Delémont (; ; , ) is a municipality, a town and the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The town has approximately 12,000 inhabitants .
History
The area of the municipality was already settled in the middle Bronze Age. Fifteen urn burials have been discovered in the municipality. There were late Bronze Age settlements south and west of the modern city. Several Iron Age buildings have been discovered south of town. There is also evidence of a Roman settlement, including a Gallo-Roman mausoleum and a small cache of coins. One or possibly several villas in the area may indicate the existence of a vicus near the town.
The first historic mention of the name dates from 736 to 37 as Delemonte. In 1131, the first mention of the German name Telsperg was recorded. It is also mentioned as Laimunt (1181) and Deleymunt (1225). The name is a combination of the Germanic Tello or Dagili with the Latin word mons for mountain.
Since the 7th century, the region belonged to the lands of the counts of Alsace. In 1271, it was sold to the Bishop of Basel. At this time it consisted of a fortified village and two castles, which were probably the homes of the Telsberg family. The city was declared to have municipal rights by Bishop Peter Reich von Reichenstein on 6 January 1289. This charter allowed the city some self-governance and allowed it to distribute land, which created favorable conditions for the growth of the town. In 1338 they received the right to collect a tax on wine and food and in 1461 they were allowed to sell and tax salt in the valleys of Delémont and Moutier. From this income, as well as the money from a brick factory, two mills and eight farms, which were in use between the 15th and 17th centuries the city was able to meet all of its financial obligations. From 1289 to 1793, it was the capital of the estate of Delémont.
The old town was nearly square, with two large longitudinal streets that are intersected by three cross streets. The city was surrounded by city walls, which were strengthened in the southwest, near the Bishop's Castle, during the 14th century. In the north-east corner a large round tower was built in the 13th century. There were four gates into the city: Porte Monsieur (or de Porrentruy), the Porte au Loup, the Porte des Moulins and the Porte des Près (or de Bâle). The latter was bricked up in 1487, when a fire destroyed a large part of the city. One characteristic of Delémont are the monumental fountains in the late Renaissance style. The most important public buildings were rebuilt in the 18th century. The Bishop's Castle, which served as a summer residence, was rebuilt in 1716-21 by Pierre Racine from Tramelan. The Châtelain's building was rebuilt in 1717, followed in 1742-45 the town hall by Johann Caspar Bagnato and in 1753 the private residence of the family of Rinck Baldenstein, the county's administrator. The church of Saint-Marcel was built 1762-67 from plans by Pierre-Francois Paris, and replaced a Gothic style building which stood on the same location. The steeple was completed in 1850–51.
The town's parish was first mentioned in 1255. The parish was administered by either a priest or a rector and seven or four (after 1760) chaplains. The rector of the Church of Saint-Marcel was also the dean of the rural diaconate of Salignon in the diocese of Basel. Between 1534 and 1792 the parish church served as the collegiate church for the collegiate chapter of Moutier-Grandval, who had fled to Delémont during the Protestant Reformation.
During the Counter-Reformation a monastery of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and an Ursuline convent were established, which remained until 1793. The Ursulines were established in 1698 to provide an education for young girls, which they did for almost a century.
The chapel of Saint-Imier, the former chapel of Telsberg castle, was rebuilt in 1586 and dedicated to Mary. During the increase in popularity of the Marian cult in the 17th century, the chapel was expanded and rebuilt several times. After the coronation of the statue of Notre-Dame in 1869 the chapel became the most popular pilgrimage place in the Catholic Jura.
In 1793, Delémont was conquered by French Revolutionary troops and became the seat of one of the districts of the Département du Mont Terrible. In 1800, this was incorporated into the Département du Haut-Rhin. After the fall of Napoleon, the region was given to the Canton of Bern in 1815. Under the French, the old power structure in the city was suppressed. The Bürgergemeinde (an association of all full citizens) no longer had authority over most of the city lands and the town council became an advisory only organization. After the city came under Bernese authority, the old power structure rushed back into power. The Bürgergemeinde, which owned all the common lands, accepted only a few dozen new members, until 1820 when it closed itself to new members. This unequal power structure remained in place until the liberal revolution in 1831, known as the Regeneration, granted full citizenship rights to all residents of the town. The distribution of the Bürgergemeinde lands dragged on until 1866, when the Canton of Bern finally pushed through an agreement.
