Solothurn
Encyclopedia
The city of Solothurn (German
: , , ) is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn
in Switzerland
. The city also comprises the only municipality
of the district of the same name.
era. The remains of a Mesolithic
camp were discovered in 1986 during renovations of the former Kino Elite building. From the Neolithic
, Bronze
and Iron Age
, only a few scattered items have been discovered.
settlement at Solothurn was probably built around AD 15-25 as a road station and bridge head on the road from Aventicum
to Augusta Raurica
or Vindonissa
. A small vicus
or settlement quickly developed around the castrum. Solothurn is first mentioned in 219 as vico salod[uro] on the so-called Eponastein. The name may indicate either that a celtic settlement existed on the site before or just be a testimony to the mixed Gallo-Roman culture
in the north-west provinces of the Roman Empire. It came to be known as Salodurum. Its strategical importance lay in the position at the approach to the Rhine from southeast. In the 2nd-3rd Century AD, the vicus expanded rapidly to fill almost all of what is now the old city of Solothurn, including a portion of today's suburb south of the Aare.
The Roman bridge was probably somewhat above the current Wengibrücke. The Roman era river bed was 40–80 m (131.2–262.5 ft) north of the present Aare river. The main street of the Vicus was well below the present main street. In addition to the normal government of the settlement, there were two mayors (magistri), and a six member college (seviri Augustales), which was entrusted with supporting the imperial cult
. Salodurum was also home to a guard detachment of the XXII Legion
, whose high command was stationed in Mainz
in Germany. According to inscriptions, there was a temple of Jupiter, a temple of Apollo Augustus and an altar to the goddess of horses Epona
, who was popular in the Roman military and of celtic origin. However, the locations of those three temples is not known. There was bath house on the main street and a pottery district in the northwest of the town which have been documented archaeologically. A cemetery with urns and cremation burials on the eastern end of the Vicus was discovered in 1762-63 during the demolition of the old church of St. Ursus. In addition, two Roman tombs were discovered in the same area.
Around 325-350, the unfortified settlement along the road was transformed into a fortified camp or castrum, which covered only half of the former settlement area. A 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) thick and 9 m (29.5 ft) high wall was built around the settlement. The new, fortified town was bell-shaped, and is still visible in the cadastral map of the city. At various points in the city, large and small pieces of the old Roman wall are still visible in the houses of the old town. The location of a gate in the north and a tower in the south-east corner are known and it is likely that there were additional gates and towers. Almost nothing is known about the buildings inside the walls.
there were two settlement centres, a secular settlement in the former castrum and a religious settlement on the grounds of the late-Roman cemeteries outside the walls. Both the religious histories and archeological discoveries indicate that both areas remained inhabited continuously into the Early Middle Ages. The former chapel of St. Stephen inside the castrum was built on the foundation of an earlier, late-Roman building. A burial memorial in the cemetery of the nearby St. Peter's Chapel dates to around the collapse of the Roman Empire. By the middle of the 5th Century, St. Eucherius of Lyon
mentions the martyrdom of St. Ursus
and St. Victor
and a cult of saints in Solothurn. About 500 AD, the Burgundian
Princess Sedeleuba took the bones of St. Victor to Geneva
, while the bones of St. Ursus remained in Solothurn. The church dedicated to the veneration of Saint Ursus is first mentioned in 870.
(Lorraine). After the collapse of Lotharingia, it became part of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy. In 1033, the Kingdom of Burgundy became part of the Holy Roman Empire
and Solothurn gained some independence. In 1038, Emperor
Conrad II
held court at Solothurn and there crowned his son, Henry III
King of Burgundy. The royal court resided in Solothurn on several occasions until 1052, however, there is no evidence of a permanent royal palace. In 1127, it was acquired by the dukes of Zähringen
. Under the rule of the Zähringens, in 1146, Solothurn's coins are first mentioned. In 1182, causidicus or Zähringen appointed judges first appeared in Solothurn. After the extinction of the Zähringer line in 1218 it became a free imperial city
under the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1252, the town council and Schultheiss or mayor became mostly independent and had their own town seals. In 1251 it was mentioned as saluerre and in 1275 as Solotren. Starting around 1200, there was a council of nobles in the town.
In 1252, a group of nobles that could witness and support deeds, known as consuls et cives Solodorenses, first appears in the town. Initially the nobles exercised power over the entire town. However, the guild
movement of the 14th Century resulted in a reduction in the power of the nobles and also a restricted guild system in Solothurn. By around 1350, an eleven member Altrat (Council of Elders) and a 22 member Jungrat (Younger Council) existed in the city. Each of the eleven guilds were represented by a member of the Altrat and two members of the Jungrat. These 33 councillors exercised, together with the mayor, the power of government and helped appoint law makers. The members of the two councils were elected each year by the citizens of the city, after which the councils and mayor appointed many of the government officials. The noble families retained some power as the guilds became part of the town council. However in 1459 the last noble family died out and positions on the council fell to wealthy farmers, butchers and millers.
Until the pogrom
on 1348 during an outbreak of the plague, there was a small Jewish community in Solothurn.
Over the 13th to 15th centuries, the citizens of the city slowly emancipated themselves from the higher nobility. In 1276 and 1280 Emperor Rudolf I
codified the previously poorly defined rights of the city and granted it the privilege de non Evocando or the right that their citizens were protected from trial in foreign courts. In 1344 Solothurn acquired the right to appoint their own Schultheiss from the Count of Buchegg, which was confirmed by Emperor Charles IV
in 1360. In 1409, Emperor Ruprecht extended the de non Evocando privilege to include the royal High Court as well.
As the city grew in power, it bound the Monastery of St. Ursus more closely to the city. In 1251 the city defeated claims made by the Monastery on the right to appoint the Schultheiss. Shortly after the acquisition of the right to the Schultheiss office in 1344, the city came into possession of the vogt
right over the Monastery by granting citizenship rights to the former vogt (bailiff), Burkhard Senn the Elder. In 1512-20 the city received the right to appoint canons
and provosts
from the Pope
.
