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BIENNE, or BIEL

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 921 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BIENNE, or See also:BIEL , an See also:industrial See also:town in the Swiss See also:canton of See also:Bern. It is built between the N.E. end of the See also:lake of the same name and the point at which the See also:river Suze or Scheuss (on the right See also:bank of which it is situated) issues from a deep cleft (called the Taubenloch) in the See also:Jura range. Bienne is 19 m. by See also:rail N.E. of See also:Neuchatel, and 21 M. N.W. of Bern. Its industrial importance is shown by the fact that it is the site of the See also:West Swiss technical See also:institute, which has departments for instruction in See also:watch-making, in See also:electricity, in See also:engraving and See also:chasing, and in subjects See also:relating to railway, postal and See also:telegraph matters. Its See also:chief See also:industries are watch-making, See also:chain-making, the manufacture of See also:machines and other See also:objects for use on See also:railways, &c. Its rapidly increasing commercial activity accounts no doubt for the rapid rise in its See also:population, which in 185o was but 3589, See also:rose in 187o to 8165, and in 1900 was 22,016, mainly See also:Protestant, and two-thirds See also:German-speaking. The See also:parish See also:church of St See also:Benedict See also:dates from 1451, but was restored in 1775—it has some See also:fine 15th-See also:century painted See also:glass in the See also:choir. In the town is the Schwab museum, which is chiefly notable for its fine collection of objects from the lake-dwellings. To the See also:north-west of Bienne two funicular railways See also:lead up to Evilard (or Leubringen) and Macolin (or Magglingen) ,both situated on the slope of the Jura. First mentioned in the 12th century, Bienne continued for centuries to be under the See also:jurisdiction of the See also:prince-See also:bishop of See also:Basel. In 1279 (permanently in 1352) it made an See also:alliance with Bern, in 1344 with See also:Soleure, and in 1382 with See also:Fribourg.

But its attempts to be admitted into the Swiss See also:

Confederation were fruitless, though after it adopted the See also:Reformation in 1525, it was closely associated with the Protestant cantons. In 1798 it was seized by the See also:French, but in 1815, with the greater See also:part of the bishopric of Basel, it became part of the canton of Bern. See C. A. Bloesch, Geschichte der Stadt Biel (to 1854), (3 vols., Biel, 18J5-1856). (W. A. B.

End of Article: BIENNE, or BIEL

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