Burgdorf, Switzerland

Burgdorf is a municipality in the canton of Bern and the largest town of the Emmental. It was the capital of the district of the same name until 2010, when the district became part of the new Emmental district. The town is called Burgdorf in German and Berthoud in French, a name given in memory of Duke Berchthold V of Zahringen. Scattered finds show the area was inhabited from the Neolithic era, and in the High Middle Ages the land belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy and, after 1080, to the Dukes of Zahringen, who built a castle on the left bank of the Emme and a city around it in the last quarter of the twelfth century. The Counts of Kyburg later took over the town and enlarged it in 1278. Burgdorf is first mentioned in 1236 as in oppido Burchtorff. It covers about 15.56 square kilometres and had 16,583 residents in December 2020.