After the alliance with Bern in 1295, it became part of the Swiss Confederation. In 1382 the Habsburg
s attacked the city, involving Solothurn in the Battle of Sempach
. By the treaty of two years later, the Habsburgs renounced all claims to the territory of the city. The latter was expanded by acquisition of neighbouring lands in the 15th century, roughly up to the today's canton area.
In 1481, it obtained full membership in the Swiss Confederation.
From 1530 to 1792 it was the seat of the French
ambassador to Switzerland.
monastery was built, and after 1280 it formed the northern city wall on the eastern part of the city. In 1532, the French embassy with a church and stately home was built in the eastern half of the city. In the western part of Solothurn, the town hall was built. First it was along the main street and in 1476 it moved south of the Franciscan monastery. A main market place grew up along the main street, and in the first half of the 17th century it moved to the northern banks of the Aare river. The town hall, market place and clock tower formed the political and economic centre of city life.
by the 15th Century. By the second half of the 16th Century, the political voice of citizens was nearly totally suppressed. By the second half of the 17th Century, the government was run by a small group of patrician
s. The oligarchs were weakened in the 18th Century, when in 1718-21 the city council managed to regain some powers. However, in 1682, a new citizenship law prevented wealthy families who had moved into Solothurn from becoming members of the council. While this law reduced the number of people who could be on the city council, the introduction of a secret ballot procedure in 1764 and measures against vote-buying in 1774 allowed more and more non-patrician burgher
s to join the council.
During the heyday of the patricians in the 17th and 18th Centuries, a number of elegant town houses (Reinert House 1692-93, Palais Besenval 1703-06) and summer residences outside the city (Sommerhaus Vigier 1648-50, Waldegg Castle 1682-86, Steinbrugg Castle
1665-68 and Blumenstein Castle
1725-28) were built. A number of new public buildings were also added including; the Arsenal (1610–19), the town hall with its north staircase tower (1632–34) and its eastern facade (Archive tower 1624, completed 1703-14), the Jesuit
church (1680–89), the new Ambassadorenhof (1717–24), the Holy Spirit Hospital in a suburb (1735–1800) and the new classicist
Church of St. Ursus (1763–90). In the 16th Century the town walls were reinforced with the Basel gate and three round towers.
Between 1667-1727, following plans by Francesco Polatta, Jacques Le Prestre Tarade and Sébastien de Vauban, the city built fortifications with eleven full and half bastion
s. The new city wall increased the size of the city by including the eastern suburb of Kreuzacker. Until the 18th Century, prisoners were housed in the towers of the medieval and early modern fortifications store. Between 1753-61 a new prison was built outside the city walls, which remained in use into the 20th Century. A gallows was first mentioned in 1460 and was located northeast of the city near Feldbrunnen. A second gallows was located to the southwest of the city.
The Early Modern Period in Solothurn ended, as in the rest of Switzerland, with the French invasion
in 1798.
laid claim to the assets of the defunct city-state and in 1801 it received the Sönderungsconvention, large estates and extensive forest land outside the city. In 1831 the cantonal parliament withdrew all political power from the eleven city guilds. Over the following years (1831–1842) all the guilds were dissolved. Due to the municipal law of 1859, the enforcement of the Federal Constitution
of 1874 and the Cantonal Constitution of 1875, an Einwohnergemeinde was created. The Einwohnergemeinde included all residents of the city, as opposed to the more limited Bürgergemeinde. The division of property between residents and the Bürgergemeinde proved to be lengthy and could not be completed until 1978 and then only with the help of the Executive Council.
On 15 October 1817, Tadeusz Kościuszko
, the national hero of Poland
and United States
, died in Solothurn and was initially interred in the local cemetery.
In 1828 Solothurn became the seat of the Bishop of Basel.
Since 1897, the municipal council has been elected by proportional voting and consists of 30 members and 15 alternate members. As the executive body, it elects the council commission (seven members). Mayor and Vice-Mayor are elected by the people. The municipal assembly is the legislative body. The composition of the council remained remarkably stable between 1917-73. The Liberals
held an average of 60% of the seats, the Social Democrats
and the Conservative People's Party
(CVP today), about 20% each. In 1970, the municipality granted voting rights for women. With the emergence of new parties, the Liberals lost its dominant position. 2009, the FDP 30%, SP 23%, CVP 23%, the Greens 17% and 7% of the votes go to the SVP.
Rock band Krokus
was formed in Solothurn in 1974.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 4.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 38.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 17.5%. 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 7.5%. Out of the forested land, 0.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 14.2% is used for growing crops and 7.0% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Solothurn is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains
.
The municipalities of Biberist
, Derendingen
, Luterbach
, Bellach
, Langendorf
and Solothurn are considering a merger at a date in the future into the new municipality of with an, , undetermined name.
Most of the population speaks German (13,270 or 85.7%), with Italian
being second most common (469 or 3.0%) and Albanian
being third (261 or 1.7%). There are 193 people who speak French
and 19 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 5,891 Swiss men (37.0% of the population) and 1,775 (11.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 6,669 Swiss women (41.8%) and 1,604 (10.1%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 3,864 or about 24.9% were born in Solothurn and lived there in 2000. There were 3,630 or 23.4% who were born in the same canton, while 4,135 or 26.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,193 or 20.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 115 live births to Swiss citizens and 27 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 190 deaths of Swiss citizens and 10 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 75 while the foreign population increased by 17. There were 8 Swiss men and 13 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 91 non-Swiss men and 78 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 98 and the non-Swiss population increased by 161 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.7%.
The age distribution, , in Solothurn is; 913 children or 5.9% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 2,013 teenagers or 13.0% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 888 people or 5.7% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 4,832 people or 31.2% are between 25 and 44, and 3,678 people or 23.7% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 2,068 people or 13.4% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 1,097 people or 7.1% who are over 80.
