Sumiswald

Municipality in Bern, Switzerland

Sumiswald is a municipality in the district of the Emmental administrative district in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It is mostly known for being the manufacturing location of the Swiss railway clock.

Sumiswald is first mentioned in 1225 as Smoldeswalt. The von Sumiswald family is first mentioned in 1135. They probably took their name from a now vanished castle in the area. The last member of the family, Lütold, donated the village, land and churches in Sumiswald and Escholzmatt to the commandery of the Teutonic Knights of the "Ballei" Swabia Alsace Burgundy. In 1525, the town bought its way out of serfdom, but stayed a part of the Teutonic Knights even after the Protestant Reformation was introduced in 1528; Sumiswald was sold to the city of Bern for 36,000 Reichs thaler in 1698. The village Church of St. Mary was first mentioned in 1225 along with the village. The old church was replaced with a new building between 1510 and 1512. When Bern converted to Protestantism, the village converted and the municipality acquired the patronage rights over the church. From the same survey, housing and buildings made up 2.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.7%. A total of 43.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 11.3% is used for growing crops and 25.0% is pasturage and 10.9% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Argent a Bar Gules and of the last.

The clock manufacturer Moser Baer, manufacturer of the Swiss railway clocks, can be found in Sumiswald. as of 2011, Sumiswald had an unemployment rate of 1.94%. as of 2011, there were a total of 2,973 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 510 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 185 businesses involved in this sector. The secondary sector employs 1,228 people and there were 93 businesses in this sector. The tertiary sector employs 1,235 people, with 208 businesses in this sector. In 2000, there were 981 workers who commuted into the municipality and 884 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. A total of 1,831 workers (65.1% of the 2,812 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Sumiswald. Of the working population, 7.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.3% used a private car. In 2011 there were 1,817 taxpayers in the municipality. Most workers (448) made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year, while 8 workers made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year and 374 made over 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Sumiswald was 113,051 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 136,785 CHF. In 2011 a total of 2.2% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

The Gasthof Bären (Bären Inn), the village rectory and the Swiss Reformed church are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Sumiswald is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

The glass windows of the church Mariekirche depict benefactors with their patron saints. The old Teutonic Knight castle is somewhat outside of Sumiswald. It was endowed in 1225 with the condition that a hospital be housed in it, therefore the castle's name is Spittel. It is said that all the men in Sumiswald could have taken a seat at the large table in the inn "Bären" after the plague in 1434.

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 36.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (19.6%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (11.8%) and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) (7.2%). In the federal election, a total of 1,795 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 44.7%.

From the 2000 census, 4,258 or 80.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 227 or 4.3% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 35 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.66% of the population), there were 2 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 154 individuals (or about 2.90% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 142 (or about 2.68% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist, 121 individuals who were Hindu and 3 individuals who belonged to another church. 159 (or about 3.00% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 204 individuals (or about 3.84% of the population) did not answer the question. During the 2012–13 school year, there were a total of 588 students attending classes in Sumiswald. There were a total of 103 students in the German language kindergarten classes in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 13.6% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 18.4% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality's primary school had 294 students in German language classes. Of the primary students, 4.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 12.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, the lower secondary school had a total of 191 students. There were 3.7% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 11.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. as of 2000, there were a total of 888 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 699 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 189 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 118 residents attended schools outside the municipality.