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Lauenen
Lauenen (French: Lauvine, Romansh: Lavina) is a municipality in the Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
Lauenen is first mentioned in 1296 as an der Lowinon. Lauenen is known as an area with substantial danger of landslides and avalanches, which is the origin of its name (German Lawine "landslide," from Latin labina "slide").
The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a single Bronze Age artifact found at Feissenalp. Roman coins were found on the Wildhorn and near the village church. During much of the Middle Ages, Lauenen was part of the municipality and parish of Saanen. After years of negotiations, Lauenen became an independent parish in 1522 and finished building the parish church in 1524. When Bern accepted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation in 1528, Lauenen remained by the old faith. Finally, in 1556, the Reformation was introduced to this mountain village and they converted.
Traditionally the villagers supported themselves by raising crops on the valley floor and raising cattle in seasonal alpine camps. In the 1800s the nearby community of Gstaad became an internationally known spa town. As tourists flocked to Gstaad, Lauenen became a destination as well and grew wealthy. Many of the richly decorated houses in the village were built with profits from the tourist industry. In the 1970s the tourist industry in Lauenen changed as visitors bought vacation chalets and villas.
Lauenen has an area of 58.49 km2 (22.58 sq mi). As of 2012, a total of 22.38 km2 (8.64 mi2) or 38.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 14.69 km2 (5.67 mi2) or 25.0% is forested. The rest of the municipality is 0.76 km2 (0.29 mi2) or 1.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.61 km2 (0.24 mi2) or 1.0% is either rivers or lakes and 20.3 km2 (7.8 mi2) or 34.6% is unproductive land.
During the same year, housing and buildings made up 0.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. A total of 20.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.8% is pasturage and 29.3% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.3% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 5.4% is unproductive vegetation, 24.3% is too rocky for vegetation and 4.9% of the land is covered by glaciers.
Lauenen lies in the Bernese Oberland in the Lauenen Valley. The mountains in the south of the municipality, for instance Wildhorn (3,243 m (10,640 ft)) form the border with the canton of Valais. The municipality has a number of notable glaciers and lakes, including the Tungel Glacier, the Gelten Glacier, and Lake Lauenen. It consists of the village of Lauenen and several scattered small communities.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Saanen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Obersimmental-Saanen.
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Lauenen AI simulator
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Lauenen
Lauenen (French: Lauvine, Romansh: Lavina) is a municipality in the Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
Lauenen is first mentioned in 1296 as an der Lowinon. Lauenen is known as an area with substantial danger of landslides and avalanches, which is the origin of its name (German Lawine "landslide," from Latin labina "slide").
The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a single Bronze Age artifact found at Feissenalp. Roman coins were found on the Wildhorn and near the village church. During much of the Middle Ages, Lauenen was part of the municipality and parish of Saanen. After years of negotiations, Lauenen became an independent parish in 1522 and finished building the parish church in 1524. When Bern accepted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation in 1528, Lauenen remained by the old faith. Finally, in 1556, the Reformation was introduced to this mountain village and they converted.
Traditionally the villagers supported themselves by raising crops on the valley floor and raising cattle in seasonal alpine camps. In the 1800s the nearby community of Gstaad became an internationally known spa town. As tourists flocked to Gstaad, Lauenen became a destination as well and grew wealthy. Many of the richly decorated houses in the village were built with profits from the tourist industry. In the 1970s the tourist industry in Lauenen changed as visitors bought vacation chalets and villas.
Lauenen has an area of 58.49 km2 (22.58 sq mi). As of 2012, a total of 22.38 km2 (8.64 mi2) or 38.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 14.69 km2 (5.67 mi2) or 25.0% is forested. The rest of the municipality is 0.76 km2 (0.29 mi2) or 1.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.61 km2 (0.24 mi2) or 1.0% is either rivers or lakes and 20.3 km2 (7.8 mi2) or 34.6% is unproductive land.
During the same year, housing and buildings made up 0.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. A total of 20.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.8% is pasturage and 29.3% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.3% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 5.4% is unproductive vegetation, 24.3% is too rocky for vegetation and 4.9% of the land is covered by glaciers.
Lauenen lies in the Bernese Oberland in the Lauenen Valley. The mountains in the south of the municipality, for instance Wildhorn (3,243 m (10,640 ft)) form the border with the canton of Valais. The municipality has a number of notable glaciers and lakes, including the Tungel Glacier, the Gelten Glacier, and Lake Lauenen. It consists of the village of Lauenen and several scattered small communities.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Saanen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Obersimmental-Saanen.