Grindelwald
Grindelwald is a village and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Berne. In addition to the village of Grindelwald, the municipality also includes the settlements of Alpiglen, Burglauenen, Grund, Itramen, Mühlebach, Schwendi, Tschingelberg and Wargistal.
Grindelwald village is above sea level. Mentioned for the first time in 1146, it has become an important tourist destination of both Switzerland and the Alps since the golden age of alpinism in the 19th century. It is overlooked by a section of the Bernese Alps from the Wetterhorn to the Eiger, which creates a natural barrier. Together with the adjacent valley of Lauterbrunnen, the valley of Grindelwald forms part of the Jungfrau Region of the Bernese Oberland, between Interlaken and the main crest of the Bernese Alps.
Similarly to Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald is connected to Interlaken by the Bernese Oberland Railway and is the start of the Wengernalp Railway, leading to Kleine Scheidegg. The latter resort is the start of the Jungfrau Railway, the highest railway in Europe and a gateway to the Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area.
History
Grindelwald was first mentioned in 1146 as Grindelwalt. This designation is probably derived from the Old High German words "grintil" and "walt", thus describing the nature of the valley. According to a legend, the name Grindelwald comes from two monks of the Interlaken Monastery. After exploring the Lütschinen valleys, they are said to have reported about "Grinden" and "Wald", i.e. "stones" and "forests". This was initially the explanation for the origin of the name.File:Johann Heinrich Müller, 1825-1894 H17 Grindelwald Aigle.JPG|thumb|left|Grindelwald's first hotel, the "Black Eagle", with Wetterhorn and Upper Grindelwald Glacier,. Etching by Heinrich Müller
The oldest traces of a settlement in the area are scattered neolithic tools which have been discovered around Grindelwald village. Several Roman era coins have also been found in the municipality. A castle was built on the Burgbühl hill above the village during the High Middle Ages.
In 1146, King Conrad III granted estates in Grindelwald to Interlaken Monastery. In the late 12th century, the barons of the alpine valleys in what became the Berner Oberland went to war against the expansionist Duke Berthold V of Zähringen. The Duke defeated a coalition of nobles in the Grindlewald valley in 1191. His victory allowed him to expand Zähringen power into Oberland, expand the city of Thun, and found the city of Bern. Beginning in the 13th century, Interlaken Monastery began to purchase rights and land in Grindelwald and eventually forced the local nobles out of the valley. The Monastery continued to exert influence in the village and in 1315 and again in 1332 ordered the villagers to raid Unterwalden to further the political ambitions of the Abbot's patrons. In response to the raids, in 1342, Unterwalden attacked Grindelwald. A few years later, in 1348–49, the villagers joined in an unsuccessful rebellion against ecclesiastical power. In 1528, the city of Bern adopted the Protestant Reformation and proceeded to spread the new faith in Grindelwald against the populations' wishes. Berne was able to impose its will, converted the village and secularized Interlaken Abbey and the Abbey's lands. Grindelwald became part of the bailiwick of Interlaken, under a Bernese bailiff.
The first village church was a wooden building from the mid-12th century. The wooden building was replaced with the stone St. Mary's Church in 1180. This church was replaced in the 16th century, and the present church was built in 1793. On August 18, 1892, a large part of the village was destroyed by a fire. That day, which followed a drought period, a violent foehn storm was raging. Within two hours, 116 buildings in the Grindelwald valley were destroyed and 412 residents became homeless.
The tourism industry began in Grindelwald in the late 18th century as foreigners discovered the scenic town. Pictures of the vistas were widely reprinted, quickly making the village internationally famous. In the 19th century many Englishmen came to the village to climb the alpine peaks around the valley. The Finsteraarhorn, the Wetterhorn, the Eiger, the Schreckhorn and the Gross Fiescherhorn were all climbed during the 19th century, an ascent of the Wetterhorn marking the beginning of the golden age of alpinism. The ascent of the north face of the Eiger, in 1938, was also a milestone in mountaineering history.
The Grindelwald road was built in 1860–72, and the Bernese Oberland railway reached the village in 1890, both of which transformed an arduous journey into a simple trip and allowed tourists to flood into the village. In 1888, Grindelwald was the first resort in the Bernese Oberland to also become a winter destination, attractions being sleigh rides, curling, skating and, from 1891, skiing. The first resort opened in 1888, there were 10 hotels in 1889, and by 1914 there were 33 in Grindelwald. A rack railway was built to Kleine Scheidegg in 1893, and it was expanded to the Jungfraujoch in 1912. Numerous ski lifts, cable cars, hiking trails and alpine huts were built in the late 19th and 20th centuries to allow tourists to explore the mountains, notably the Wetterhorn Elevator, one of the first modern aerial tramways. Today, almost the entire economy of Grindelwald is based on tourism. The V-cableway, inaugurated in 2020, is the last major development in the valley.