, there were 6,784 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,403 married individuals, 1,144 widows or widowers and 1,158 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.53 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 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 24.7% 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 7,447 private households in the municipality, and an average of 1.9 persons per household. There were 3,468 households that consist of only one person and 303 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 7,625 households that answered this question, 45.5% were households made up of just one person and there were 49 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,907 married couples without children, 1,455 married couples with children There were 405 single parents with a child or children. There were 163 households that were made up of unrelated people and 178 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 1,311 single family homes (or 44.3% of the total) out of a total of 2,957 inhabited buildings. There were 838 multi-family buildings (28.3%), along with 441 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (14.9%) and 367 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (12.4%). Of the single family homes 161 were built before 1919, while 62 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (443) were built between 1919 and 1945.
there were 8,586 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 2,954. There were 728 single room apartments and 1,634 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,272 apartments (84.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 794 apartments (9.2%) were seasonally occupied and 520 apartments (6.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.3 new units per 1000 residents. the average price to rent an average apartment in Solothurn was 980.18 Swiss franc
s (CHF) per month (US$780, £440, €630 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 568.85 CHF (US$460, £260, €360), a two room apartment was about 725.13 CHF (US$580, £330, €460), a three room apartment was about 904.51 CHF (US$720, £410, €580) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1564.78 CHF (US$1250, £700, €1000). The average apartment price in Solothurn was 87.8% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.45%.
. The religious buildings on the list are; the Visitation Convent
, the Jesuit Church with Kollegium (Lapidarium), the Swiss Reformed
Church on Westringstrasse and the St. Ursen Cathedral. There are four civic buildings on the list; the old Armory
which is now the Cantonal Museum, the Rathaus
(town council house), the State Archives at Bielstrasse 41 and the nearby Central Library at Bielstrasse 39. Two other museums are on the list, the Art Museum and the Naturmuseum. There are two houses and two public objects on the list; the Haller-Haus (former Bishops Palace) at Baselstrasse 61, the Sommerhaus Vigier at Untere Steingrubenstrasse 21, the Mauritius Fountain and the city clock tower. Two castles are listed; the former Blumenstein Castle and Steinbrugg Castle
. Finally, the list includes the old city of Salodurum which was a Roman era Vicus
and the medieval and early modern
city as well as the city walls. The entire old city of Solothurn is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
The city calls itself Switzerland's most beautiful Baroque
City.
The old town was built between 1530 and 1792 and shows an architectural combination of Italian Grandezza, French style and Swiss ideas. In 2004, it had a population of 15,137.
In 1980, Solothurn was awarded the Wakker Prize
for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage.
Sights include:
the most popular party was the SP
which received 24.09% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
(23.53%), the Green Party
(18.56%) and the CVP
(17.19%). In the federal election, a total of 5,767 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 53.8%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 13,378. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 16, of which 7 were in agriculture and 9 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2,430 of which 1,398 or (57.5%) were in manufacturing and 813 (33.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 10,932. In the tertiary sector; 1,537 or 14.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 454 or 4.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 610 or 5.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 583 or 5.3% were in the information industry, 975 or 8.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 1,095 or 10.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 614 or 5.6% were in education and 2,612 or 23.9% were in health care.
, there were 13,529 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,598 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 3.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 20.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 40.3% used a private car.
(or about 1.79% of the population), there were 182 individuals (or about 1.18% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 248 individuals (or about 1.60% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 27 individuals (or about 0.17% of the population) who were Jewish
, and 915 (or about 5.91% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 78 individuals who were Buddhist
, 173 individuals who were Hindu
and 27 individuals who belonged to another church. 3,139 (or about 20.27% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 601 individuals (or about 3.88% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 2,815 who completed tertiary schooling, 58.0% were Swiss men, 28.0% were Swiss women, 8.1% were non-Swiss men and 5.9% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of students in the Solothurn school system. The education system
in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten
. During that school year, there were Schülerbestand children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 2010-2011 students in primary school. The secondary school
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Solothurn attend their school in a neighboring municipality. , there were 2,517 students in Solothurn who came from another municipality, while 188 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Solothurn is home to 2 libraries. These libraries include; the Zentralbibliothek Solothurn and the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Pädagogische Hochschule, Standort Solothurn (a library of the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz). There was a combined total of 1,195,394 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 522,650 items were loaned out.
.
The Canton of Solothurn was the eleventh to become part of the Swiss Confederation. There are eleven churches and chapels, as well as eleven historical fountains and eleven towers. The St. Ursus cathedral has eleven altars and eleven bells, and the stairs in front of the cathedral have levels between every eleven steps.
A local brewery has named itself Öufi, which is Swiss German
for eleven, and produces a beer
with the same name
with: Heilbronn
, Germany
, since 1981 Le Landeron
, Switzerland
, since 2003
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....
: , , ) is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn
Canton of Solothurn
Solothurn is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn.-History:The territory of the canton comprises land acquired by the capital...
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 also comprises the only 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...
of the district of the same name.
Pre-roman settlement
The oldest finds from Solothurn city probably date from the PaleolithicPaleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
era. The remains of a Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
camp were discovered in 1986 during renovations of the former Kino Elite building. 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...
, Bronze
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...
and 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...
, only a few scattered items have been discovered.
Roman settlement
The RomanSwitzerland 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...
settlement at Solothurn was probably built around AD 15-25 as a road station and bridge head on the road from Aventicum
Aventicum
Aventicum was the largest town and capital of Roman Switzerland . Its remains are beside the modern town of Avenches....
to Augusta Raurica
Augusta Raurica
Augusta Raurica is a Roman archaeological site and an open-air museum in Switzerland. Located on the south bank of the Rhine river about 20 km east of Basel near the villages of Augst and Kaiseraugst, it is the oldest known Roman colony on the Rhine....
or Vindonissa
Vindonissa
Vindonissa was a Roman legion camp at modern Windisch, Switzerland. It was probably established in 15 AD. In an expansion around 30, thermal baths were added....
