La Tour-de-Peilz
Encyclopedia
La Tour-de-Peilz is a municipality
in Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District in the canton
of Vaud
in Switzerland
. The city is located on Lake Geneva
between Montreux
and Vevey
(the agglomeration counting some 100,000 inhabitants).
, Roman
and Burgundian
remains have been excavated. In the Middle Ages
it was under the bishops of Sion and the counts of Geneva
, until it was acquired by Savoy
.
On 8 June 1476, after a heroic resistance, its inhabitants were massacred by mountain warriors from Haut-Simmental, led by the Bernese Niklaus Zurkinden. Later the canton of Bern conquered the village along with the rest of the region. It remained part of Bern until the foundation of the canton of Vaud in 1803.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 46.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 13.9%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.6%. Out of the forested land, 1.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 2.5% is used for growing crops and 11.4% is pastures, while 15.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The municipality was part of the Vevey District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and La Tour-de-Peilz became part of the new district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Per pale Argent and Gules, a Castle counterchanged.
Most of the population speaks French
(8,490 or 83.0%) as their first language, with German
being second most common (605 or 5.9%) and Italian
being third (295 or 2.9%). There are 5 people who speak Romansh.
The age distribution, , in La Tour-de-Peilz is; 1,092 children or 10.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,233 teenagers or 11.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,152 people or 10.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,325 people or 12.3% are between 30 and 39, 1,702 people or 15.8% are between 40 and 49, and 1,313 people or 12.2% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 1,304 people or 12.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 969 people or 9.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 571 people or 5.3% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 104 people or 1.0% who are 90 and older.
, there were 3,882 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 4,881 married individuals, 726 widows or widowers and 741 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.6 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 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 20.6% 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 4,870 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. There were 2,012 households that consist of only one person and 192 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 4,951 households that answered this question, 40.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 28 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,284 married couples without children, 1,164 married couples with children There were 296 single parents with a child or children. There were 86 households that were made up of unrelated people and 81 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 528 single family homes (or 44.5% of the total) out of a total of 1,186 inhabited buildings. There were 456 multi-family buildings (38.4%), along with 159 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (13.4%) and 43 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (3.6%).
, a total of 4,780 apartments (88.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 456 apartments (8.4%) were seasonally occupied and 186 apartments (3.4%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.35%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
.
the most popular party was the SP
which received 24.28% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(18.15%), the FDP
(14.12%) and the Green Party
(14.08%). In the federal election, a total of 2,851 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 44.9%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 2,141. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 40, of which 37 were in agriculture and 3 were in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 280 of which 67 or (23.9%) were in manufacturing and 184 (65.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 1,821. In the tertiary sector; 323 or 17.7% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 22 or 1.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 125 or 6.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 27 or 1.5% were in the information industry, 22 or 1.2% were the insurance or financial industry, 565 or 31.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 310 or 17.0% were in education and 252 or 13.8% were in health care.
, there were 1,181 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,726 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 21.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.5% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 207 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 2.02% of the population), there were 8 individuals (or about 0.08% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 545 individuals (or about 5.33% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 17 individuals (or about 0.17% of the population) who were Jewish
, and 203 (or about 1.98% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 43 individuals who were Buddhist
, 12 individuals who were Hindu
and 11 individuals who belonged to another church. 1,303 (or about 12.74% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 482 individuals (or about 4.71% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 1,857 who completed tertiary schooling, 46.3% were Swiss men, 28.0% were Swiss women, 14.6% were non-Swiss men and 11.1% were non-Swiss women.
In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 1,221 students in the La Tour-de-Peilz 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 817 children of which 456 children (55.8%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 657 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 543 students in those schools. There were also 21 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
, there were 1,136 students in La Tour-de-Peilz who came from another municipality, while 406 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
La Tour-de-Peilz is home to 1 museum, the Musée suisse du jeu (Swiss Museum of Games). In 2009 it was visited by 19,244 visitors (the average in previous years was 21,083).
La Tour-de-Peilz is home to the Bibliothèque communale library. The library has 19,223 books or other media, and loaned out 46,152 items in the same year. It was open a total of 227 days with average of 20 hours per week during that year.
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 Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District 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....
. The city is located on Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...
between Montreux
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
and Vevey
Vevey
Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.It was the seat of the district of the same name until 2006, and is now part of the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District...
(the agglomeration counting some 100,000 inhabitants).
History
In the area CeltCelt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
, Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and Burgundian
Burgundians
The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...
remains have been excavated. In the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
it was under the bishops of Sion and the counts of Geneva
County of Geneva
The County of Geneva, largely corresponding to the later Genevois province, originated in the tenth century, in the Burgundian Kingdom of Arles which fell to the Holy Roman Empire in 1032.-History:...
, until it was acquired by Savoy
County of Savoy
The Counts of Savoy emerged, along with the free communes of Switzerland, from the collapse of the Burgundian Kingdom of Arles in the 11th century....
.
On 8 June 1476, after a heroic resistance, its inhabitants were massacred by mountain warriors from Haut-Simmental, led by the Bernese Niklaus Zurkinden. Later the canton of Bern conquered the village along with the rest of the region. It remained part of Bern until the foundation of the canton of Vaud in 1803.
