Meiringen
Meiringen is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Besides the village of Meiringen, the municipality includes the settlements of Balm, Brünigen, Eisenbolgen, Hausen, Prasti, Sand, Stein, Unterbach, Unterheidon, Wylerli and Zaun. The municipal coat of arms shows a black eagle in a yellow field.
Formerly the coat of arms of the entire Oberhasli Talschaft, this design continues the imperial coat of arms.
Meiringen is famous for the nearby Reichenbach Falls, a waterfall that was the setting for the final showdown between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty. The village is also known for its claim to have been the place where meringue was first created.
Geography
Meiringen is located in the eastern Bernese Oberland region, in a valley of the upper reaches of the river Aare, called Haslital, upstream of Lake Brienz. It lies at the foot of several mountain passes, including the Brünig Pass to the valley of the Sarner Aa and hence central Switzerland, the Joch Pass to Engelberg, the Susten Pass to the upper valley of the Reuss, the Grimsel Pass to the valley of the Rhone and hence southern Switzerland, and the Grosse Scheidegg Pass to Grindelwald.On the right bank of the Aare, the municipality of Meiringen rises from an elevation of on the valley floor to the Brünig Pass at and beyond that to a point at on the slopes of the Wilerhorn. On the left bank it stretches up into the Alps and reaches an elevation of at the summit of the Wellhorn. It includes the village of Meiringen and the settlements of Sand, Stein, Eisenbolgen, Hausen, Balm, Unterbach and Unterheidon in the valley, the village of Brünigen in the Brünig Pass and the hamlets of Prasti, Zaun and Wylerli on the slopes above the valley.
The municipality has an area,, of. Of this area, or 43.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 32.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 7.5% is settled, or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 15.0% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.3%. Out of the forested land, 29.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.3% is used for growing crops and 17.8% is pastures and 22.5% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 5.6% is unproductive vegetation and 9.4% is too rocky for vegetation.
History
Meiringen is first mentioned in 1234 as Magiringin. Due to its strategic location at the foot of several alpine passes, the area around Meiringen was settled at least in the Early Middle Ages. The first village church was built in the 9th or 10th century. When it was destroyed in a flood the new church of St. Michael was built about above the old church. The current church of St. Michael dates from the 15th century and was renovated in 1683–84. The Restiturm castle was constructed in the 13th century, whilst the Wyghus fortress in the Brünig Pass was first mentioned in 1333, though it was destroyed later.Meiringen was always the political capital of the surrounding valley. It was the capital of the Imperial reichsfrei bailiwick of Hasli. In 1275 it formed an alliance with the city of Bern. In 1311, Hasli was given to the house of Weissenburg by Henry VII. After an unsuccessful revolt in 1334, Hasli passed to the city of Bern as a subject territory in name but regained most of its earlier privileges. Under Bernese control it was the capital of the District of Oberhasli until 1798. Following the 1798 French invasion and the creation of the Helvetic Republic it was the capital of the district of Oberhasli in the Canton of Oberland and then the capital of the District of Oberhasli in the canton of Bern. The village was the home of the Talschaft council and the regional court met at the cross street in front of the churchyard. Today it is still home to the Bernese District authorities, though many of the administrative offices and the district court are now in Interlaken.
Meiringen was the only market town in the valley with a yearly fair starting in 1417. In 1490 this became a weekly market. Traders from the lowlands of Lombardy came here to purchase cattle, horses, and cheese. Located at the foot of Brunig, Grimsel, Susten and Joch passes, Meiringen was a hub in the trade from the lowlands through the passes. Outside of Meiringen village the main occupation was agriculture or cattle farming until the 19th century. Originally there were six Bäuert among the villages and hamlets in the valley.
In the 1550s, a series of floods of the Aare destroyed the valley floor villages of Balm and Bürglen, both of which were abandoned. The old village of Unterheid was destroyed in 1762 when the Aare changed its course, though the village was rebuilt in a new location. In 1734 the Alpbach wall was built to protect against the river, though this problem was not solved until the 1866–80 Aare water correction project.