. A small vicus
Vicus
Vicus may refer to:*Vicus , plural vici, a neighborhood or local administrative unit of ancient Rome**Vicus Tuscus in Rome**Vicus Jugarius, leading into the Roman Forum** Gensis in Moesia Superior...
or settlement quickly developed around the castrum. Solothurn is first mentioned in 219 as vico salod[uro] on the so-called Eponastein. The name may indicate either that a celtic settlement existed on the site before or just be a testimony to the mixed Gallo-Roman culture
Gallo-Roman culture
The term Gallo-Roman describes the Romanized culture of Gaul under the rule of the Roman Empire. This was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman mores and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context...
in the north-west provinces of the Roman Empire. It came to be known as Salodurum. Its strategical importance lay in the position at the approach to the Rhine from southeast. In the 2nd-3rd Century AD, the vicus expanded rapidly to fill almost all of what is now the old city of Solothurn, including a portion of today's suburb south of the Aare.
The Roman bridge was probably somewhat above the current Wengibrücke. The Roman era river bed was 40–80 m (131.2–262.5 ft) north of the present Aare river. The main street of the Vicus was well below the present main street. In addition to the normal government of the settlement, there were two mayors (magistri), and a six member college (seviri Augustales), which was entrusted with supporting the imperial cult
Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority of the Roman State...
. Salodurum was also home to a guard detachment of the XXII Legion
Legio XXII Primigenia
Legio XXII Primigenia was a Roman legion levied by Roman Emperor Caligula in 39, for his campaigns in Germania. There are still records of the XXII Primigenia in Mogontiacum from the end of 3rd century...
, whose high command was stationed in Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
in Germany. According to inscriptions, there was a temple of Jupiter, a temple of Apollo Augustus and an altar to the goddess of horses Epona
Epona
In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona was a protector of horses, donkeys, and mules. She was particularly a goddess of fertility, as shown by her attributes of a patera, cornucopia, ears of grain and the presence of foals in some sculptures suggested that the goddess and her horses were leaders of the...
, who was popular in the Roman military and of celtic origin. However, the locations of those three temples is not known. There was bath house on the main street and a pottery district in the northwest of the town which have been documented archaeologically. A cemetery with urns and cremation burials on the eastern end of the Vicus was discovered in 1762-63 during the demolition of the old church of St. Ursus. In addition, two Roman tombs were discovered in the same area.
Around 325-350, the unfortified settlement along the road was transformed into a fortified camp or castrum, which covered only half of the former settlement area. A 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) thick and 9 m (29.5 ft) high wall was built around the settlement. The new, fortified town was bell-shaped, and is still visible in the cadastral map of the city. At various points in the city, large and small pieces of the old Roman wall are still visible in the houses of the old town. The location of a gate in the north and a tower in the south-east corner are known and it is likely that there were additional gates and towers. Almost nothing is known about the buildings inside the walls.
Early Middle Ages
In the Early Middle AgesEarly Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
there were two settlement centres, a secular settlement in the former castrum and a religious settlement on the grounds of the late-Roman cemeteries outside the walls. Both the religious histories and archeological discoveries indicate that both areas remained inhabited continuously into the Early Middle Ages. The former chapel of St. Stephen inside the castrum was built on the foundation of an earlier, late-Roman building. A burial memorial in the cemetery of the nearby St. Peter's Chapel dates to around the collapse of the Roman Empire. By the middle of the 5th Century, St. Eucherius of Lyon
Eucherius of Lyon
Saint Eucherius, bishop of Lyon, was a high-born and high-ranking ecclesiastic in the Christian Church of Gaul. He is remembered for his letters advocating extreme self-abnegation. Henry Wace ranked him "except perhaps St. Irenaeus the most distinguished occupant of that see".On the death of his...
mentions the martyrdom of St. Ursus
Ursus of Solothurn
Ursus of Solothurn was a 3rd century Roman Christian venerated as a saint. He is the patron of the main Roman Catholic Church church in Solothurn, Switzerland, where his body is located. He was associated very early with the Theban Legion and Victor of Solothurn, for instance in the Roman Martyrology...
and St. Victor
Victor of Solothurn
Saint Victor of Solothurn is a martyr and saint of the Catholic. He was soldier of the Theban Legion and died in Solothurn. He and Ursus of Solothurn are patron saints of the Cathedral St. Ursus in Solothurn, Switzerland....
and a cult of saints in Solothurn. About 500 AD, the 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...
Princess Sedeleuba took the bones of St. Victor to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, while the bones of St. Ursus remained in Solothurn. The church dedicated to the veneration of Saint Ursus is first mentioned in 870.
Medieval city
During the Early Middle Ages, Solothurn was part of the Kingdom of LotharingiaLotharingia
Lotharingia was a region in northwest Europe, comprising the Low Countries, the western Rhineland, the lands today on the border between France and Germany, and what is now western Switzerland. It was born of the tripartite division in 855, of the kingdom of Middle Francia, itself formed of the...
(Lorraine). After the collapse of Lotharingia, it became part of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy. In 1033, the Kingdom of Burgundy became part of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
and Solothurn gained some independence. In 1038, Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Conrad II
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...
held court at Solothurn and there crowned his son, Henry III
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
King of Burgundy. The royal court resided in Solothurn on several occasions until 1052, however, there is no evidence of a permanent royal palace. In 1127, it was acquired by the dukes of Zähringen
Zähringen
Zähringen is the name of an old German family that founded a large number of cities in what are today Switzerland and Baden-Württemberg. While the junior line that first assumed the title Duke of Zähringen, a cadet branch of the House of Baden, became extinct in 1218, the senior line persists and...
. Under the rule of the Zähringens, in 1146, Solothurn's coins are first mentioned. In 1182, causidicus or Zähringen appointed judges first appeared in Solothurn. After the extinction of the Zähringer line in 1218 it became a free imperial city
Free Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, a free imperial city was a city formally ruled by the emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which were governed by one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops...
under the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1252, the town council and Schultheiss or mayor became mostly independent and had their own town seals. In 1251 it was mentioned as saluerre and in 1275 as Solotren. Starting around 1200, there was a council of nobles in the town.
