Chexbres
Encyclopedia
Chexbres is a municipality
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...

, located in the district of Lavaux
Lavaux
The Lavaux is a region in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, in the district of Lavaux. Although there is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the actual vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area...

. Chexbres is a wine-growing village and enjoys a good selection of local vintages. It also notable views of Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...

, and therefore is nicknamed "Balcon du Léman" in French.

History

The municipality of Chexbres was already inhabited in Roman times, and a single wall remains and coins have been found. The first written mention of the place appeared in 1139 under the name Chexbres. In the ensuing period many other names: Chibriacum (1100), Chabris (1134), Chabre (1142), Cabarissa (1145), Cerbre (1147), Chebra (1165), Chabrii (1179), Chabre (1221), Chaibri (1248), Chaibry (1368), Chebry (1453), Cheibri (1454) and even to 1562, both Chaybres and Cheybres appeared. The origin of the name is not clearly understood. It could be derived from the Roman personal names Cabrius, from the Gallic
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....

 words Caebre (meaning city on a hill) or from Cabus (hemp).

The area around Chexbres was owned from the 6th century by the abbey of Saint Maurice and in 978 came under the Kingdom of Burgundy. In 1079 King Henry IV gave the village and lands to the bishop of Lausanne.

With the conquest of Vaud by Bern in 1536, Chexbres came under the administration of the Bailiwick of Lausanne. After the collapse of the ancien régime, the village belonged from 1798 to 1803 during the Helvetic Republic
Helvetic Republic
In Swiss history, the Helvetic Republic represented an early attempt to impose a central authority over Switzerland, which until then consisted mainly of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance, and conquered territories such as Vaud...

 to the Canton of Léman,and later the Canton of Vaud. In 1798 the village was assigned to the district of Lavaux and until 1810 was part of the greater community of Saint-Saphorin within this district. It was only after 1810 that it became a politically independent municipality. Thanks to its scenic location, the village developed during the 19th century into a resort.

Geography

Chexbres is located at 565 m (1,853.7 ft) above sea level, 12 km (7.5 mi) east-southeast of the capital of the canton of Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

 (as the crow flies). The village covers an area east of the Forestay river, in Lavaux, a scenic location about 200 m (656.2 ft) above the lake level of Lake Geneva.

The community itself has no direct lake access, but extends to the east of the Château de Rivaz Glérolles almost to the shores of Lake Geneva. Crêt Bérard at 715 m (2,345.8 ft) above sea level is the highest point of Chexbres. To the west, the area extends beyond the valleys of the Forestay on the hill of Le Signal at up to 640 m (2,099.7 ft) above sea level.

Chexbres includes the hamlet of Le Monte Iller at 455 m (1,492.8 ft) above sea level on the slope below the village, amid the vineyards and a number of farms. Chexbres is bordered by Rivaz
Rivaz
Rivaz is a municipality in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, located in the district of Lavaux-Oron.-Geography:Rivaz has an area, , of . Of this area, or 67.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 0.0% is forested...

, Puidoux
Puidoux
Puidoux is a municipality in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, located in the district of Lavaux-Oron.-History:Puidoux is first mentioned in 1134 as Puidos. It was part of Saint-Saphorin until 1810 when it became an independent municipality....

 and Saint-Saphorin
Saint-Saphorin
Saint-Saphorin is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Lavaux-Oron.-Geography:Saint-Saphorin has an area, , of . Of this area, or 56.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 11.2% is forested...

 (Lavaux).

Chexbres has an area, , of 2.14 square kilometre (0.826258619388025 sq mi). Of this area, 1.1 km² (0.424712374451789 sq mi) or 51.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.35 km² (0.135135755507387 sq mi) or 16.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.7 km² (0.270271511014775 sq mi) or 32.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.5% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 15.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 15.4%. Out of the forested land, 10.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 9.8% is used for growing crops and 24.8% is pastures, while 16.8% is used for orchards or vine crops.

The municipality was part of the Lavaux District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Chexbres became part of the new district of Lavaux-Oron.

Coat of arms

The blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

 of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is Azure, on a cross Or five Roses Gules.

Demographics

Chexbres has a population of . , 19.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 4.1%. It has changed at a rate of 12.8% due to migration and at a rate of -8.5% due to births and deaths.

Most of the population speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 (1,766 or 86.5%), with German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 being second most common (109 or 5.3%) and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 being third (36 or 1.8%). There are 34 people who speak Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

.

Of the population in the municipality 424 or about 20.8% were born in Chexbres and lived there in 2000. There were 745 or 36.5% who were born in the same canton, while 383 or 18.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 400 or 19.6% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 16 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 30 deaths of Swiss citizens and 1 non-Swiss citizen death. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 14 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man who immigrated back to Switzerland and 3 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 22 non-Swiss men and 25 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 46 and the non-Swiss population increased by 27 people. This represents a population growth rate of 3.7%.

The age distribution, , in Chexbres is; 199 children or 9.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 198 teenagers or 9.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 203 people or 9.8% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 261 people or 12.6% are between 30 and 39, 350 people or 16.9% are between 40 and 49, and 254 people or 12.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 244 people or 11.8% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 186 people or 9.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 133 people or 6.4% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 37 people or 1.8% who are 90 and older.

, there were 774 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 947 married individuals, 184 widows or widowers and 136 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.58 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.61 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 35.5% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 or a rent-to-own agreement).