During the 19th century industrialization, the German-speaking population increased greatly, and in 1880 reached nearly 40%. The city was briefly bilingual, but since 1920, the German-speaking minority has continuously decreased.
Since 1947, the city became a center for agitation for separation from the Canton of Bern. In the referendums in 1959 and 1974, a large majority voted for the creation of the Canton of Jura. From 1976 to 1978, Delémont was the meeting place for the drafting of the cantonal constitution for the new canton, which was created 1 January 1979, with Delémont as its capital.
Geography
Delémont has an area of . Of this area, or 37.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 42.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 20.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 9.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.2%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.2% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 40.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 17.8% is used for growing crops and 12.2% is pastures and 6.5% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Delémont lies southwest of Basel, about halfway between Basel and Bienne. It stretches along both sides of the Sorne river, shortly before it flows into the Birs on the northern edge of the Delémont valley, a wide depression in the Jura Mountains.
The area of the municipality is largely given to intensive cultivation. At the south end of the valley is the Montchaibeux, an isolated hill. On the north, the valley is bounded by the Les Rangiers range, with la Chaive () as the highest point in the municipality. The eastern boundary is the Birs River.
The towns Les Rondez and Les Vorbourgs are part of the municipality. The surrounding municipalities are Develier, Courtételle, Rossemaison, Courrendlin, Courroux, Soyhières, Mettembert, and Bourrignon.
Climate Delémont has an oceanic climate (Cfb), according to the Köppen climate classification, bordering a humid continental climate (Dfb). Between 1981 and 2001 Delémont had an average of 134.3 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month on average is May during which time Delémont received an average of of rain. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 12.9 days. The driest month of the year is February with an average of of precipitation over 9 days.
Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a Crosier Argent over Coupeaux of Six of the same.Flags of the World.com accessed 21-December-2011
Demographics
Delémont has a population () of . , 23.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008 accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 1.7%. Migration accounted for 0.5%, while births and deaths accounted for 1.4%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 21-December-2011
Most of the population () speaks French (9,574 or 84.3%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (449 or 4.0%) and German is the third (350 or 3.1%). There are 5 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 48.6% male and 51.4% female. The population was made up of 4,114 Swiss men (35.5% of the population) and 1,512 (13.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,669 Swiss women (40.3%) and 1,291 (11.1%) non-Swiss women.Canton Jura Statistics- Population résidante permanente au 1er janvier 2010, canton du Jura et communes accessed 2 March 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 3,673 or about 32.4% were born in Delémont and lived there in 2000. There were 2,823 or 24.9% who were born in the same canton, while 1,703 or 15.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2,720 or 24.0% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.5%.
, there were 4,501 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 5,379 married individuals, 832 widows or widowers and 641 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 5,039 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household. There were 1,883 households that consist of only one person and 269 households with five or more people. , a total of 4,783 apartments (89.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 321 apartments (6.0%) were seasonally occupied and 270 apartments (5.0%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.06%.
Historic population The historical population is given in the following chart:
Historic Population Data Year Total population French speaking German speaking Protestant Catholic Other Jewish Islamic No religion given Swiss Non-Swiss 1850 1,650 1,460 190 1880 2,793 1,754 1,228 714 2,208 4 77 2,657 316 1910 6,161 3,590 2,304 2,182 3,861 8 75 5,284 877 1930 6,393 4,514 1,733 2,383 3,898 9 55 6,032 361 1950 7,504 5,846 1,432 2,350 5,058 13 49 7,114 390 1970 11,797 8,841 1,086 2,468 9,163 472 36 9,431 2,366 1990 11,548 9,442 450 1,688 8,909 1,080 14 178 561 9,112 2,436 2000 11,353 9,574 350 1,440 7,826 980 9 547 917 8,436 2,917
Government Delémont hosts the parliament and government of the Canton of Jura, but many other governmental functions are housed in Porrentruy, such as the cantonal courts.
Politics In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SPS which received 48.54% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (14.95%), the FDP (13.53%) and the SVP (11.96%). In the federal election, a total of 3,090 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 42.6%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton accessed 28 May 2010
Economy