Thun

Sister cities

• Gabrovo
• Granby

History

The area of what is now Thun was inhabited since the Neolithic age (mid-3rd millennium BC). During the early Bronze Age there were a number of settlements along the lake shore and the Aare. A site at Renzenbühl had a local chief or nobleman's grave which contained one of the richest collections of early Bronze Age artifacts in Europe. The Thun-Renzenbühl axe, dating from 1800 BC, is one of the earliest examples of damascening technique in the world. The gold inlay decoration on the axe may also have a numerical, astronomical meaning. Another site at Wiler contained approximately 1,500 maritime snail shells which were harvested from the Mediterranean and traded over the Alps. The name of the town derives from the Celtic term Dunum, meaning "fortified town". It fell to Rome in 58 BC, when Roman legions conquered almost all of Switzerland, and it soon became one of the main centers of Roman administration in the region. The Romans were driven out of Thun, and out of the rest of Switzerland, by the Burgundians around 400 AD. The Aare became the frontier between the Christian Burgundians and the Pagan, German-speaking Alemanni, who lived north. The region was mentioned for the first time during the 7th century, in the chronicle of Frankish monk Fredgar. The town is first mentioned in 1133 as Tuno. The region of Thun became a part of the Holy Roman Empire in 1033, when Conrad II gained the title of King of Burgundy. The emperors entrusted the Zähringen family, centred in Bern, with subduing the unruly nobles of central Switzerland. Around 1190, Duke Bertold V of Zähringen, built Thun castle and expanded the town. After Bertold's death in 1218, his territories went to Ulrich III von Kyburg. In 1264, Thun received town rights and in 1384, the town was bought by the canton…

Geography

The center of Thun is on the Aare, just downstream of the point where it flows out of Lake Thun, and encompasses both banks of the river and an island between. The town covers an area of , with the town boundaries reaching up to from the town centre. The town ranges in altitude between about , in the town center, and , on its eastern boundary. Thun has an area of . As of the 2004 survey, or 27.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 20.0% is forested. Of rest of the municipality, or 49.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes, and or 0.9% is unproductive land. From the same survey, industrial buildings made up 5.7% of the area while housing and buildings made up 26.8% and transportation infrastructure 12.1%. Parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.4%. All the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 11.4% is used for growing crops and 15.6% is pasturage. Of the water in the municipality, 0.9% is in lakes and 0.4% is in rivers and streams. Between 1981 and 2010 Thun had an average of 123.7 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was August, during which Thun received an average of of rain or snow and there was precipitation for an average of 11.7 days. The month with the most days of precipitation was June, with an average of 12.9, but with only of rain or snow. The driest month was February with an average of of precipitation over 8.3 days.

Most-observed species

• Southern Damselfly

  Coenagrion mercuriale (Charpentier, 1840) · Insecta
  2,966
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  2,956
• Ringlet

  Aphantopus hyperantus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  2,232
• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  2,017
• Small Tortoiseshell

  Aglais urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  1,877
• Butterfly-bush

  Buddleja davidii Franch. · Magnoliopsida
  1,718
• Norway Spruce

  Picea abies (L.) H.Karst. · Pinopsida
  1,566
• Ribwort Plantain

  Plantago lanceolata L. · Magnoliopsida
  1,519

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2025-07-21
  4 km E of Frutigen, Switzerland
• M 4.2 — 2024-06-04
  2 km NNW of Unteriberg, Switzerland
• M 3.2 — 2024-05-09
  9 km SW of Evolène, Switzerland
• M 4.4 — 2023-03-22
  1 km NW of Pont-de-Roide, France
• M 2.7 — 2022-08-23
  4 km S of Turtmann, Switzerland
• M 4.1 — 2021-12-24
  2 km WSW of Blamont, France