In 1252, a group of nobles that could witness and support deeds, known as consuls et cives Solodorenses, first appears in the town. Initially the nobles exercised power over the entire town. However, the guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
movement of the 14th Century resulted in a reduction in the power of the nobles and also a restricted guild system in Solothurn. By around 1350, an eleven member Altrat (Council of Elders) and a 22 member Jungrat (Younger Council) existed in the city. Each of the eleven guilds were represented by a member of the Altrat and two members of the Jungrat. These 33 councillors exercised, together with the mayor, the power of government and helped appoint law makers. The members of the two councils were elected each year by the citizens of the city, after which the councils and mayor appointed many of the government officials. The noble families retained some power as the guilds became part of the town council. However in 1459 the last noble family died out and positions on the council fell to wealthy farmers, butchers and millers.
Until the pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
on 1348 during an outbreak of the plague, there was a small Jewish community in Solothurn.
Over the 13th to 15th centuries, the citizens of the city slowly emancipated themselves from the higher nobility. In 1276 and 1280 Emperor Rudolf I
Rudolph I of Germany
Rudolph I was King of the Romans from 1273 until his death. He played a vital role in raising the Habsburg dynasty to a leading position among the Imperial feudal dynasties...
codified the previously poorly defined rights of the city and granted it the privilege de non Evocando or the right that their citizens were protected from trial in foreign courts. In 1344 Solothurn acquired the right to appoint their own Schultheiss from the Count of Buchegg, which was confirmed by Emperor Charles IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
in 1360. In 1409, Emperor Ruprecht extended the de non Evocando privilege to include the royal High Court as well.
As the city grew in power, it bound the Monastery of St. Ursus more closely to the city. In 1251 the city defeated claims made by the Monastery on the right to appoint the Schultheiss. Shortly after the acquisition of the right to the Schultheiss office in 1344, the city came into possession of the vogt
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...
right over the Monastery by granting citizenship rights to the former vogt (bailiff), Burkhard Senn the Elder. In 1512-20 the city received the right to appoint canons
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
and provosts
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
from the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
.
After the alliance with Bern in 1295, it became part of the Swiss Confederation. In 1382 the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s attacked the city, involving Solothurn in the Battle of Sempach
Battle of Sempach
An armistice was agreed upon on 12 October, followed by a peace agreement valid for one year, beginning on 14 January 1387.The battle was a severe blow to Austrian interests in the region, and allowed for the further growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy....
. By the treaty of two years later, the Habsburgs renounced all claims to the territory of the city. The latter was expanded by acquisition of neighbouring lands in the 15th century, roughly up to the today's canton area.
In 1481, it obtained full membership in the Swiss Confederation.
From 1530 to 1792 it was the seat of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
ambassador to Switzerland.
Buildings in the medieval city
Before 1200 there was a Zähringer fortified tower north of the Monastery of St. Ursus. In the first half of the 13th Century, a city wall was built around the area of the former castrum as well as the adjoining industrial area to the east and the churches of St. Peter and St. Urs. Near the Monastery of St. Ursus, a FranciscanFranciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
monastery was built, and after 1280 it formed the northern city wall on the eastern part of the city. In 1532, the French embassy with a church and stately home was built in the eastern half of the city. In the western part of Solothurn, the town hall was built. First it was along the main street and in 1476 it moved south of the Franciscan monastery. A main market place grew up along the main street, and in the first half of the 17th century it moved to the northern banks of the Aare river. The town hall, market place and clock tower formed the political and economic centre of city life.
Early Modern Solothurn
The medieval cooperative election of the mayor and councillors led to the creation of a nearly hereditary oligarchyOligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
by the 15th Century. By the second half of the 16th Century, the political voice of citizens was nearly totally suppressed. By the second half of the 17th Century, the government was run by a small group of patrician
Patrician
The term patrician originally referred to a group of elite families in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman Empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire it remained a high honorary title in...
s. The oligarchs were weakened in the 18th Century, when in 1718-21 the city council managed to regain some powers. However, in 1682, a new citizenship law prevented wealthy families who had moved into Solothurn from becoming members of the council. While this law reduced the number of people who could be on the city council, the introduction of a secret ballot procedure in 1764 and measures against vote-buying in 1774 allowed more and more non-patrician burgher
Burgher
Burgher may refer to:* A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to middle class* A resident of a burgh* A formally defined class in medieval German cities, usually the only group from which city officials could be drawn...
s to join the council.
During the heyday of the patricians in the 17th and 18th Centuries, a number of elegant town houses (Reinert House 1692-93, Palais Besenval 1703-06) and summer residences outside the city (Sommerhaus Vigier 1648-50, Waldegg Castle 1682-86, Steinbrugg Castle
Steinbrugg Castle
Steinbrugg Castle is a castle in the municipality of Solothurn of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...
1665-68 and Blumenstein Castle
Blumenstein Castle
Blumenstein Castle is a castle in the municipality of Solothurn of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...
1725-28) were built. A number of new public buildings were also added including; the Arsenal (1610–19), the town hall with its north staircase tower (1632–34) and its eastern facade (Archive tower 1624, completed 1703-14), the Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
church (1680–89), the new Ambassadorenhof (1717–24), the Holy Spirit Hospital in a suburb (1735–1800) and the new classicist
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
Church of St. Ursus (1763–90). In the 16th Century the town walls were reinforced with the Basel gate and three round towers.
Between 1667-1727, following plans by Francesco Polatta, Jacques Le Prestre Tarade and Sébastien de Vauban, the city built fortifications with eleven full and half bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
s. The new city wall increased the size of the city by including the eastern suburb of Kreuzacker. Until the 18th Century, prisoners were housed in the towers of the medieval and early modern fortifications store. Between 1753-61 a new prison was built outside the city walls, which remained in use into the 20th Century. A gallows was first mentioned in 1460 and was located northeast of the city near Feldbrunnen. A second gallows was located to the southwest of the city.
