Blumenstein

Blumenstein is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

[4] Inner-Blumenstein was sold in 1348 by Peter von Raron to the city of Bern.

In 1642 the last owner, Hans Franz von Wattenwyl, sold the village back to Bern.

Following the 1798 French invasion, Blumenstein became part of the Helvetic Republic district of Oberseftigen.

Five years later, with the collapse of the Republic and the Act of Mediation, it was assigned to the Thun District.

Traditionally most of the residents farmed or raised dairy cattle in alpine meadows.

A few years later, in 1607, the city of Bern acquired Thierachern and added it into the Thun District.

In 1528 Bern adopted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation and all the parishes in the Canton converted.

When they began to settle in the area around Tannenbühl, the church at Amsoldingen was too distant to effectively control the new faith.

It includes the village of Blumenstein and the hamlets of Wäsemli, Eschli, Gassen and Rüdeli (all part of Inner-Blumenstein), Lochmannsbühl, Reckenbühl, Bodenzingen and Tannenbühl (known as Outer-Blumenstein).

On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Thun.

[7] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure three Lilies Or issuant from as many Rocks Argent.

[10] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (1,158 or 97.1%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (21 or 1.8%) and French is the third (4 or 0.3%).

[15] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][16][17] As of  2011[update], Blumenstein had an unemployment rate of 1.21%.

[10] There were 619 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 39.6% of the workforce.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 49, of which 46 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 18 or 20.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 14 or 15.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 17 or 18.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 12 or 13.3% were in education and 16 or 17.8% were in health care.

The entire hamlets and churches of Blumenstein, Wäsemli and Eschli are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[25] From the 2000 census[update], 954 or 80.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 60 or 5.0% were Roman Catholic.

The wettest month was July during which time Blumenstein received an average of 155 mm (6.1 in) of rain or snow.

The driest month of the year was January with an average of 68 mm (2.7 in) of precipitation over 10.6 days.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

Mineral spa in Blumenstein, 1790
Blumenstein from the air
Interior of the Swiss Reformed church
Blumenstein Swiss Reformed church