Charles assured them they would be spared. The historian Panigarola, who was with Charles, claimed that the garrison had thrown themselves on the mercy of the duke, and it was up to his discretion of what to do with them. He ordered all 412 men of the garrison to be executed. In a scene Panigarola described as "shocking and horrible" and sure to fill the Swiss with dread, all the victims were led past the tent of Charles on 28 February 1476 and hanged from trees, or drowned in the lake, in an execution that lasted four hours.
The Swiss had no news of the fate of the garrison and assembled their forces in the hope of lifting the siege. This army numbered a little over 20,000 men without artillery and probably slightly outnumbered the Burgundians. On 2 March 1476 the Swiss army approached the forces of Charles near the town of Concise
Concise
Concise is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:Concise has an area, , of . Of this area, or 24.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 66.3% is forested...
. Poor reconnaissance left Charles uninformed as to the size and deployment of the Swiss, and he believed that the Swiss vanguard was the entire force sent against him. The Burgundian knights soon surrounded the Swiss vanguard, but then Charles made a serious mistake. After brief skirmishing, Charles ordered his cavalry to pull back so the artillery could reduce the Swiss forces before the attacks were renewed. At this time, the main body of the Swiss emerged from a forest which had hitherto obscured their approach. The Burgundian army, already pulling back, soon became confused when the second, and larger, body of Swiss troops appeared. The withdrawal soon turned into a rout when the Burgundian army broke ranks and ran.
Few casualties were suffered on either side: the Swiss did not have the cavalry necessary to chase the Burgundians far. At insignificant cost to themselves, the Swiss had humiliated the greatest duke in Europe, defeated one of the most feared armies, and taken a most impressive amount of treasure. The booty Charles carried with him was most impressive, and included jewellery, silver and gold plate, tapestries and much of Charles' artillery. The Swiss initially had little idea of its value. What is probably a small surviving part of this fantastic booty is on display in various Swiss museums today, whilst a few remaining artillery pieces can be seen in the museum of La Neuveville
La Neuveville
La Neuveville is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura .-Geography:...
, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
After the battle, the Swiss troops came upon the bodies of their countrymen still hanging from trees. An eyewitness, Peterman Etterlin, described the scene: "There were found sadly the honorable men still freshly hanging on the trees in front of the castle whom the tyrant had hanged. It was a wretched, pitiable sight. There were hung ten or twenty men on one bough. The trees were bent down and were completely full. There hanged a father and a son next to each other, there two brothers or other friends. And there came the honorable men who knew them; who were their friends, cousins and brothers, who found them miserably hanging. There was first anger and distress in crying and bewailing. ..."
The Reformation
The forerunners of the Protestant ReformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in Grandson included the coup of Guillaume Farel, who had destroyed the altars of the Franciscan church in 1531, and the sermons of the French priest Jean Le Comte. However, it wasn't until 1554 that the full Reformation spread from Bern to Grandson. The monastery and property of the Franciscans were divided between Grandson and the cities of Bern and Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
. After the secularization the cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
housed a cemetery until the beginning of the 19th. The buildings of the Priory of Saint-Jean became the City Hall and school buildings.
Under Bernese rule, the town was administered by a 24-member council, with the first 12 forming a court.
Modern Grandson
In the 19th century major construction projects changed the town and the immediate surroundings. In 1819, the Franciscan church and the cemetery were moved to Les Collombaires to allow an extension of the Rue Basse to the main road. In 1890 the foundations of the church were destroyed to allow the creation of a plaza in front of city hall. In 1858, the city was separated from the lake by a dam which was built for the YverdonYverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district...
-Biel
Biel/Bienne
Biel/Bienne is a city in the district of the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.It is located on the language boundary and is throughout bilingual. Biel is the German name for the town, Bienne its French counterpart. The town is often referred to in both...
railway line. The lake's water level fell in 1879 with the Jura water correction. The medieval harbor at the west entrance to the town, no longer connected to the lake. At the end of the 19th Century, new docks were built along with magnificent houses on the new bank including the estate and astronomic observatory of the Vautier family. The expansion of the main road and their connection with the surrounding road network led to the 1848-55 straightening and widening of the Rue Basse which forced about thirty houses to move back. On the Palace Square, one of the most remarkable churches of the Evangelical Free Church of the Canton of Vaud was consecrated in 1898.
