Münchenwiler 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....

.

History

Münchenwiler is first mentioned in 1080-81 as Vilar. In 1228 it was mentioned as Vilar les Moinos. .

In 1080-81 the village was given by the brothers Gerold and Rudolf de Vilar to Cluny Abbey

Cluny Abbey

Cluny Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was built in the Romanesque style, with three churches built in succession from the 10th to the early 12th centuries....

. Shortly thereafter a 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...

 was founded, which served as a way station for pilgrims on the Way of St. James

Way of St. James

The Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....

. The Priory church was built in 1100, using spolia

Spolia

Spolia is a modern art-historical term used to describe the re-use of earlier building material or decorative sculpture on new monuments...

 from the Roman ruins at Avenches

Avenches

Avenches is a Swiss municipality in the canton of Vaud, located in the district of Broye-Vully.-History:The roots of Avenches go back to the Celts...

.

Geography

Münchenwiler has an area of 2.5 km² (0.965255396481338 sq mi). Of this area, 67.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 21.1% is forested. The rest of the land, (11.7%) is settled.

It forms a Bernse exclave within the canton of Fribourg

Canton of Fribourg

The Canton of Fribourg is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the west of the country. The capital of the canton is Fribourg. The name Fribourg is French, whereas is the German name for both the canton and the town.-History:...

 and lies on the 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...

–Murten

Murten

Murten is a municipality in the See district of the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.It is located on the southern shores of Lake Morat. Morat is situated between Bern and Lausanne and is the capital of the Lake District of the canton of Fribourg....

 railway line. The N1 motorway crosses the municipality in a tunnel.

Demographics

Münchenwiler has a population (as of ) of . , 5.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -3.1%. Most of the population speaks German (91.7%), with French being second most common ( 4.8%) and Italian being third ( 0.7%).

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 43.3% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were 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....

 (16.8%) and the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

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

 (11.9%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.8%. In Münchenwiler about 73.2% 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...

).

Münchenwiler has an unemployment rate of 1.93%. , there were 42 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 11 businesses involved in this sector. 56 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 7 businesses in this sector. 52 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 10 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	171
1850	400
1900	444
1950	347
1980	290
2000	434