Lutry

Lutry () is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the Lavaux-Oron, which includes the Lavaux region, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

History Lutry is first mentioned in 908 as in Lustraco villam. In 1124 it was mentioned as monasterium Sancti Martini cum villa quae dicitur Lustriacus and in 1147 it was Lustriey.

Prehistory

In 1835 and again in 1894, Neolithic graves were discovered in Châtelard. The graves contained a total of some thirty stone box graves of the so-called Chamblandes type. They contained three ax blades of worked flint, as well as parts of a shell necklace. In 1895, several graves of the same type were discovered in Montagny. They contained important new items such as antler shafts made for axes, a polished stone ax and stone spindle whorls. While these types of items were often found in the remains of littoral Neolithic settlements, they are rarely found in graves, which made the discovery at Montagny especially significant. However, in 1927, archaeologists incorrectly assumed that these findings were assigned to the tombs in error. Without further evidence, they wrote that there was an undiscovered littoral settlement below Montagny.

In August 1984, during the construction of the underground car park in La Possession, an arrangement of 24 standing stones (menhir) were discovered. 18 of the stones were re-erected next to it in the original formation. The thirteen large standing stones ( high) were arranged in a line, while the eleven subsequent smaller stones (from high) described a curve to the south. The standing stones are traditionally assigned to the beginning of the middle Neolithic period. However local pottery indicates a later date, to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. Menhir No. 14 is a figurative stele, in which geometric ornamentation (x-shaped lines, balanced circles, zigzag line) were carved. Similar symbols can also be found on standing stones in southern France, but their meaning is unknown.

At various places in the municipality, including Curtinaux, Le Châtelard, Savuit and Gantennaz, there are traces of Roman era settlements. These include bricks, walls, parts of buildings and ornaments and the remains of an aqueduct.

Medieval town

Lutry was a royal estate of the Burgundian House of Welf. A fortified tower was built in the 11th century in Crêt-Bernard to help govern the estate. After the death of Rudolph III the estate passed to Conrad of Swabia and became an imperial estate. In 1079, Emperor Henry IV donated the estate to the Bishop of Lausanne. The Bishop held the estate until 1536. By 1263, the Abbey of Saint-Maurice possessed some land in Lutry, which they had received in 1017 from the Kings of Burgundy. Between 1025 and 1124, due to the donation of a man named Anselme, a Benedictine priory was founded on the alluvial delta of the Lutrive river. The priory was under the abbey of Savigny-en-Lyonnais (Rhône-Alpes). The priory was the recipient of numerous gifts and church records from the dioceses of Lausanne, Sion and Geneva. Initially it held about fifteen monks, but it quickly expanded and had authority over the villages of Lutry, Villette and Paudex until 1548. At the beginning of the 15th century, the priory freed its serfs. The town of Lutry, which was granted certain freedoms by the bishop, began to develop in the first quarter of the 12th century around the priory. In 1368 the soldiers of Lutry marched under the double banners of the priory and the diocese. Throughout the Middle Ages there were conflicts in the relationship between the mother abbey, the priory, the Bishop and towns.

Lutry began to become a town at the beginning of the 13th century when it was encircled by a circular wall created by the Bishop (1212–19). The wall was supported by a square tower, the Tour de l'Eveque, which was built by William of Ecublens in 1221–29. The hamlets Curtinaux, Savuit, Le Châtelard and Corsy as well as the neighborhoods of Friporte, Voisinand and Bourg Neuf were outside the walls, and soon a second curtain wall was built around the latter. In 1291 there was a hospital in the priory and in 1348 another one was built in the town. With the construction of an inner harbor, market buildings were created in 1408. At the instigation of the monks, a vineyard was placed around the town. An organization known as the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit, in 1307, marked the beginning of a civic organization. Starting in the 13th century, the town began an effort to deforest the neighboring Monts-de-Lutry, an effort that was completed in the 17th century. The newly available fields, pastures and forests were managed by farmers, who were also citizens of the town.

The parish of Lutry is first mentioned in 1228. The original parish also included Savigny (separated 1598), Belmont-sur-Lausanne (1766–1846) and Villette (1846–63). The Priory Church of Saint-Martin also served as the parish church. The church was built in 1250–60 over a building from the 11th century. It was rebuilt in 1344 following a fire. It was restored and extended in 1569–1591 and renovated from 1889 to 1907.