The Early Modern Period in Solothurn ended, as in the rest of Switzerland, with the French invasion
Switzerland in the Napoleonic era
During the French Revolutionary Wars, the revolutionary armies marched eastward, enveloping Switzerland in their battles against Austria. In 1798 Switzerland was completely overrun by the French and became the Helvetic Republic. The Helvetic Republic encountered severe economic and political problems...
in 1798.
Modern Solothurn
Following the capitulation of Solothurn on 2 March 1798, the French General Balthasar Alexis Henri Antoine von Schauenburg set up a provisional government on the following day. The new government met in April to set up the new constitution. The eleven old Vogtei(baillywicks) were replaced by five districts; Solothurn, Biberist, Balsthal, Olten and Dornach. The municipal BürgergemeindeBürgergemeinde
The Bürgergemeinde is a statutory corporation in public law in Switzerland...
laid claim to the assets of the defunct city-state and in 1801 it received the Sönderungsconvention, large estates and extensive forest land outside the city. In 1831 the cantonal parliament withdrew all political power from the eleven city guilds. Over the following years (1831–1842) all the guilds were dissolved. Due to the municipal law of 1859, the enforcement of the Federal Constitution
Swiss Federal Constitution
The Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland. It establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of 26 cantons , contains a catalogue of individual and popular rights , delineates the responsibilities of the...
of 1874 and the Cantonal Constitution of 1875, an Einwohnergemeinde was created. The Einwohnergemeinde included all residents of the city, as opposed to the more limited Bürgergemeinde. The division of property between residents and the Bürgergemeinde proved to be lengthy and could not be completed until 1978 and then only with the help of the Executive Council.
On 15 October 1817, Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
, the national hero of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, died in Solothurn and was initially interred in the local cemetery.
In 1828 Solothurn became the seat of the Bishop of Basel.
Since 1897, the municipal council has been elected by proportional voting and consists of 30 members and 15 alternate members. As the executive body, it elects the council commission (seven members). Mayor and Vice-Mayor are elected by the people. The municipal assembly is the legislative body. The composition of the council remained remarkably stable between 1917-73. The Liberals
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....
held an average of 60% of the seats, the Social Democrats
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
and the Conservative People's Party
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
(CVP today), about 20% each. In 1970, the municipality granted voting rights for women. With the emergence of new parties, the Liberals lost its dominant position. 2009, the FDP 30%, SP 23%, CVP 23%, the Greens 17% and 7% of the votes go to the SVP.
Rock band Krokus
Krokus (band)
Krokus is a hard rock/heavy metal band from Switzerland. They enjoyed moderate success in North America during the 1980s.Krokus was founded in Solothurn in 1974 by bassist Chris von Rohr and guitarist Tommy Kiefer...
was formed in Solothurn in 1974.
Geography
Solothurn has an area, , of 6.28 square kilometres (2.4 sq mi). Of this area, 1.42 km² (0.5482650652014 sq mi) or 22.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.17 km² (0.065637366960731 sq mi) or 2.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.37 km² (1.7 sq mi) or 69.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.33 km² (0.127413712335537 sq mi) or 5.3% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 4.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 38.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 17.5%. 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 7.5%. Out of the forested land, 0.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 14.2% is used for growing crops and 7.0% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Solothurn is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein 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...
.
The municipalities of Biberist
Biberist
Biberist is a municipality in the district of Wasseramt in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-History:Biberist is first mentioned in 762 as als Biberussa. In 1300 Ober- and Unterbiberist were mentioned as ze beiden Biberschon....
, Derendingen
Derendingen
Derendingen may refer to the following places:*Derendingen, Switzerland, in the Canton of Solothurn*Derendingen, Germany, a part of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg...
, Luterbach
Luterbach
Luterbach is a municipality in the district of Wasseramt in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-History:Luterbach is first mentioned in 1052 as lutere Bach, though this identification is disputed. In 1319 it was mentioned as ville Luterbach....
, Bellach
Bellach
Bellach is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-History:Bellach is first mentioned in 1294 as Bella. In 1307 it was mentioned as Bellacho.-Geography:...
, Langendorf
Langendorf
Langendorf can refer to several places:*Langendorf, Saxony-Anhalt, a town in the district Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany*Langendorf, Lower Saxony, a town in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg in Lower Saxony, Germany*Langendorf, Switzerland...
and Solothurn are considering a merger at a date in the future into the new municipality of with an, , undetermined name.
Demographics
Solothurn has a population of . , 21.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 4.4%.Most of the population speaks German (13,270 or 85.7%), with 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 second most common (469 or 3.0%) and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
being third (261 or 1.7%). There are 193 people who speak 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...
and 19 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 5,891 Swiss men (37.0% of the population) and 1,775 (11.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 6,669 Swiss women (41.8%) and 1,604 (10.1%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 3,864 or about 24.9% were born in Solothurn and lived there in 2000. There were 3,630 or 23.4% who were born in the same canton, while 4,135 or 26.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,193 or 20.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 115 live births to Swiss citizens and 27 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 190 deaths of Swiss citizens and 10 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 75 while the foreign population increased by 17. There were 8 Swiss men and 13 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 91 non-Swiss men and 78 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 98 and the non-Swiss population increased by 161 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.7%.
The age distribution, , in Solothurn is; 913 children or 5.9% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 2,013 teenagers or 13.0% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 888 people or 5.7% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 4,832 people or 31.2% are between 25 and 44, and 3,678 people or 23.7% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 2,068 people or 13.4% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 1,097 people or 7.1% who are over 80.
