page_title: Grafenried, Switzerland
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Grafenried, Switzerland / History
caption_attribution_description: Kirche Grafenried BE (Ansicht von Westen)
context_page_description: Grafenried is a former municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Grafenried, Büren zum Hof, Etzelkofen, Limpach, Mülchi, Schalunen and Zauggenried merged into the municipality of Fraubrunnen.
context_section_description: Grafenried is first mentioned in 1258 as Gravenriet. In 1262 it was mentioned as Riede.
  The oldest trace of a settlement is a Hallstatt era grave mound at Eichberg. The remains of what may have been a Roman era farm as well as a late medieval abandoned village were discovered at Wille/Wittenberg. During the Middle Ages the village, court and church were owned by the Counts of Thierstein. In the 13th century Fraubrunnen Abbey acquired the entire village. It remained under the Abbey's control until Bern adopted the Protestant Reformation, secularized the Abbey and took all the Abbey's lands in 1528. Under Bernese control, Grafenried became part of the bailiwick of Fraubrunnen, which was part of the court of Zollikofen.
  The first church in the village was built in the 7th or 8th century. The aisleless church was built above a post-Roman tomb outside the village on the road to Fraubrunnen. The village bought the patronage rights to the church from the Abbey in 1258. In 1535 it became the parish church for the municipality. The current church was built in 1748.
  During the 19th century many of the local farmers switched from growing grain to raising dairy cattle. The village dairy opened in 1848. In 1916 a station on the Bern-Solothurn-Zollikofen Railway (now Regional Bern-Solothurn) was built in the village. However, it remained mostly agricultural and rural with only a few small businesses. A few industrial businesses (auto recycling, steel engineering and a wood products factory) moved into the village in the 1970s. The new neighborhoods Bachtelen and Sinfonia were built in 1976 to provide housing for the growing population.
caption: Grafenreid village church, built in 1748
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "E-500", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "361", "Image YResolution": "361", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint Shop Pro Photo 12.01", "Image DateTime": "2008:12:27 09:59:15", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "300", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "723/2", "Thumbnail YResolution": "723/2", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "978", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4709", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:12:25 13:56:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:12:25 13:56:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "925/256", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "45", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2169", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1446", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}