Geography
La Tour-de-Peilz has an area, , of 3.2 square kilometre. Of this area, 0.95 square kilometre or 29.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.15 square kilometre or 4.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.15 square kilometre or 66.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 46.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 13.9%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.6%. Out of the forested land, 1.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 2.5% is used for growing crops and 11.4% is pastures, while 15.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The municipality was part of the Vevey District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and La Tour-de-Peilz became part of the new district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut.
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 Per pale Argent and Gules, a Castle counterchanged.
Demographics
La Tour-de-Peilz has a population of . , 25.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 7.3%. It has changed at a rate of 7.8% due to migration and at a rate of -0.2% 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...
(8,490 or 83.0%) as their first language, 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 (605 or 5.9%) 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 (295 or 2.9%). There are 5 people who speak Romansh.
The age distribution, , in La Tour-de-Peilz is; 1,092 children or 10.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,233 teenagers or 11.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,152 people or 10.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,325 people or 12.3% are between 30 and 39, 1,702 people or 15.8% are between 40 and 49, and 1,313 people or 12.2% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 1,304 people or 12.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 969 people or 9.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 571 people or 5.3% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 104 people or 1.0% who are 90 and older.
, there were 3,882 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 4,881 married individuals, 726 widows or widowers and 741 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.6 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 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 20.6% 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 4,870 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. There were 2,012 households that consist of only one person and 192 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 4,951 households that answered this question, 40.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 28 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,284 married couples without children, 1,164 married couples with children There were 296 single parents with a child or children. There were 86 households that were made up of unrelated people and 81 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 528 single family homes (or 44.5% of the total) out of a total of 1,186 inhabited buildings. There were 456 multi-family buildings (38.4%), along with 159 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (13.4%) and 43 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (3.6%).
, a total of 4,780 apartments (88.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 456 apartments (8.4%) were seasonally occupied and 186 apartments (3.4%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.35%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The Villa Kenwin is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significanceSwiss 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...
.
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 24.28% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...
(18.15%), 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....
(14.12%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...
(14.08%). In the federal election, a total of 2,851 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 44.9%.
Economy
, La Tour-de-Peilz had an unemployment rate of 4.5%. , there were 64 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 299 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 70 businesses in this sector. 2,236 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 259 businesses in this sector. There were 4,762 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 46.3% 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 2,141. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 40, of which 37 were in agriculture and 3 were in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 280 of which 67 or (23.9%) were in manufacturing and 184 (65.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 1,821. In the tertiary sector; 323 or 17.7% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 22 or 1.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 125 or 6.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 27 or 1.5% were in the information industry, 22 or 1.2% were the insurance or financial industry, 565 or 31.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 310 or 17.0% were in education and 252 or 13.8% were in health care.
, there were 1,181 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,726 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 21.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.5% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 3,859 or 37.7% were Roman Catholic, while 3,788 or 37.0% 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 207 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 2.02% of the population), there were 8 individuals (or about 0.08% of the population) who belonged 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 545 individuals (or about 5.33% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 17 individuals (or about 0.17% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 203 (or about 1.98% 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 43 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...
, 12 individuals who were Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and 11 individuals who belonged to another church. 1,303 (or about 12.74% 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 482 individuals (or about 4.71% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In La Tour-de-Peilz about 3,931 or (38.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 1,857 or (18.2%) 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 1,857 who completed tertiary schooling, 46.3% were Swiss men, 28.0% were Swiss women, 14.6% were non-Swiss men and 11.1% were non-Swiss women.
In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 1,221 students in the La Tour-de-Peilz 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 817 children of which 456 children (55.8%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 657 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 543 students in those schools. There were also 21 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
, there were 1,136 students in La Tour-de-Peilz who came from another municipality, while 406 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
La Tour-de-Peilz is home to 1 museum, the Musée suisse du jeu (Swiss Museum of Games). In 2009 it was visited by 19,244 visitors (the average in previous years was 21,083).
La Tour-de-Peilz is home to the Bibliothèque communale library. The library has 19,223 books or other media, and loaned out 46,152 items in the same year. It was open a total of 227 days with average of 20 hours per week during that year.
Notable people
- The painter Gustave CourbetGustave CourbetJean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...
died there in 1877. - Prince Adalbert of PrussiaPrince Adalbert of PrussiaPrince Adalbert of Prussia was a son of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany by his first wife, Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein.-Marriage:He married Princess Adelheid "Adi" of Saxe-Meiningen on 3 August 1914 in...
died there in 1948. - Princess Adelheid of Saxe-Meiningen died there in 1971.
- The cellist Dimitry MarkevitchDimitry MarkevitchDimitry Markevitch was a Russian concert cellist, researcher, teacher and musicologist. He studied under Gregor Piatigorsky and founded the Institut de Hautes Etudes Musicales in Switzerland...
was born there in 1923. - The novelist A.J. Cronin is buried there.
- Tennis Player Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere resides with her husband and three children.