The Grindelwald region has been the subject of scientific investigations, including in the "Alpine Studies" by the English alpinist W. A. B. Coolidge and in the Unesco research program Man and Biosphere of the Geographical Institute of the University of Bern on the effects of tourism.
Flag and coat of arms
Grindelwald's current flag and coat of arms was introduced in 1994. The one the municipality had used before, dating from the 14th century, was the same as Austria's: three horizontal stripes of red-white-red.The blazon of the new coat of arms is: ''Gules, on a bar argent a semi chamois rampant issuant sable between seven mullets of the second.''
Geography
The municipality is quite large and is divided into seven mountain communities. However the municipality is dominated by the large tourist center of Grindelwald, slightly above the Black Lütschine, the main river of the valley, the latter converging with the White Lütschine. The village is surrounded by the mountains of the Faulhorn, Schwarzhorn, Wellhorn, Wetterhorn, Mettenberg, Schreckhorn, Lauteraarhorn, Agassizhorn, Fiescherhorn, Mönch, Eiger, Lauberhorn and Männlichen, all of which are either within or on the border of the municipality. The Kleine Scheidegg and the Grosse Scheidegg, respectively "minor watershed" and "major watershed" are the two main passes of the valley.Grindelwald has an area of. Of this area, or 28.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 16.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 1.8% is settled, or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes, and or 52.1% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.6%. Out of the forested land, 12.9% of the total land area is heavily forested, and 2.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.1% is pastures and 23.8% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 6.6% is unproductive vegetation, 24.0% is too rocky for vegetation, and 21.6% of the land is covered by glaciers.
The highest peaks of the valley, from the Wellhorn and Wetterhorn to the Eiger and Mönch, are part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area, a world heritage site.
On 31 December 2009, Amtsbezirk Interlaken, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Interlaken-Oberhasli.
File:View from First.jpg|thumb|centre|upright=3|The valley of Grindewald from First, with the major peaks of Wetterhorn, Schreckhorn, Gross Fiescherhorn and Eiger. Grindelwald is visible on the center right.
Demographics
Grindelwald has a population of. , 18.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. In the period from 2000 to 2010, the population changed at a rate of −1.3%. Migration accounted for 0.2%, while births and deaths accounted for −1.7%.Most of the population spoke German as their first language, Portuguese is the second most common and French was the third. There were 60 people who speak Italian and four people who spoke Romansh.
, the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 1,556 Swiss men and 354 non-Swiss men. There were 1,568 Swiss women and 331 non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 1,846 or about 45.4% were born in Grindelwald and lived there in 2000. There were 847 or 20.8% who were born in the same canton, while 510 or 12.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 679 or 16.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers made up 17.5% of the population, while adults made up 62.5% and seniors make up 20%.
, there were 1,750 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,971 married individuals, 221 widows or widowers and 127 individuals who were divorced.
, there were 679 households that consisted of only one person and 82 households with five or more people., a total of 1,581 apartments were permanently occupied, while 1,750 apartments were seasonally occupied and 194 apartments were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 13.1 new units per 1000 residents.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
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id:darkgrey value:gray
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PlotArea = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100
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bar:1764 from:start till:1816 text:"1,816"
bar:1850 from:start till:2924 text:"2,924"
bar:1860 from:start till:2871 text:"2,871"
bar:1870 from:start till:3142 text:"3,142"
bar:1880 from:start till:3081 text:"3,081"
bar:1888 from:start till:3089 text:"3,089"
bar:1900 from:start till:3346 text:"3,346"
bar:1910 from:start till:3662 text:"3,662"
bar:1920 from:start till:2998 text:"2,998"
bar:1930 from:start till:3021 text:"3,021"
bar:1941 from:start till:2916 text:"2,916"
bar:1950 from:start till:3053 text:"3,053"
bar:1960 from:start till:3244 text:"3,244"
bar:1970 from:start till:3511 text:"3,511"
bar:1980 from:start till:3555 text:"3,555"
bar:1990 from:start till:3733 text:"3,733"
bar:2000 from:start till:4069 text:"4,069"