Gunzwil

Gunzwil was a municipality within the district of Sursee, in the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland. On 1 January 2009 it merged with the municipality of Beromünster, becoming a village inside the new municipality of Beromünster.

History

Gunzwil was first mentioned in 1036 as Gunczwilare, though the only existing document that mentions this is a 14th Century copy. In 1173 it was mentioned as in Gunzewile.

Geography

Gunzwil has an area of 23.2 km² (9.0 sq mi). Of this area, 78.5% was used for agricultural purposes, while 15% was forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.3% was settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.1%) was non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The municipality was located between the Suren- and Seetal valleys. It consisted of the village of Gunzwil and numerous hamlets. Since 1 January 2009 it has been part of Beromünster. The merged municipality has an area of 29.35 km² (11.33 sq mi) and a population of 4,588 of which 10.1% are foreign.

Demographics

Gunzwil had a population (as of 2007) of 1,875, of which 5.6% were foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -1.5%. Most of the population (as of 2000) spoke German (94.9%), with Albanian second most common (2.2%), and Italian third (0.5%).