Villeret, Switzerland

Villeret photographed from the train

Villeret is a municipality in the administrative district in the canton of Bern Bernese Jura in Switzerland.

Geography

Villeret is at 740 m above sea level. M., 17 km west of Biel ( straight line ) and 1.5 km northeast of Saint- Imier. The village is located in the central part of the Jura latitudinal Vallon de Saint -Imier on both sides of the river of Suze ( Suze French ), at the mouth of the creek from the Combe Grède.

The area of ​​16.2 km ² large municipality area comprises a relatively narrow section of the valley basin of the Vallon de Saint- Imier. The central part occupies the here around 300 m wide Talniederung Schüss. In the north, the area extends to the anticline of the Montagne du Droit (up to 1,255 m above sea level. M. ) and down to the valley at Les Breuleux. To the south Villeret extends to the height of Chasseral chain, with 1,590 m on the sea level. M. west of the Chasseral summit is the highest point in the municipality is only achieved little. At the apex of the Chasseral chain the hard cap rock was broken and eroded away, which in the course of millions of years a northern and a southern ridge formed. In between is an inlier, which is already cleared up to the next hard rock layer. The northern ridge, in the Cornette 1'494 m above sea level. M., in the municipality of Villeret by a prominent erosion valley, the Combe Grède interrupted. This is put under protection. On the wide ridges of the Montagne du Droit and the Chasseral chain is extended Jura high grazing pastures with the typical tall spruce trees that are either individually or in groups. The height of the Chasseral is already above the regional tree line. From the municipality surface 1997 4 % came from settlements, 51 % of forest and shrubs, 44 % to agriculture and slightly less than 1% was unproductive land.

To Villeret include numerous individual farms that are scattered in the valley and the Jura mountains. Neighboring communities of Villeret Saint-Imier, Nods and Villeret in the canton of Bern, Les Breuleux and Muriaux in the Canton of Jura and Val -de- Ruz in the canton of Neuchatel.

Population

With 899 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012) Villeret belongs to the medium-sized towns in the Bernese Jura. Of the residents, 83.1 % are French-speaking, German-speaking and 11.3%, 2.4% speak Albanian (as of 2000). After peaking in 1910, the population of Villeret has decreased to 1950 by almost 25 %. A temporary stagnation phase was again replaced during the economic crisis of the 1970s by a significant decrease in population.

Policy

The voter shares of the parties at the national elections of 2011 were: SVP 26.8 %, SP 25.9 %, GPS 11.8 %, FDP 11.1 %, BDP 9.5 %, Les Rauraques 3.3 %, CVP 2.9 %, glp 2.0 %, AL 1.6 %, EPP 1.4 %, EDU 1.2 %.

Economy

Villeret was marked up in the first half of the 19th century mainly by agriculture. But early in 1725 began to develop in the watchmaking work at home and in small workshops. Middle of the 19th century, then the creation of watch factories a rapid economic recovery. Today, there are still jobs in the watch industry ( Cartier ), in the manufacture of precision tools, as well as in the local industry. Agriculture also plays a significant role, with livestock and dairy farming outweigh, in the valley there are some farming.

Traffic

The community is conveniently comparatively quite well developed. It lies on the busy busy main road from Biel to La Chaux -de-Fonds. On April 30, 1874, the railway line from Biel was opened after Convers with a railway station in Villeret.

History

The first written mention of Villeret place in the year 1330. The village belonged until 1797 to rule Erguel, which was under the Bishopric of Basel, where the town Biel from time to time exercised greater influence and in 1530 introduced the Reformation. From 1797 to 1815 Villeret belonged to France and was initially part of the Département du Mont Terrible, which was connected to the 1800 Haut -Rhin. By the decision of the Congress of Vienna, the place came in 1815 to the canton of Bern to the district Courtelary.

Attractions

The Reformed village church was built in 1935-36. The center offers both old farmhouses dating from the 18th century as well as buildings in the style of classicism that were created during the boom of the watch industry. The school building dates from 1865. 's Modern architecture is represented by the built according to plans by Jean Nouvel building of the company Cartier.

Personalities

  • Paul Alcide Blancpain (1839-1899), brewery entrepreneurs
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