Early Modern Lutry To manage Lutry, the priory appointed a governor and the Bishop appointed a Meier or ecclesiastical bailiff, both of which were based in the castle. The Meier'''s office was hereditary in the Mayor de Lutry noble family. The family retained their position even after the conquest of Vaud by the Bernese. The last of the family, Claude Mayor de Lutry died in 1598 and was replaced by a castellan. The castellan ruled over the town as well as the estates of Corsier until 1798.

In 1536 Lutry unsuccessfully opposed the Bernese conquest and the Reformation. The Priory was closed in 1537 and the episcopal properties were secularized. From 1536 until 1798 Lutry was part of the Bailiwick of Lausanne. During this period it was ruled by an eighteen-member council and a twelve-member council, which was led by a knight banneret. There were four judicial courts over the town and the surrounding villages; the courts of Letry and Savigny, the court of the castellan and the court of the Lords of Corsier.

Modern Lutry

In 1798, Lutry joined, at the last minute, the Vaud revolution against Bern. Following the French invasion in 1798 and the creation of the Helvetic Republic, it was part of the district of Lavaux. Lutry was administered by an eleven-member council which was led by a Syndic. Between 1803–25 there were 15 municipal councils and officials, which after 1815 met in an upper council. Starting in 1826, Lutry and Savigny separated to form two independent municipalities.

In 1854, the owner of the castle of Lutry was given the town by its owner, Juste Charles Antoine de Crousaz.

The vineyards, which during the Ancien Régime were partly owned by Fribourg, Bern, Lausanne and Yverdon patricians and partly owned by the citizens of Lutry, became the most important source of income in 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. The construction of a harbor (1836–38), a quay (1863) and a dock (1816, 1912) opened the city to the lake. In 1822 the market building was changed into a school. In 1885, the former school building was demolished to make way for a customs house. The train station of Lutry on the Lausanne–Brig line opened in 1861. Followed in 1862 by the La Conversion station on the Bern rail line, followed in 1920 by the stop at Bossière. Starting in 1896, a tram line connected Lutry with Lausanne.

The period around the turn of the 20th century was characterized both by the influx of many new, non-local families and by phylloxera disease outbreaks in the vineyards. The latter triggered an unprecedented economic crisis. In the 1950s, the decline of viticulture and the parallel urbanization of Lutry encouraged a number of small and medium-sized enterprises. In 2000 there were approximately 400 businesses in the town. Starting in the 1960s Lutry grew into Lausanne agglomeration and became a popular residential area for the wealthy classes.

In 1998, a new port was built.

Geography

Lutry has an area, , of . Of this area, or 43.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 20.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 35.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.6% 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, housing and buildings made up 20.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 11.4%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.4%. Out of the forested land, 17.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 12.1% is used for growing crops and 12.7% is pastures, while 18.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality was part of the Lavaux District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Lutry became part of the new district of Lavaux-Oron.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz accessed 4 April 2011

The municipality is located on numerous terraces between Lake Geneva and the Jorat region. Until 1823 it included the now independent municipality of Savigny. It consists of the village of Lutry and the hamlets of Curtinaux, Savuit, Le Châtelard, Corsy, La Conversion, Echerins, Bossières, Le Daley, Montagny, Le Petit Bochat, Le Miroir and La Croix. It borders the municipalities of Paudex and Belmont-sur-Lausanne to the east, Savigny to the north and Villette to the west.

Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess Gules and Argent.Flags of the World.com accessed 14-June-2011

Demographics

Lutry has a population () of . , 23.5% 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 (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 14.4%. It has changed at a rate of 18.7% due to migration and at a rate of −4.4% due to births and deaths.Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 14-June-2011

Most of the population () speaks French (6,872 or 83.1%), with German being second most common (530 or 6.4%) and English being third (310 or 3.7%). There are 153 people who speak Italian and 6 people who speak Romansh.

Of the population in the municipality 1,634 or about 19.8% were born in Lutry and lived there in 2000. There were 2,747 or 33.2% who were born in the same canton, while 1,582 or 19.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2,097 or 25.4% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 47 live births to Swiss citizens and 23 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 110 deaths of Swiss citizens and 9 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 63 while the foreign population increased by 14. There were 6 Swiss men and 3 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 48 non-Swiss men and 66 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 12 and the non-Swiss population increased by 236 people. This represents a population growth rate of 2.8%.