Merzligen

Merzligen is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

[3] The oldest trace of settlement in the area is the remains of a Roman road which was discovered near the Kühmatt section.

By the Late Middle Ages a number of local nobles and monasteries owned land in the village.

When Bern adopted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation in 1528, the monastery was closed.

The Swiss forces had 16 men killed in the battle, all of whom were buried there and a small memorial was erected.

In 1674, the residents built their own church and unsuccessfully attempted to split away from the Bürglen parish.

[6] Merzligen is located on the heights between Lake Biel and the Bernese Seeland.

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

[7] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Linden Tree Vert issuant from a Base of the same.

[10] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (376 or 91.5%) as their first language, French is the second most common (25 or 6.1%) and Italian is the third (2 or 0.5%).

[10] In 2011, single family homes made up 66.9% of the total housing in the municipality.

In the federal election, a total of 184 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 56.6%.

In the tertiary sector; 3 or 27.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 3 or 27.3% were technical professionals or scientists and 3 or 27.3% were in health care.

[23] From the 2000 census[update], 306 or 74.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 33 or 8.0% were Roman Catholic.

[11] As of  2000[update], there was one student living in Merzligen and attending some form of schooling in the municipality.

Battle of St. Niklaus memorial, near Merzligen