. , old car in 2004 Ligerz is first mentioned in 1236 as
Ligerce. The shore of Lake Biel was inhabited during the
Neolithic period. A Neolithic shoreline settlement has been discovered near the municipal border close to the village of Schafis, which is part of the
La Neuveville municipality. Other traces of prehistoric settlements include scattered
Bronze Age and
Roman era artifacts. During the
Middle Ages Ligerz was ruled by the Lords of Ligerz, who held it as a
fief for the Counts of
Nidau. Their castle, the
Festi, first appeared in historical records in 1236. In 1358, the
Herrschaft of Ligerz was divided between two lines of the ruling family. At the end of the 14th century, the lands were
pledged to the city of Biel to secure a loan. Between 1388 and 1393,
Bern acquired the sovereignty over the land of the Counts of Nidau including Ligerz village and the surrounding lands. However, Bern did not own either half of the land of Ligerz. The two halves were sold to the von Büren and von Muleren families, both Bernese
patrician families. In 1409 one half of the
Herrschaft was sold to the city of Biel, while the other half was sold in Bern in 1469. Finally in 1551, Biel sold the other half of Ligerz to Bern. In 1553 Bern reaffirmed the old
market and fishing rights that the village had received from earlier rulers. The
pilgrimage church of Ligerz was first mentioned in 1261. It was built in the
vineyards above the village and was originally a
filial church of the
parish of
Diesse. It became a
parish church of its own parish in 1434, but was still dependent on Diesse until the Ligerz church was rebuilt in 1520-26. Between 1876 and 1889, it was part of the Twann parish. The slopes of the
Jura Mountains above the village were covered with vineyards by the Middle Ages. The vineyards were owned by a variety of towns and monasteries including Biel, Bern,
Erlach Abbey,
Fraubrunnen Abbey and
Thorberg Abbey. Over the following centuries, patricians from Bern and Biel bought the vineyards. During the 17th and 18th centuries these patrician families built elegant townhouses in the village, which they would visit during harvest. Until the 18th century the village had a French speaking majority and the village school was bilingual (French/German) until the end of that century. Today the official language in Ligerz is German. Following the
1798 French invasion, Ligerz became part of the District of Zealand. The 1803
Act of Mediation placed it in the Nidau district. Until the early 19th century there were no good roads into Ligerz, instead goods and travelers came by boat. In 1835-38 the Biel Road connected Ligerz and the other communities along the lake shore with the city of Biel. The Biel-Neuchâtel railroad, which was built in 1858-60, connected Ligerz to rest of the country. In 1911-12 the
Ligerz-Tessenberg funicular was built, allowing travel into the mountains. Due to the limited flat land in Ligerz, a tunnel was built in 1984-91 to route the motorway near the municipality while preserving the appearance of the village. Today the major industries in Ligerz include wine making, tourism and fishing. ==Geography==