, there were 6,784 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,403 married individuals, 1,144 widows or widowers and 1,158 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.53 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 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 24.7% 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 7,447 private households in the municipality, and an average of 1.9 persons per household. There were 3,468 households that consist of only one person and 303 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 7,625 households that answered this question, 45.5% were households made up of just one person and there were 49 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,907 married couples without children, 1,455 married couples with children There were 405 single parents with a child or children. There were 163 households that were made up of unrelated people and 178 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 1,311 single family homes (or 44.3% of the total) out of a total of 2,957 inhabited buildings. There were 838 multi-family buildings (28.3%), along with 441 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (14.9%) and 367 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (12.4%). Of the single family homes 161 were built before 1919, while 62 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (443) were built between 1919 and 1945.
there were 8,586 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 2,954. There were 728 single room apartments and 1,634 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,272 apartments (84.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 794 apartments (9.2%) were seasonally occupied and 520 apartments (6.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.3 new units per 1000 residents. the average price to rent an average apartment in Solothurn was 980.18 Swiss franc
Swiss franc
The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...
s (CHF) per month (US$780, £440, €630 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 568.85 CHF (US$460, £260, €360), a two room apartment was about 725.13 CHF (US$580, £330, €460), a three room apartment was about 904.51 CHF (US$720, £410, €580) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1564.78 CHF (US$1250, £700, €1000). The average apartment price in Solothurn was 87.8% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.45%.
Historic Population
The historical population is given in the following chart:Main sights
Solothurn is home to 18 structures that are listed as Swiss heritage sites 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...
. The religious buildings on the list are; the Visitation Convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
, the Jesuit Church with Kollegium (Lapidarium), 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 on Westringstrasse and the St. Ursen Cathedral. There are four civic buildings on the list; the old Armory
Armory (military)
An armory or armoury is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
which is now the Cantonal Museum, the Rathaus
Rathaus
Rathaus is a German word literally translating as “council house”, meaning “city hall” or “town hall”. Many specific buildings are referred to as Rathaus even when spoken about in English.Some important Rathäuser are:* Rathaus Schöneberg...
(town council house), the State Archives at Bielstrasse 41 and the nearby Central Library at Bielstrasse 39. Two other museums are on the list, the Art Museum and the Naturmuseum. There are two houses and two public objects on the list; the Haller-Haus (former Bishops Palace) at Baselstrasse 61, the Sommerhaus Vigier at Untere Steingrubenstrasse 21, the Mauritius Fountain and the city clock tower. Two castles are listed; the former Blumenstein Castle and Steinbrugg Castle
Steinbrugg Castle
Steinbrugg Castle is a castle in the municipality of Solothurn of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...
. Finally, the list includes the old city of Salodurum which was a Roman era Vicus
Vicus
Vicus may refer to:*Vicus , plural vici, a neighborhood or local administrative unit of ancient Rome**Vicus Tuscus in Rome**Vicus Jugarius, leading into the Roman Forum** Gensis in Moesia Superior...
and the medieval and early modern
Early Modern Switzerland
The early modern history of the Old Swiss Confederacy , lasting from formal independence in 1648 to the French invasion of 1798 came to be referred as Ancien Régime retrospectively, in post-Napoleonic Switzerland.The early modern period was characterized by an increasingly...
city as well as the city walls. The entire old city of Solothurn 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:...
.
The city calls itself Switzerland's most beautiful Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
City.
The old town was built between 1530 and 1792 and shows an architectural combination of Italian Grandezza, French style and Swiss ideas. In 2004, it had a population of 15,137.
In 1980, Solothurn was awarded the Wakker Prize
Wakker Prize
The Wakker Prize is awarded annually by the Swiss Heritage Society to a Municipality of Switzerland for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage....
for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage.
Sights include:
- Besenval Palace
- CathedralCathedralA cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
St. UrsusUrsus of SolothurnUrsus of Solothurn was a 3rd century Roman Christian venerated as a saint. He is the patron of the main Roman Catholic Church church in Solothurn, Switzerland, where his body is located. He was associated very early with the Theban Legion and Victor of Solothurn, for instance in the Roman Martyrology...
(1762–73). It was begun by Gaetano Matteo Pisoni and completed by Paolo Antonio Pisoni. The interior has stuccoes by Francesco Pozzi and canvasses by Domenico CorviDomenico CorviDomenico Corvi was an Italian painter at the close of the 18th century, active in an early Neoclassic style in Rome and surrounding sites.-Biography:...
. - Church of the JesuitsSociety of JesusThe Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
(Jesuitenkirche, 1680–89) - Clock tower (Zeitglockenturm, 12th century)
- Gate of Basel
- Gate of Bienne
- Landhaus
- Museum of the Old Arsenal (1609–14), housing the most ancient collection of armor in Europe.
- Old town
- The Verena Gorge and the Hermitage
- Waldegg Castle
- WeissensteinWeissensteinThe Weissenstein is a mountain of the Jura range near Solothurn, Switzerland.There is a chairlift from Oberdorf to the spa hotel on top of the mountain . The tunnel of the railway line Solothurn-Moutier from Oberdorf to Gänsbrunnen on the other side was opened in 1908...
mountain - Aarhof
- Krone
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 24.09% 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....
(23.53%), 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:...
(18.56%) and the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
(17.19%). In the federal election, a total of 5,767 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 53.8%.
Economy
, Solothurn had an unemployment rate of 4.6%. , there were 22 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 2,587 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 178 businesses in this sector. 14,381 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,226 businesses in this sector. There were 8,023 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 46.9% 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 13,378. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 16, of which 7 were in agriculture and 9 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2,430 of which 1,398 or (57.5%) were in manufacturing and 813 (33.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 10,932. In the tertiary sector; 1,537 or 14.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 454 or 4.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 610 or 5.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 583 or 5.3% were in the information industry, 975 or 8.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 1,095 or 10.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 614 or 5.6% were in education and 2,612 or 23.9% were in health care.
, there were 13,529 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,598 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 3.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 20.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 40.3% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 5,463 or 35.3% were Roman Catholic, while 4,358 or 28.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 278 members of an Orthodox churchOrthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
(or about 1.79% of the population), there were 182 individuals (or about 1.18% 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 248 individuals (or about 1.60% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 27 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 915 (or about 5.91% 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 78 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...
