Köniz

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Köniz

Canton	Berne
District	Bern
Coordinates	46°56′N 7°24′E
Population	37,067 (January 2005)
Area	51.2 km²
Elevation	572 m
Postal code	3098
SFOS number	0355
Mayor	Luc Mentha (SP)
Website	www.koeniz.ch
Köniz

Köniz is a municipality in the canton of Berne, Switzerland, lying to the south of the city of Berne.

1 General
2 History
3 Villages
4 References

[edit] General

Köniz lies to the south of Berne, and with 37'955 inhabitants (Dec. 2003), amongst whom 5'274 are foreigners, is the fourth largest municipality in the Canton of Berne and is the twelfth largest overall in Switzerland. It covers an area of 51 km². The municipality is the largest urban municipality in Switzerland. Although it has more than three times the required 10'000 inhabitants, Köniz refuses the title of Town.

[edit] History

The current municipality has long been inhabited; there have been a number of Bronze- and Iron Age finds, as well as Roman villas (villae rusticae) and Early Middle Ages graveyards. The oldest parts of the current reformed parish church (formerly. St. Peter and Paul) date back to around 1100. There may have other previous buildings on this sight, but archaeological digs have uncovered no evidence of them thus far.

According to legend the church is meant have been founded by Burgundian King Rudolf II and his wife Bertha. The parish did not only comprise the current municipality, but also the area around present day Berne, around 5 km away. In 1191 it became the parish church of the newly founded town, till it was given the status of its own parish in 1276.

Since time immemorial there had been an Augustinian monastery at the church, which was given to the German Order by King Heinrich VII, the son and heir to the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II, in 1226. The order established a commendam at the church, which belonged to the Ballei of Schwaben-Elsass-Burgund, as well as a settlement in Berne. One of the friars was installed as parish priest. With the growth of the parish of Bern, the settlement there was raised to commendam status, whose principle was the parish priest in Berne.

The Köniz commendam was secularised in 1528 during the Bernese Reformation, but was given back to the Order in 1552 after pressure from the catholic Cantons. In 1729 the Order sold the commendam to Berne. A bailiwick was established, which existed until the collapse of the old Berne in 1798. The municipality of Köniz in its present form, came into being in 1846.

Much of the information above is a translation from the German version

[edit] Villages

(December 2003)

Village	Inhabitants
Köniz	6'925
Wabern	6'422
Liebefeld	4'908
Spiegel	4'506
Schliern	4'102
Niederscherli	2'273
Niederwangen	1'616
Oberwangen	1'085
Schwanden	987
Thörishaus	920
Mittelhäusern	910
Ried	825
Gasel	778
Oberscherli	491
Halen	300
Liebewil	155
Moos	115
Ulmiz	98
Mengestorf	96
Oberried	95
Schlatt	85
Herzwil	63
Total	37'955