The income of the residents of Grandson came from agriculture, particularly from livestock raising on slopes of the Jura Mountains
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...
, but also from fishing. The wine production was widespread in the late 19th Century but decreased significantly with the emergence of parasitic diseases. The major industry in the 19th Century was tobacco processing. The main tobacco procession company was Vos, Decoppet. & Cie., which was headquartered in the castle. In 1831, it was taken over by the H. Vautier & Cie. company. The wealthy Vautier family were closely involved in local politics and between 1899 and 1914, they held the mayor's office. Their factory at the west entrance of the city was closed in 1972. In addition, there were various companies in the construction industry (Herren Frères & Cie., Beati Frères SA), Transport, Civil engineering (1896 Landi, 1920 Cand, merged in 1974 into Cand-Landi SA) and construction materials (Les Sables La Poissine Graviers & SA) in town. Today the automotive prototyping company Ateliers d'études de construction automobile Sàrl is headquartered in Grandson.
Geography
Grandson has an area, , of 7.86 square kilometres (3 sq mi). Of this area, 5.1 km² (2 sq mi) or 64.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.69 km² (0.266410489428849 sq mi) or 8.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.89 km² (0.729733079739891 sq mi) or 24.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.09 km² (22.2 acre) or 1.1% is either rivers or lakes and 0.13 km² (32.1 acre) or 1.7% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 10.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.9% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.3%. Out of the forested land, 7.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 55.2% is used for growing crops and 7.0% is pastures, while 2.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams.
Grandson lies at an elevation of 447 m (1,466.5 ft), at a distance of 3 km (1.9 mi) north of Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district...
.
The municipality was the capital of the Grandson District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Grandson became part of the new district of Jura-Nord Vaudois.
The town is built on moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
s on the west side of the Lake of Neuchâtel near where the Gransonnet brook flows into the lake. It is at the foot of the Jura Mountains in the northern-central part of the canton of Vaud.
The territory of the municipality rises quite steeply from the shores of the lake to about 500 m (1,640.4 ft) on the plateau. Là Outre is the highest point in the municipality at an elevation of 540 m (1,771.7 ft).
The Arnon forms the northern boundary. In the southwest, it reaches to where the Brine flows into the lake.
Grandson includes the villages of Les Tuileries-de-Grandson and Corcelettes. The surrounding municipalities are Montagny-près-Yverdon
Montagny-près-Yverdon
Montagny-près-Yverdon is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-History:Montagny-près-Yverdon is first mentioned around 995-96 as in villa Montaniaco. In 1397 it was mentioned as Montaigny-le-Courbe.Its history goes back to at least the 12th...
, Valeyres-sous-Montagny
Valeyres-sous-Montagny
Valeyres-sous-Montagny is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:Valeyres-sous-Montagny has an area, , of . Of this area, or 60.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 23.7% is forested...
, Giez
Giez
Giez is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:Giez has an area, , of . Of this area, or 58.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 35.2% is forested...
, Fiez
Fiez
Fiez is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:Fiez has an area, , of . Of this area, or 61.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 34.6% is forested...
, Champagne
Champagne, Switzerland
Champagne is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-History:Champagne is first mentioned in 885 as Campania....
, and Bonvillars
Bonvillars
Bonvillars is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:Bonvillars has an area, , of . Of this area, or 48.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 43.6% is forested...
.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Azure, a Sun in his Spendour over a Crescent both Or.
Demographics
Grandson has a population of . , 15.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 13.1%. It has changed at a rate of 13.5% due to migration and at a rate of -0.3% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(2,464 or 89.3%), with German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
being second most common (109 or 4.0%) and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
being third (45 or 1.6%).