The population growth after 1800 led to impoverishment and forced many to emigrate, mainly to America. Beginning in 1880, the growth of tourism brought new wealth into the valley. Increasing tourist traffic came over the roads that were opened over the Brünig, the Grimsel and the Susten passes. The Brünigbahn opened in 1888, making it easier for tourists to come into the valley. Following fires in 1879 and 1891, much of the village was rebuilt with tourists in mind. In 1913 Meiringen had 18 hotels with 500 beds. In 1912, the Meiringen–Reichenbach–Aareschlucht tramway was constructed to link the village to the Reichenbach Falls and Aare Gorge, two of the principle local tourist attractions; the line survived until closure in 1956.
In 1892 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited the Reichenbach Falls outside Meiringen and subsequently used them as the setting for the struggle between Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty in his story The Final Problem.
During World War II, the tourism industry collapsed, so the Federal Government created jobs by opening the Unterbach military airfield; the federal armory; the SBB depot; the power plants at Oberhasli AG and in hospitals. The municipal museum was founded in 1968 and the Sherlock Holmes Museum opened in 1991.
Demographics
Meiringen has a population of., 14.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of −2.1%. Migration accounted for −0.2%, while births and deaths accounted for −0.9%.Most of the population speaks German as their first language, Serbo-Croatian is the second most common and Portuguese is the third. There are 43 people who speak French, 62 people who speak Italian and 2 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 48.7% male and 51.3% female. The population was made up of 1,888 Swiss men and 342 non-Swiss men. There were 2,044 Swiss women and 309 non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 1,761 or about 37.3% were born in Meiringen and lived there in 2000. There were 1,326 or 28.1% who were born in the same canton, while 720 or 15.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 751 or 15.9% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers make up 23.9% of the population, while adults make up 58.9% and seniors make up 17.2%.
, there were 1,940 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,222 married individuals, 356 widows or widowers and 205 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 1,968 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household. There were 695 households that consist of only one person and 114 households with five or more people., a total of 1,893 apartments were permanently occupied, while 337 apartments were seasonally occupied and 90 apartments were empty., the construction rate of new housing units was 2.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 0.28%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
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bar:1764 from:start till:964 text:"964"
bar:1850 from:start till:2358 text:"2,358"
bar:1860 from:start till:2514 text:"2,514"
bar:1870 from:start till:2786 text:"2,786"
bar:1880 from:start till:2807 text:"2,807"
bar:1888 from:start till:2838 text:"2,838"
bar:1900 from:start till:3077 text:"3,077"
bar:1910 from:start till:3173 text:"3,173"
bar:1920 from:start till:2996 text:"2,996"
bar:1930 from:start till:3103 text:"3,103"
bar:1941 from:start till:3285 text:"3,285"
bar:1950 from:start till:3640 text:"3,640"
bar:1960 from:start till:3749 text:"3,749"
bar:1970 from:start till:3759 text:"3,759"
bar:1980 from:start till:4072 text:"4,072"
bar:1990 from:start till:4346 text:"4,346"
bar:2000 from:start till:4723 text:"4,723"
Sights
The Hotel Sauvage, the Swiss Reformed church with outbuildings, and the Reichenbachfall-Bahn are listed on the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance. The urbanized village of Meiringen and the hamlet of Brünigen are both on the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.The ruined castle of Restiturm lies just to the east of the centre of Meiringen, and once commanded the various trade routes that passed through the village.
A museum dedicated to Holmes is located in the basement of the deconsecrated English Church, located in what has now been named Conan Doyle Place. Its highlight is a detailed and authentic recreation of the sitting room at 221B Baker Street, London. The museum was officially opened by Air Cdt Dame Jean Conan Doyle, Lady Bromet, the younger daughter of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in May 1991.