, there were 887 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. There were 334 households that consist of only one person and 36 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 907 households that answered this question, 36.8% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 258 married couples without children, 236 married couples with children There were 47 single parents with a child or children. There were 12 households that were made up of unrelated people and 20 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 181 single family homes (or 46.5% of the total) out of a total of 389 inhabited buildings. There were 114 multi-family buildings (29.3%), along with 70 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (18.0%) and 24 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.2%). Of the single family homes 42 were built before 1919, while 11 were built between 1990 and 2000. The most multi-family homes (46) were built before 1919 and the next most (20) were built between 1961 and 1970. There were 2 multi-family houses built between 1996 and 2000.

there were 1,012 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 310. There were 74 single room apartments and 223 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 846 apartments (83.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 141 apartments (13.9%) were seasonally occupied and 25 apartments (2.5%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.09%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Economy

Chexbres was until the early 20th century, a primarily agricultural village. Even today, the vineyards in the sunny slopes of the Lavaux cover about 25 hectares and arable and livestock farming in the uplands has a certain role in the employment structure of the population. More jobs however are available in the local small businesses and especially in the service sector. The trade of Chexbres is principally with daily consumer goods and to provide for tourists. There are also several wine shops. Chexbres also features a heated swimming pool. Through the construction of numerous single-family homes in the last decades, the village has developed into a residential community. Many workers though are commuters who work mainly in Lausanne and in the Vevey
Vevey
Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.It was the seat of the district of the same name until 2006, and is now part of the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District...

-Montreux
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...

 region.

, Chexbres had an unemployment rate of 3.8%. , there were 38 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 66 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 18 businesses in this sector. 534 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 67 businesses in this sector. There were 958 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 45.1% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...

 jobs was 521. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 23, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 62 of which 19 or (30.6%) were in manufacturing and 42 (67.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 436. In the tertiary sector; 92 or 21.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 14 or 3.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 84 or 19.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 1.1% were in the information industry, 6 or 1.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 31 or 7.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 13 or 3.0% were in education and 154 or 35.3% were in health care.

, there were 379 workers who commuted into the municipality and 712 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.9 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 12.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 64.3% used a private car.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 20.43% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....

 (18.1%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (18.05%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (13.3%). In the federal election, a total of 704 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 52.6%.

Transport

The community has well-developed transport links. It lies on the main road from Vevey
Vevey
Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.It was the seat of the district of the same name until 2006, and is now part of the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District...

 to Moudon
Moudon
Moudon is a municipality in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It was the seat of the district of Moudon and is now in the Broye-Vully district.-History:...

. The A9 highway opened in 1974 and connects Lausanne to Sion
Sion, Switzerland
Sion is the capital of the Swiss canton of Valais. it had a population of .Landmarks include the Basilique de Valère and Château de Tourbillon. Sion has an airfield for civilian and military use, which, because of its location in a valley, causes a reasonable amount of noise pollution. FC Sion...

. It crosses the municipal area, approximately 1 km from the town center.

On 2 May 1904 a railway station was established on the line from Vevey to Puidoux
Puidoux
Puidoux is a municipality in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, located in the district of Lavaux-Oron.-History:Puidoux is first mentioned in 1134 as Puidos. It was part of Saint-Saphorin until 1810 when it became an independent municipality....

. Today, the route runs on the Train des vignes. Only a little outside the municipal area is the Puidoux-Chexbres station on the main line from Lausanne to Bern (inaugurated on September 4, 1862). A bus service also serves the route from Cully.

World heritage sites

Part of the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 of Lavaux
Lavaux
The Lavaux is a region in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, in the district of Lavaux. Although there is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the actual vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area...

, Vineyard Terraces is located in Chexbres.

Landmarks

The Church of Chexbres was built in 1888 on the site of a former chapel. It has a neo-Gothic tower, remarkable stained glass by Jean Prahins (1988) and an organ in the French Romanticism style, installed in 1905. The De Crousaz Castle was built in the 15th century. The present building, however, comes from a reconstruction following a fire shortly after 1600. From the 18th century is the townhall, the Maison Wyttenbach. In the old center and some characteristic farmer houses from the 17th to 19th century are preserved.

Notable people

  • The Swedish arts patron and collector Theodor Ahrenberg  (1912–1989) settled in with his family in 1962 in the villa "Le Rocher" in Chexbres, where he continued his collecting activities. With numerous young artists who later formed the Classical Modern, Ahrenberg invited them to stay several months of work at his villa. In this way, was created in the next 25 years, a comprehensive collection, known as the Ahrenberg collection .
  • Chexbres also gained popularity through numerous landscapes of the Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler
    Ferdinand Hodler
    Ferdinand Hodler was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the 19th century.-Life:Hodler was born in Berne, the eldest of six children. His father, Jean Hodler, made a meager living as a carpenter; his mother, Marguerite , was from a peasant family...

    , known for his paintings of the south-facing slopes of the Lavaux and Lake Geneva. The best known of these paintings, "The Lake Geneva from Chexbres", which was created in 1911, is currently in the possession of the famous auction house Christie's
    Christie's
    Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...

     in London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

    , England
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

    .

Religion

From the , 550 or 26.9% were Roman Catholic, while 1,023 or 50.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 82 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...

 (or about 4.02% of the population), and there were 70 individuals (or about 3.43% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 16 (or about 0.78% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 216 (or about 10.58% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and 112 individuals (or about 5.49% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Chexbres about 730 or (35.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 336 or (16.5%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

). Of the 336 who completed tertiary schooling, 53.3% were Swiss men, 30.4% were Swiss women, 9.8% were non-Swiss men and 6.5% were non-Swiss women.

In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 216 students in the Chexbres school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 665 children of which 232 children (34.9%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 114 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 101 students in those schools. There were also 1 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.

, there were 146 students in Chexbres who came from another municipality, while 177 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

External links and references

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