Aarwangen

Sister cities

• Vodňany

History

Aarwangen is first mentioned in 1255 as villa Arwangen. The Grünenberg family did not last long and had already disappeared from the archives by the early 14th century, when the city of Bern established sovereignty over the region. In 1432, after the conquest of the neighbouring Aargau, Aarwangen Castle was purchased by the city of Bern, which then acquired the remainder of the former Grünenberg estate, including the area of the current district of Aarwangen, in 1480. Thus the Bailiffs of Bern came to Aarwangen. Altogether, 75 Bailiffs resided in the castle, where their coat of arms, with its distinctive black bear, is still displayed prominently on the outer wall. They stayed until the revolt, and the end of the Bernese city state, in the spring of 1798, during which the castle sustained serious damage, with the interior almost gutted. In the year 1803 the canton Bern was divided into official districts and Aarwangen became seat of the district of Aarwangen. The castle was in private hands for a few years, until it was repurchased and restored by the Canton of Bern where it has become the district court and administrative buildings.

Geography

Aarwangen has an area of . Of this area, or 45.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 36.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 15.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.9% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 8.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.1%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.1% of the area Out of the forested land, 34.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 31.0% is used for growing crops and 12.1% is pastures, while 2.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located on the right bank of the Aare. It consists of the linear village of Aarwangen with the village sections of Bleuerain, Mumenthal, Schürhof, Vorstadt, Hard and Moosberg and the hamlets of Haldimoos and Meiniswil.

Most-observed species

• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  16,776
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  8,972
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  7,585
• Marbled White

  Melanargia galathea Linnaeus, 1758 · Insecta
  3,892
• European badger

  Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  2,974
• Common Blue

  Polyommatus icarus (von Rottemburg, 1775) · Insecta
  2,957
• Eurasian beaver

  Castor fiber Linnaeus, 1758 · Mammalia
  2,397
• Small Heath

  Coenonympha pamphilus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  2,279

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2025-07-21
  4 km E of Frutigen, Switzerland
• M 3.5 — 2024-06-27
  1 km SSW of Todtmoos, Germany
• M 4.2 — 2024-06-04
  2 km NNW of Unteriberg, Switzerland
• M 4.4 — 2023-03-22
  1 km NW of Pont-de-Roide, France
• M 3.9 — 2022-09-10
  1 km WSW of Zimmersheim, France
• M 4.1 — 2021-12-24
  2 km WSW of Blamont, France