Brienz, Canton of Bern, Switzerland

🇨🇭 Brienz is a village and municipality on the northern shore of Lake Brienz, at the foot of the Brienzer Rothorn mountain, and in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. Besides the village of Brienz, the municipality includes the settlements of Kienholz and Axalp.

Politically, the municipality is located in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district of the canton of Bern.

History The first settlements date from the neolithic and Bronze Ages. In the 5th century BC, the Celts settled in the alpine valleys among the sources of the Rhone, the Rhine and the Danube, eventually stretching from the headwaters down to Vienna and Belgrade. At the end of 1st century BC the Romans conquered this area. The Roman settlements were destroyed by the Alamanni in 259/60. They eventually settled in the area around 450. In any case, evidence has been found for a settlement by the Alamanni in the 7th century. Brienz is first mentioned in 1146 as Briens. In 1528, after an eventful history, Brienz became part of the Canton of Bern.

Lake Brienz has probably been in use as a transport route since pre-history, but the first steamship was introduced in 1839, operating a route between Interlaken and Brienz. In 1888, the metre gauge Brünig railway opened between Brienz and Alpnachstad, on Lake Lucerne. Brienz therefore became, for a while, a transfer point on a hybrid ship and rail route from Interlaken to Lucerne. By 1916 the Brünig railway had been extended to Interlaken along the north shore of the lake, and Brienz found itself simply an intermediate stop on a through rail route.

Geography The municipality of Brienz includes a number of communities along the upper end of Lake Brienz, and stretches into the neighboring mountains. It includes the village of Brienz on the right shore, the mouth of the Aare and the village of Kienholz to the north and the settlements of Engi and Schwendi on the left bank. Heading away from the right shore the land rises to the Rotschalp, Planalp and Giebelegg before reaching the Brienzer Rothorn (2,351 m (7,713 ft)). Heading away from the left shore it rises over the Brienzerberg and Giessbach Falls, Tschingelfeld, Hinterburg and Axalp until it reaches the Schwarzhorn (2,928 m (9,606 ft)). A nearby hill is disintegrating by rockfall, and a radar monitors the road for incoming rocks.

The parish of Brienz includes Oberried am Brienzersee, Schwanden bei Brienz, Hofstetten bei Brienz and Brienzwiler.

Brienz has an area of 48.06 km² (18.56 sq mi). Of this area, 18.53 km² (7.15 sq mi) or 38.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 16.15 km² (6.24 sq mi) or 33.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.18 km² (0.84 sq mi) or 4.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.52 km² (0.20 sq mi) or 1.1% is either rivers or lakes and 10.64 km² (4.11 sq mi) or 22.2% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, 29.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 7.2% is pastures and 30.5% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.3% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 8.6% is unproductive vegetation and 13.3% is too rocky for vegetation.

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.

Economics Tourism and woodcarving are the main activities. The Cantonal Woodcarving School established in 1862 is well-known and respected in the trade.

The Swiss firm Lötscher makes the only genuine Swiss cuckoo clocks in existence today in Brienz. All of the initial steps involved in building these clocks are done in its woodworking facility in Brienz, the rest of the manufacturing process continues in Zurich where the timepieces are assembled, checked and adjusted.

As of  2011, Brienz had an unemployment rate of 1.72%. As of 2008, there were a total of 1,627 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 125 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 41 businesses involved in this sector. 484 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 54 businesses in this sector. 1,018 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 154 businesses in this sector. There were 1,500 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.1% of the workforce.

In 2008 there were a total of 1,325 full-time equivalent jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 78, of which 63 were in agriculture and 14 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 438 of which 199 or (45.4%) were in manufacturing, 6 or (1.4%) were in mining and 226 (51.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 809. In the tertiary sector; 156 or 19.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 91 or 11.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 293 or 36.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 23 or 2.8% were in the information industry, 21 or 2.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 37 or 4.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 49 or 6.1% were in education and 63 or 7.8% were in health care.

In 2000, there were 596 workers who commuted into the municipality and 509 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.2 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 11.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 45.9% used a private car.

Transport Brienz railway station is the main public transport hub in the village. The station itself is served by trains on the Brünig line of the Zentralbahn railway company. Both InterRegio and Regio trains stop, combining to provide two trains per hour to Interlaken and Meiringen, and one train per hour to Lucerne. Brienz West railway station lies to the west of the village, but within the municipality, and is served only by the hourly Regio trains between Interlaken and Meiringen.

The lower terminal station of the Brienz–Rothorn rack railway is located across the street from the main Brünig line station, and provides summer only service to the summit of Brienzer Rothorn mountain. Unusually for a Swiss railway, most trains are operated by steam locomotives.

Also in summer only, a quay adjacent to Brienz railway station is also served by BLS AG shipping services, which operate on Lake Brienz serving various points between Interlaken and Brienz. One of these stops, which is also within the Brienz municipality, is at the lower station of the Giessbach Funicular, which gives access to the Giessbach Falls.

Several PostBus Switzerland services connect Brienz village to other local places, and call at the forecourt of the main Brienz station. Amongst other destinations, buses link to the Ballenberg open-air museum.