Oberhofen am Thunersee is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

In 1306 the von Eschenbach family was forced to sell Oberhofen and the castle to the Habsburgs.

The Habsburgs appointed a succession of vassals to administer the area for them, especially the Kyburgs who also owned Thun Castle.

In the following year they sold the castle and Oberhofen Herrschaft to Ludwig von Seftigen, a citizen of Bern.

[3] Over the following centuries the town, castle and herrschaft passed through several Bernese patrician families.

After the male line of the von Erlach family in Oberhofen died out, Bern acquired the castle and lands.

Following the 1798 French invasion, Oberhofen am Thunersee became part of the Helvetic Republic Canton of Oberland.

After the collapse of the Republic and 1803 Act of Mediation it joined the newly created Thun District.

[3] Traditionally vineyards and wine production were an important part of the local economy and grapes appear on the municipal coat of arms.

In the 19th century, the vineyards went into decline due to increased supply from other wine growing regions and problems with disease.

Decreasing viticulture and limited farm land led to constant emigration, generally to North America, throughout much of the 19th century.

Beginning in the 1950 many new vacation homes and a beach promenade were built to bring tourists back to the municipality.

Today, a number of small businesses operate in the municipality, but about two-thirds of the labor force commutes to jobs in cities like Thun and Bern.

In 1952 it became a part of the Historical Museum of Bern and two years later they opened a branch in the castle.

In 1834 Hilterfingen and Oberhofen separated into two independent citizen's communities but remained part of a common parish.

[6] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Gules and Argent overall a Vine tree growing from Coupeaux Vert on Prop Or with two grapes counterchanged.

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (2,055 or 94.3%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (24 or 1.1%) and French is the third (20 or 0.9%).

[14] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][15][16] As of  2011[update], Oberhofen am Thunersee had an unemployment rate of 1.88%.

In the tertiary sector; 56 or 15.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 1.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 74 or 21.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 8 or 2.3% were in the information industry, 29 or 8.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 9 or 2.5% were in education and 79 or 22.4% were in health care.

[22] Oberhofen Castle and the Wichterheer-Gut are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The entire urbanized village of Oberhofen am Thunersee is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

The castle houses a division of the Historic Museum of Bern, and has a formal lakeside garden in the English style with many rare specimen trees.

[citation needed] The Wichterheer estate, lakeside to the south of the castle, houses the Museum für Uhren und Mechanische Musik (Museum of Timekeeping and Mechanical Music) as well as an exhibit of 20th century local art.

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

[25] During the 2012-13 school year, there were a total of 243 students attending classes in Oberhofen am Thunersee.