Of the population in the municipality 537 or about 19.5% were born in Grandson and lived there in 2000. There were 1,084 or 39.3% who were born in the same canton, while 529 or 19.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 516 or 18.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 26 live births to Swiss citizens and 5 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 27 deaths of Swiss citizens and 2 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 1 while the foreign population increased by 3. There were 3 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland and 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 9 non-Swiss men and 9 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 35 and the non-Swiss population increased by 32 people. This represents a population growth rate of 2.3%.
The age distribution, , in Grandson is; 302 children or 10.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 375 teenagers or 12.4% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 363 people or 12.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 424 people or 14.1% are between 30 and 39, 501 people or 16.6% are between 40 and 49, and 412 people or 13.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 312 people or 10.4% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 188 people or 6.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 116 people or 3.8% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 21 people or 0.7% who are 90 and older.
, there were 1,138 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,232 married individuals, 183 widows or widowers and 206 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.61 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 40.2% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 1,134 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 403 households that consist of only one person and 66 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 1,171 households that answered this question, 34.4% were households made up of just one person and there were 4 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 313 married couples without children, 335 married couples with children There were 64 single parents with a child or children. There were 15 households that were made up of unrelated people and 37 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 378 single family homes (or 56.6% of the total) out of a total of 668 inhabited buildings. There were 146 multi-family buildings (21.9%), along with 99 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (14.8%) and 45 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.7%). Of the single family homes 69 were built before 1919, while 41 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (77) were built between 1981 and 1990. The most multi-family homes (56) were built before 1919 and the next most (23) were built between 1919 and 1945. There were 11 multi-family houses built between 1996 and 2000.
there were 1,282 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 385. There were 58 single room apartments and 341 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 1,101 apartments (85.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 147 apartments (11.5%) were seasonally occupied and 34 apartments (2.7%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.77%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
It is home to one or more prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements that are part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the AlpsPrehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps is a series of prehistoric pile-dwelling settlements in and around the Alps built from around 5000 to 500 B.C. on the edges of lakes, rivers or wetlands...
UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site.
Grandson Castle and the Swiss Reformed
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
Church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
. The entire town of Grandson is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.-Sites of national importance:-Types:...
.
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
which received 22.92% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....
(19.15%), the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
(18.43%) and the LPS Party
Liberal Party of Switzerland
The Liberal Party of Switzerland was a party with economically liberal policies. It was known as a party of the upper class. On 1 January 2009 it merged with the larger Free Democratic Party to establish FDP.The Liberals....
(12.55%). In the federal election, a total of 870 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 45.1%.
Economy
, Grandson had an unemployment rate of 4.5%. , there were 30 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 10 businesses involved in this sector. 295 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 31 businesses in this sector. 898 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 85 businesses in this sector. There were 1,363 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.6% of the workforce.the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
jobs was 1,058. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 22, of which 20 were in agriculture and 1 was in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 285 of which 89 or (31.2%) were in manufacturing, 18 or (6.3%) were in mining and 176 (61.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 751. In the tertiary sector; 77 or 10.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 171 or 22.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 64 or 8.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 15 or 2.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 32 or 4.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 218 or 29.0% were in education and 135 or 18.0% were in health care.
, there were 953 workers who commuted into the municipality and 942 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.0 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 6.0% of the workforce coming into Grandson are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 11.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 66.5% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 747 or 27.1% were Roman Catholic, while 1,324 or 48.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 27 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
(or about 0.98% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...
, and there were 103 individuals (or about 3.73% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 78 (or about 2.83% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. There were 5 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 375 (or about 13.59% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 145 individuals (or about 5.26% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Grandson about 1,025 or (37.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 374 or (13.6%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). Of the 374 who completed tertiary schooling, 58.0% were Swiss men, 26.2% were Swiss women, 12.6% were non-Swiss men and 3.2% were non-Swiss women.
In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 371 students in the Grandson school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 578 children of which 359 children (62.1%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 183 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 183 students in those schools. There were also 5 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
Grandson is home to 1 museum, the Fondation du Château de Grandson. In 2009 it was visited by 54,510 visitors (the average in previous years was 57,723).
, there were 326 students in Grandson who came from another municipality, while 159 residents attended schools outside the municipality.