Münchenbuchsee is a 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 Bern-Mittelland administrative district

Bern-Mittelland (administrative district)

Bern-Mittelland District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Bern-Mittelland administrative region, and is the only district in the region...

 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 Bern 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....

. It is famous as the birthplace of painter Paul Klee

Paul Klee

Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...

.

History

Münchenbuchsee is first mentioned in a deed of donation in 1180 as Buhse (in Swiss-German it is still known as Buchsi). The knight Kuno von Buchsee donated his entire possessions to the Order of St. John after having returned for the third time from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A commandry of the order was established, which subsequently acquired more land and expanded its influence in the area. In 1210 the order built a hospice

Hospice

Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...

 for pilgrims as well as an infirmary and a big kitchen. For more than 350 years the members of the order distributed food to the poor twice a week.

After the Reformation

Protestant 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 1528, the State

State (polity)

A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...

 of Bern (today canton of Bern) dissolved the commandry and established a Landvogtei

Vogt

A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...

, which is quite similar with the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 office of reeve

Reeve (England)

Originally in Anglo-Saxon England the reeve was a senior official with local responsibilities under the Crown e.g. as the chief magistrate of a town or district...

.

Münchenbuchsee was partially destroyed by a fire in 1770. 59 communes helped to rebuild the village by donating wood, grain and money. Subsequently the first fire-engine was bought and a night watchman was hired.

Geography

Münchenbuchsee is roughly 10 km (6.2 mi) from Bern in north-westernly direction. The town lies on the transit axis from Bern to Biel. One of the five schools for the hearing-impaired of Switzerland is located here.

Münchenbuchsee has an area of 8.9 km² (3.4 sq mi). Of this area, 46.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 27.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 26% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.2%) is non-productive (rivers or glaciers).

Demography

Münchenbuchsee has a population (as of ) of . , 12.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 9%. Most of the population speaks German (88.9%), with Italian being second most common ( 2.0%) and French being third ( 1.5%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was 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...

 which received 32.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (23.7%), the FDP

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (13.1%) 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:...

 (11.2%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 64% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 10.9%. In Münchenbuchsee about 78% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule

Fachhochschule

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...

).

Münchenbuchsee has an unemployment rate of 2.05%. , there were 47 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 1487 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 75 businesses in this sector. 4084 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 285 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	494
1850	1,298
1900	2,088
1950	2,592
1970	6,459
2000	9,609

External links