, 173 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 27 individuals who belonged to another church. 3,139 (or about 20.27% 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 601 individuals (or about 3.88% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Solothurn about 5,724 or (37.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 2,815 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 2,815 who completed tertiary schooling, 58.0% were Swiss men, 28.0% were Swiss women, 8.1% were non-Swiss men and 5.9% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of students in the Solothurn school system. The education system
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...
in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. During that school year, there were Schülerbestand children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 2010-2011 students in primary school. The secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Solothurn attend their school in a neighboring municipality. , there were 2,517 students in Solothurn who came from another municipality, while 188 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Solothurn is home to 2 libraries. These libraries include; the Zentralbibliothek Solothurn and the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Pädagogische Hochschule, Standort Solothurn (a library of the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz). There was a combined total of 1,195,394 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 522,650 items were loaned out.
The number 11
Solothurn has a special affinity for the number eleven11 (number)
11 is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12.Eleven is the first number which cannot be counted with a human's eight fingers and two thumbs additively. In English, it is the smallest positive integer requiring three syllables and the largest prime number with a single-morpheme name...
.
The Canton of Solothurn was the eleventh to become part of the Swiss Confederation. There are eleven churches and chapels, as well as eleven historical fountains and eleven towers. The St. Ursus cathedral has eleven altars and eleven bells, and the stairs in front of the cathedral have levels between every eleven steps.
A local brewery has named itself Öufi, which is Swiss German
Swiss German
Swiss German is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are grouped together with Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of Liechtenstein and Austrian Vorarlberg...
for eleven, and produces a beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
with the same name
Twin towns — Sister cities
Solothurn is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: Heilbronn
Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, since 1981 Le Landeron
Le Landeron
Le Landeron is a municipality in the district of Neuchâtel in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel.-History:Le Landeron is first mentioned about 1209 as Landiron.-Prehistory:...
, 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....
, since 2003
People
- Ursus of SolothurnUrsus of SolothurnUrsus of Solothurn was a 3rd century Roman Christian venerated as a saint. He is the patron of the main Roman Catholic Church church in Solothurn, Switzerland, where his body is located. He was associated very early with the Theban Legion and Victor of Solothurn, for instance in the Roman Martyrology...
(† ca. 303), saint of the city - Urs Graf der Ältere (1485/90–1529)
- Gregorius SickingerGregorius SickingerGregorius Sickinger was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and engraver.Sickinger was born in Solothurn. He had 5 brothers and sisters, and was re-married after the death of his first wife. Sickinger worked primarily with woodcuts often used in book illustrations. He died penniless in...
(1558–1631), artist - Georg Gotthart († 1619), poet (Verfasser von drei Theaterstücken)
- Johann Rudolf ByssJohann Rudolf ByssJohann Rudolf Byss was a Swiss painter.-External links:*...
(1660–1738), painter - Georg GsellGeorg GsellGeorg Gsell was a Swiss Baroque painter, art consultant and art dealer. Was recruited by Peter the Great in 1716 and went to Russia...
(1673–1740), painter - Tadeusz KościuszkoTadeusz KosciuszkoAndrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
(1746–1817), Polish hero; lived in exile in Solothurn - Robert Glutz von Blotzheim (1786–1818), writer
- Konrad Josef Glutz von Blotzheim (1789–1857), priest
- Charles SealsfieldCharles SealsfieldCharles Sealsfield was the pseudonym of Austrian-American journalist Carl Anton Postl , an advocate for a German democracy and author of Romantic novels with American backgrounds and travelogues....
(1793–1864), writer - Franz Krutter (1807–1873), writer, politician
- Otto FrölicherOtto FrölicherOtto Frölicher was a Swiss painter.-References:*This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia....
(1840–1890), painter - Conradin Zschokke (1842–1918), engineer
- Cuno AmietCuno AmietCuno Amiet was a Swiss painter, illustrator, graphic artist and sculptor. As the first Swiss painter to give precedence to colour in composition, he was a pioneer of modern art in Switzerland.-Biography:...
(1868–1961), painter - Richard Flury (1896–1967), composer
- Max KohlerMax KohlerMax Kohler was a Swiss painter.-References:*This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia....
(1919–1999), painter - Herbert MeierHerbert MeierHerbert Meier is a Swiss writer and translator.Meier studied literature, history of art and philosophy at the universities of Basel, Vienna, Paris and Fribourg....
(born 1928), writer - Martin OeggerliMartin OeggerliMartin Oeggerli is an internationally recognized Swiss photographer specializing in scientific microscopy and fine art, winning numerous awards for his work.-Awards:* 1st prize* 1st and 2nd prize category 'Special: Micro'* 1st prize...
(born 1974), fine art artist TEM - Otto F. Walter (1928–1994), writer
- Urs JaeggiUrs JaeggiUrs Jaeggi is a Swiss sociologist, painter, and author. From 1964 to 1993, he was a Professor of Sociology and Social Philosophy in Bern, Bochum, New York, Berlin. and He published numerous novels, short stories, essays as well as scientific books. He won the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 1981...
(born 1931), sociologist, painter, artist - Schang Hutter (born 1934), sculptor
- Peter BichselPeter BichselPeter Bichsel is a popular Swiss-German writer and journalist representing modern German literature. He was a member of the Gruppe Olten....
(born 1935), writer - Walter Bloch (born 1943), philosopher and writer
- Walter Schenker (born 1943), painter
- Anton MosimannAnton MosimannAnton Mosimann OBE, DL is a Swiss chef and restaurateur who was Maitre Chef des Cuisines at the Dorchester Hotel for thirteen years, during which time its restaurant achieved a rating of two stars in the Michelin Guide...
(born 1947), famous cook - Chris von Rohr (born 1951), rock star
- Alexander Popov (swimmer)Alexander Popov (swimmer)Aleksandr Vladimirovich Popov ; is a Russian former Olympic gold-winning swimmer, widely regarded as one of the greatest sprint freestyle swimmers of all time.-Career:Born in Lesnoy, Sverdlovsk Oblast , Popov began swimming at age 8 at...
(born 1971)
External links
- Solothurn tourist office D/F +