Lens (French pronunciation: [lɛ̃s]) is a municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

[3] Lens has an area, as of 2009[update], of 13.9 square kilometers (5.4 sq mi).

It consists of the villages of Lens, Chelin, Flanthey, Vaas, Saint-Clément and Valençon as well as a portion of the resort of Crans-Montana.

The adjacent hilltop features a bronze statue of Christ, some 28 meters (92 ft) in height.

The statue, and the ornate chapel in its base, can be visited on foot by following a path up through the surrounding woods.

The platform at the top commands views up and down the Rhone valley, from Martigny (to the west), as far as Leuk (to the east).

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure four Mullets of Five Or between two Keys of the same in Saltire.

[8] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (2,876 or 85.7%) as their first language, German is the second most common (128 or 3.8%) and Italian is the third (110 or 3.3%).

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][12] The entire village of Lens is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[15] In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 1,391 votes were cast, of which 99 or about 7.1% were invalid.

[8] There were 1,554 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.2% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 176 or 23.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 44 or 5.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 146 or 19.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 6 or 0.8% were in the information industry, 37 or 4.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 71 or 9.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 65 or 8.6% were in education and 75 or 9.9% were in health care.

[8] From the 2000 census[update], 2,674 or 79.7% were Roman Catholic, while 179 or 5.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.