Meiringen

Meiringen
Country Switzerland Canton Bern District Interlaken-Oberhasli 46°43.643′N 8°11.24′E / 46.727383°N 8.18733°E / 46.727383; 8.18733Coordinates: 46°43.643′N 8°11.24′E / 46.727383°N 8.18733°E / 46.727383; 8.18733
Population	4,583 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density	113 /km2 (292 /sq mi)
Area	40.7 km2 (15.7 sq mi)
Elevation	595 m (1,952 ft)
Postal code	3860
SFOS number	0785
Surrounded by	Brienz, Brienzwiler, Grindelwald, Hasliberg, Innertkirchen, Lungern (OW), Schattenhalb
Website	www.meiringen.ch SFSO statistics
Meiringen
View map of Meiringen

Statue of Holmes outside the English Church

Street sign outside Holmes museum

Meiringen is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

Sights

The town is famous for the Reichenbach Falls, a spectacular water fall that was the setting for the fictional presumed death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes. 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.

The town is also known for its claim to have invented meringue.

History

Meiringen is first mentioned in 1234 as Magiringin.^[2]

Geography

Meiringen in 1900

Meiringen has an area, as of 2009^[update], of 40.59 square kilometers (15.67 sq mi). Of this area, 17.75 km² (6.85 sq mi) or 43.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 13.27 km² (5.12 sq mi) or 32.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.04 km² (1.17 sq mi) or 7.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.53 km² (0.20 sq mi) or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes and 6.09 km² (2.35 sq mi) or 15.0% is unproductive land.^[3]

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.^[3]

Demographics

Meiringen has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 4,583.^[1] As of 2007^[update], 13.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -2.8%. Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (88.7%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 2.5%) and Portuguese being third ( 1.6%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 41.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (25.2%), the FDP (12.5%) and the Green Party (11.3%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000^[update]) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.2%. In Meiringen about 70.6% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Meiringen has an unemployment rate of 1.43%. As of 2005^[update], there were 208 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 75 businesses involved in this sector. 419 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 52 businesses in this sector. 1797 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 201 businesses in this sector.^[4] The historical population is given in the following table:^[2]

year	population
1764	964
1850	2,358
1900	3,077
1950	3,640
1980	4,072
2000	4,803

Transportation

Meiringen is served by Meiringen railway station on the Brünigbahn narrow-gauge railway from Interlaken to Lucerne. This station is also the terminus of the local Meiringen-Innertkirchen Bahn narrow-gauge railway, which links the town with the nearby village of Innertkirchen. The lower terminus of the Reichenbachfall-Bahn funicular, which links the town to the Reichenbach Falls, is located at Willigen, some 20 minutes walk, or a 6 minute bus ride, from Meiringen station.

One of three main air bases of the Swiss Air Force is located in Unterbach, near Meiringen. Among other aircraft, it operates F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets.

Weather

Climate data for Meiringen
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	1.8 (35.2)	4.4 (39.9)	8.4 (47.1)	13 (55)	17.7 (63.9)	20.4 (68.7)	22.6 (72.7)	21.6 (70.9)	18.8 (65.8)	14 (57)	7.3 (45.1)	2.3 (36.1)	12.7
Daily mean °C (°F)	−2.2 (28.0)	−0.2 (31.6)	3.1 (37.6)	7.3 (45.1)	11.8 (53.2)	14.6 (58.3)	16.7 (62.1)	15.8 (60.4)	13.1 (55.6)	8.7 (47.7)	3.1 (37.6)	−1.3 (29.7)	7.5
Average low °C (°F)	−5.5 (22.1)	−4.1 (24.6)	−1.4 (29.5)	2 (36)	5.8 (42.4)	8.7 (47.7)	10.7 (51.3)	10.3 (50.5)	7.9 (46.2)	4.1 (39.4)	−0.7 (30.7)	−4.5 (23.9)	2.8
Precipitation mm (inches)	96 (3.78)	93 (3.66)	107 (4.21)	99 (3.9)	122 (4.8)	151 (5.94)	148 (5.83)	165 (6.5)	89 (3.5)	86 (3.39)	97 (3.82)	97 (3.82)	1,351 (53.19)
Avg. precipitation days	11	10.4	12.2	11.6	14.1	14.8	13.7	14.3	9.6	8.8	10.7	10.7	141.9
Source: MeteoSchweiz [5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB, online database – Datenwürfel für Thema 01.2 - Bevölkerungsstand und -bewegung (German) accessed 29 September
2. ^ ^{a b} Meiringen in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
3. ^ ^{a b} Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
4. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 10-Jul-2009
5. ^ "Temperature and Precipitation Average Values-Table, 1961-1990" (in German, French, Italian). Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss. http://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/web/de/klima/klima_schweiz/tabellen.html. Retrieved 8 May 2009.