Grenchen

Grenchen (French: Granges) is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel, approximately 25 km (16 mi) north of Bern. With over 16,000 inhabitants, it is one of the larger towns of the canton of Solothurn. The city is well known for its watch industry, that has been present for more than 150 years.

Grenchen is the 2008 winner of the Wakker Prize for architectural heritage.

Jura-Sternwarte Grenchen is located at Grenchen.

History

Around 1000 AD, the local barons built a castle on the local cliff that was inhabited for three centuries. The name Grenchen was first documented in 1131 as Granechun. The name comes from the gallo-romanic graneca, meaning by the granary.

Geography

Grenchen has an area, as of 2009, of 26.01 square kilometers (10.04 sq mi). Of this area, 9.85 km² (3.80 sq mi) or 37.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 10.42 km² (4.02 sq mi) or 40.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 5.39 km² (2.08 sq mi) or 20.7% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.34 km² (0.13 sq mi) or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes and 0.05 km² (12 acres) or 0.2% is unproductive land.